Nearly two dozen environmental and community groups have voiced their opposition to a proposed Duke Energy natural gas plant at Duke University, which is now stalled in the state approval process.
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, as revealed even more by recent science. Yet utilities and the gas industry are still 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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Norman L. Christensen: Duke University gas plant should be rejected — News & Observer
Duke’s recent proposal to build a new natural gas plant on its campus would send a dangerous signal to those that look to Duke as a model. Climate change was created by fossil fuels – a new investment that could leave the university dependent on fracked gas beyond the year 2050 is not a climate solution. Research by Duke’s own faculty has revealed the dangers of such natural gas production – from water contamination to leaks of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
Pipeline protest marches through NC — WRAL
A group of people opposed to a plan that would have a pipeline running through North Carolina are on a 15-day walk to protest the project. Watch video.
Atlantic Coast Pipeline: Gambling billions of public dollars as fracked gas supply is highly doubtful — News Release from NC WARN
Energy specialist Art Berman also questions shale gas supply estimates, as he wrote last year after the Energy Information Agency – despite falling production – greatly increased its forecasts of gas supply: “The recently released EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2016 sparkles with pixie dust as it forecasts almost unlimited gas supply at low prices out to 2040 and beyond.”
Duke Energy Executives Count on Climate-Wrecking Fracked Gas & Captive Regulators – but Little Solar or Wind – for Years to Come — News Release from NC WARN
If the NC Utilities Commission approves Duke Energy’s latest 15-year Integrated Resource Plan, it risks bankrupting North Carolina’s economy through costly overbuilding of high-risk power plants. And the utility will continue fouling our air and water while escalating the global climate crisis as one of the world’s largest carbon polluters.
Duke-Dominion Withheld Gas Pipeline Data, Groups Charge – News Release from NC WARN
Intervenor NC WARN and 20 allied nonprofits yesterday told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the agency must carefully review the new data and prepare a new EIS before rescheduling public hearings that had been set to begin in mid-February in North Carolina and Virginia.
Will Duke University Rise to Become a Climate Hero? — WCHL
Commentary by Jim Warren. Duke University can help slow the climate crisis – or make it worse at a critical time.
Will Duke University Rise to Become a Climate Hero? — WCHL
Commentary by Jim Warren. Duke University can help slow the climate crisis – or make it worse at a critical time. Listen to audio. Read text.
Duke Energy Sidestepping Pollution Controls at Duke University Project – News Release and Letter from NC WARN
Duke Energy is attempting to save money by avoiding standard pollution controls at the fracked gas-fired power plant it proposes to build on the Duke University campus. This would allow a key respiratory pollutant to be emitted at a rate ten times higher than allowed at most other facilities – and the plant would be disastrous for the climate.
Virginia county approves massive natural gas compressor over community outrage — Think Progress
If constructed, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will run from eastern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia to North Carolina and Virginia. But the project faces major public opposition — even in Buckingham County, where Thursday’s meeting dragged on for five hours, and many residents testified in opposition.