Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good recently promised investors they could count on “multiple rate cases” in both of the corporation’s Carolinas service areas beginning next year – to fund seemingly endless construction of fracked gas power plants and clean-up of coal ash. Separately, she promised to boost rates and profits via a $16 billion electric “grid modernization” scheme that an expert for the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA) testified could, on its own, raise residential rates by up to 50 percent.
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More Groups Blast Duke Energy’s Last-Minute Rate Deal — News Release from NC WARN
Duke Energy’s proposed side deal at the 11th hour of an already controversial rate case continues drawing opposition from consumer watchdogs, industrial customers, tech giants and environmental groups. It appears the vaguely worded deal could bring an initial rate hike of 26 percent over the first three years – while becoming a perpetual tax on customers.
Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues, we are in serious trouble. — The Washington Post
Antarctica’s ice sheet is melting at a rapidly increasing rate, now pouring more than 200 billion tons of ice into the ocean annually and raising sea levels a half-millimeter every year, a team of 80 scientists reported Wednesday. The melt rate has tripled in the past decade, the study concluded. If the acceleration continues, some of scientists’ worst fears about rising oceans could be realized, leaving low-lying cities and communities with less time to prepare than they had hoped.
NC WARN Joins Groups Fighting 11th Hour Rate Hike Deal — News Release from NC WARN
Today NC WARN filed a motion calling for the NC Utilities Commission to reject a secretive, last minute settlement between Duke Energy and several organizations that would open the floodgates for huge, streamlined rate hikes with no guarantee of benefit to anyone other than corporate stockholders.
See coverage in Greensboro News & Record
General Electric’s power unit fights for growth as wind, solar gain — Reuters
The competition from solar and wind, along with abundant low-priced gas produced by fracking, is curbing orders for new plants and forcing the closure of old ones. Some utilities are even filing for bankruptcy. “That means companies are going to have trouble selling new fossil-fuel plants,” said Mark Dyson, a principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute, an organization that researches the power industry.
Pipeline Neighbors File Civil Rights Complaint vs State of NC — News Release from NC WARN
Groups say approval of Atlantic Coast Pipeline cheated vulnerable residents out of federal civil rights protections for low-income communities and people of color. Letter to Connie Walker, President and General Manager of WUNC Radio, on the continuing news media failure in covering Duke Energy, fracked gas and accelerating climate urgency.
See coverage in the N&O
See coverage in the Progressive Pulse
See coverage in Inside Climate News
How Solar Panels on a Church Rooftop Broke the Law in N.C. — Inside Climate News
NC Supreme Court Ruling in Solar-Church Test Case — Statement from NC WARN
Regarding today’s NC Supreme Court ruling against the NC WARN-Faith Community Church partnership in our two-year Solar Freedom test case: It’s very unfortunate that Duke Energy remains able to protect its monopoly against clean competition and to keep stifling the growth of cheaper solar power across North Carolina.
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