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.
Duke Energy Gas Expansion
Duke Energy is planning a massive increase in its burning of natural gas to produce electricity. This would be a climate disaster because of the large amounts of super-potent methane that leak unburned from gas operations, particularly fracking. Read more here and in the news items below about NC WARN’s work to block Duke’s fracking gas future.
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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.
Duke scientist: Stop building natural gas infrastructure now — WRAL
A climate scientist at Duke University, in a letter backed by two dozen former officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, called Thursday for a halt to natural gas development in North Carolina.