In 2015, Duke Energy’s state-sanctioned monopoly in North Carolina faced a pair of very different challenges from two vastly different communities. In western North Carolina, thousands of people – mostly White, middle-class, with little organizing experience–turned out in droves to attack Duke Energy’s plans for their beloved mountains. Two hundred miles away in Greensboro, a Piedmont church – serving a mostly Black, low-income community with a history of activism and advocacy stretching back decades – simply put solar panels on its roof.
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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Duke Asheville Plant Foe Says Plan Would be Disaster for the Climate — WCQS
Appeal denied, NC WARN tries again — News & Observer
The N.C. Utilities Commission said two advocacy groups missed a filing deadline and therefore blew their chance to appeal a state permit issued to Duke Energy to build a power plant in Asheville. But the two nonprofits – including NC WARN in Durham – say they plan to appeal the Utilities Commission ruling.
Courtroom access just got very expensive — Asheville Citizen-Times
In general the higher up the societal food chain you go – cases that delve into the world of powerful interest groups, the uber-wealthy and well-heeled corporations – the higher your legal fees…but there’s always the assumption you can have your day in court. That assumption has received a jarring wakeup call in North Carolina in a case revolving around Duke Energy’s plans to rebuild its Lake Julian power plant.
Duke Energy, PNG Waiting on Approval for Merger — TWC News, Charlotte
Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas will have to wait until September to find out if their $4.9 billion merger will go through…a coalition of consumer and environmental groups led by NC WARN is asking the commission to not approve the deal. Read more and see video here.
N.C. regulators could rule on $4.9B Duke-Piedmont deal as soon as October — Charlotte Business Journal
N.C. regulators wrapped up a day-and-a-half evidentiary hearing on Duke Energy’s $4.9 billion purchase of Piedmont Natural Gas Tuesday afternoon… NC WARN Executive Director Jim Warren says a June decision by Commission Chairman Ed Finley barring testimony from NC WARN witnesses about the potential for significantly higher gas prices and significantly smaller natural gas reserves from fracking unnecessarily truncated the hearing.
Duke & Piedmont Execs Argue For Merger, Opponents Protest — WFAE
State regulators wrapped up a two-day public hearing in Raleigh Tuesday afternoon on the proposed merger of Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas. The two-day hearing included testimony from company leaders and a protest by merger opponents. Read more and listen to audio.
Backroom Dealing in Duke Energy-PNG Merger — WCHL
Duke’s climate-damaging future — News & Observer
Letter to the Editor from Dr. Harvard Ayers of The Climate Times. We believe that Duke Energy’s attempts to ignore our concerns have been the epitome of an anti-democratic power play to deny the public the right to object to a monopoly business that is clearly putting corporate profit ahead of customer well- being.
Protesters oppose Duke Energy-Piedmont Natural Gas merger — Charlotte Observer
The chief executives of Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas defended their merger Monday under questioning by advocates who hope to derail it. An attorney for NC WARN, a Durham nonprofit, and two other advocacy groups questioned the CEOs on risks to customers of the electric and gas utilities at a hearing before the N.C. Utilities Commission. Read more and watch 1-minute video.