The NC Utilities Commission just announced that it will conduct additional proceedings to take a deeper look into Duke Energy’s hotly contested 15-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). This is yet another major problem for the nation’s worst climate-polluting electricity provider.
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. Recent science from the United Nations and others show that new gas infrastructure is incompatible with the goal of preventing catastrophic climate change. 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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NC energy bill has one big beneficiary (and it’s not you) — News & Observer/Charlotte Observer
North Carolina House Republican lawmakers and Duke Energy’s representatives spent months in closed-door meetings hammering out an energy bill that somehow emerged, politically speaking, without any energy. Despite efforts to build up suspense about House Bill 951, the measure landed with a thud last week.
As climate emergency grows more urgent, Duke Energy seeks to supersize CO2 pollution — NC Policy Watch
Energy giant must halt planned fossil fuel expansion, aggressively embrace renewable energy, storage, conservation
AG calls on NC regulators to reject Duke Energy long-term plant construction plans — Charlotte Business Journal
The N.C. Attorney General’s office has called on state regulators to reject Duke Energy Corp.’s proposed long-term plant construction plans, despite a debate over whether regulators have the authority to do so.
Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions — United Nations Report
The assessment highlights the critical role that cutting methane emissions, including from the fossil fuel industry, plays in slowing the rate of global warming. Cutting human-caused methane by 45% this decade would keep warming beneath a threshold agreed by world leaders. There are multiple benefits to acting including: the rapid …
Halting the Vast Release of Methane Is Critical for Climate, U.N. Says — New York Times
A landmark United Nations report is expected to declare that reducing emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas, will need to play a far more vital role in warding off the worst effects of climate change.
“Very Scary Indeed” … New Science Reaffirms Duke Energy’s Huge Gas Expansion is Fueling Climate Calamity — News Release from NC WARN
New federal data show global atmospheric concentrations of methane at a record high just as a separate Harvard study shows the US oil and gas industry is emitting far more methane than earlier estimated.
Why Duke Energy is spending $283M on retrofitting coal plants to burn natural gas — Charlotte Business Journal
Duke Energy Corp. is modifying its largest coal plants to burn natural gas for at least part of the power they produce in order to reduce coal use in the near term… Some clean-energy advocates worry the work will just extend the life of coal plants, allowing Duke to continue to recover costs for plants they say are no longer economical to operate.
Record surge in methane levels ‘surprising and disturbing’, say scientists — Financial Times
Methane levels in the atmosphere surged during 2020, marking the biggest increase since records began in 1983, in what scientists called a worrying development for the planet.
Solar March Madness: US 20, Duke Energy 6 — NC WARN
Duke leaders keep conning the public with new greenwashing ads. New federal data show that nearly 20% of U.S. electricity* generation in 2020 came from renewable power – up from the earlier figure of 18% cited in NC WARN’s ongoing ad campaign.