An attempt by Duke Energy and state regulators to race through a rubber-stamp approval of an unneeded, climate-busting, fracking gas-fired power plant has become one of the most convoluted legal cases in North Carolina history, with no end in sight.
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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How to fight the power company — Scalawag
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.
NC WARN Pushes for Investigation of EPA in Methane Scandal — News Release from NC WARN
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.
As Climate Tipping Point Nears, Many Utilities are Powering Forward with Renewables: Duke Energy, Others are Greenwashing Laggards — Note to Editors from NC WARN
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.