Duke Energy’s emphasis over the past year at two power plants in the Piedmont Triad has been on cleaning up coal ash, closing basins where the waste product had been submerged and relying more heavily on natural gas to make electricity.
Methane, Fracked Gas & Climate
Methane (the main component in natural gas) is 100 times as bad for the climate as carbon dioxide over the short term. Less CO2 is emitted by natural gas than by coal when burned. But significant leakage of methane before burning makes gas a disaster for the climate, even as utilities and the gas industry are feverishly promoting fracked gas.
NC WARN is working hard to connect the dots between climate change, methane leakage and the fracking boom that is driven by demand from the electric power industry.
Learn more about our methane work here.
Watch a 3-minute video by Cornell University’s Dr. Robert Howarth describing why natural gas is a disastrous strategy for the climate. More videos, PowerPoints and documentation here.
“Everything You Need to Know About Methane”, a primer by Earthjustice.
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It’s a Vast, Invisible Climate Menace. We Made It Visible. — NY Times
To the naked eye, there is nothing out of the ordinary at the DCP Pegasus gas processing plant in West Texas, one of the thousands of installations in the vast Permian Basin that have transformed America into the largest oil and gas producer in the world. But a highly specialized camera sees what the human eye cannot: a major release of methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas that is helping to warm the planet at an alarming rate.
North Carolinians battle the $7.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline –Grist Documentary
Residents living in the rural parts of Eastern North Carolina are no stranger to environmental hazards. Various industries have pinpointed the region — where the environmental justice movement was born — for projects, such as coal ash dumps, liquid fertilizer plants, and concentrated hog farms. Local grassroots activists have fought off many …
DUKE ENERGY – NEWS & OBSERVER
Letter to the Editor by Jim Warren. In its latest 15-year Integrated Resource Plan filed in September, Duke projects to be 5 percent renewable in the Carolinas by next year. In 2033, Duke projects to be 8 percent renewable — which is under the current national average for utilities.
The False Promise of Natural Gas — New England Journal of Medicine
Natural gas, composed principally of methane, has been hailed as a clean “transition” fuel … But beneath this rosy narrative lies a more complex story. Gas is associated with health and environmental hazards and reduced social welfare at every stage of its life cycle.
North Carolina approved one pipeline. Why is it now questioning another? — N&O and Charlotte Observer
From the Editorial Board. When it comes to approving natural gas pipelines, North Carolina’s environmental regulators apparently can’t keep their standards straight.
Natural Gas Plants — News & Observer
Letter to the Editor from Drew Shindell and Dale Evarts. It’s time for leaders across the country to stop the expansion of natural gas infrastructure.
Huge Battery Investments Drop Energy-Storage Costs Faster Than Expected, Threatening Natural Gas — Forbes
The global energy transition is happening faster than the models predicted, according to a report released today by the Rocky Mountain Institute, thanks to massive investments in the advanced-battery technology ecosystem.
A warning for NC on the climate cost of natural gas — Editorial
From the editorial boards of the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer. It sounded good a few years ago: natural gas, cleaner than coal and better for the environment. But now burning more natural gas is sounding like the wrong turn at the wrong time.
Hundreds of WUNC Radio Listeners Call for Attention to Climate Solutions, Fracked Gas and Duke Energy — News Release from NC WARN
More than 400 public radio supporters and listeners have called on WUNC Radio management to help the public better understand the causes and potential solutions to the accelerating climate crisis, and they expressed their concern that “WUNC may be downplaying the dangers of Duke Energy’s growing use of natural gas,” particularly in light of Duke’s prominent advertising on the station.