A prominent energy engineer [Bill Powers] is contesting Duke Energy Carolinas’ request for billions of dollars in rate increases, showing in written testimony that the corporation is trying to pad investors’ pockets through pre-approval of grid projects that are either unneeded or could be better handled with solar-plus-storage investments.
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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Federal Complaint Filed vs WUNC Radio Over Duke Energy Ads — News Release from NC WARN
Watchdog group NC WARN today is filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) charging that public radio station WUNC repeatedly airs sponsorship announcements by Duke Energy that violate rules for noncommercial stations. We are calling for the federal regulators to end the deceptive ads and require full disclosure of Duke Energy’s spending with the station.
See coverage of our complaint in Facing South
Is Natural Gas Really Helping the U.S. Cut Emissions? — Inside Climate News
Can natural gas be part of a climate change solution? That’s what the American Petroleum Institute argues in a new campaign it has launched ahead of this year’s elections, pushing back against some Democratic candidates who support bans on new development of oil and gas.
Renewables Beating Gas — NC WARN Letter to Gov Roy Cooper
This letter continues the flow of evidence that Duke Energy’s massive expansion of fracked gas is a reckless waste of money that’s harming humanity’s chances of averting runaway climate chaos. Today we are urging North Carolinians to tell Gov. Cooper to stop Duke Energy’s climate-wrecking gas expansion – starting with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Work at area power plants plays a role in Duke Energy’s proposed rate hike — News & Record
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.
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.