Climate change and rate hikes dominated a Duke Energy shareholder meeting Thursday led for the last time by Jim Rogers, outgoing CEO of what the company says is the world’s largest publicly traded utility. Forcefully at times, Rogers defended Duke’s positions – and his own seven-year tenure – on questions ranging from renewable energy to pay raises for directors.
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Clean Energy Advocates Inundate Duke Energy Annual Meeting — WFAE
Duke Energy hosted its annual shareholder meeting Thursday. A few dozen protestors stood in front of the building as people walked in the door. Inside, CEO Jim Rogers took questions from the audience for nearly two hours. Questioners included Jim Warren from NC WARN. “Yeah, you’re doing a lot more wind and solar, but 90 percent or more of it is not in the Carolinas or any of your monopoly states, let’s be clear about that,” Warren told Rogers.
Green groups take protests into Duke Energy meeting — Charlotte Business Journal
Environmental groups came out in force for Jim Rogers’ final shareholders meeting as Duke Energy Corp.’s CEO. In addition to about 50 people gathered outside, dozens were inside to ask questions and make statements at the annual open session Rogers holds after the business session of the company’s annual meetings. When Rogers finally closed the session, several attendees continued to object. “Global warming is not an environmental issue — it is killing us,” shouted Beth Henry, a Charlotte activist. “You can’t build a good economy on a dead planet.”
Duke Energy shelves plans for new reactors at Shearon Harris — The News & Observer
After years of delays and postponements, Duke Energy issued an obituary for a pair of long-planned reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. The Charlotte power company has canceled plans to add the new reactors to the site, where a single unit has been generating electricity for a quarter-century. Duke told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that sluggish growth forecasts show new nuclear units won’t be needed for at least 15 years.
Greenpeace Scolds Duke’s Jim Rogers on the Environment — Bloomberg
Greenpeace and a local environmental group called NC WARN bought a full-page ad in the May 1 edition of the Charlotte Observer to scold Rogers. “Jim Rogers has seven months to determine how history will remember his eight years as CEO: a leader who helped start a clean energy revolution, or a laggard who talked about global warming but never acted to stop it.”
2013 Actions
Utilities Commission Hearings on Progress Energy Rate Hikes In February and March 2013, we worked with our allies to organize testimony at Utilities Commission hearings related to Progress Energy’s rate hike request. Those hearings have now concluded. Thank you to the hundreds of people who wrote letters and emails to …
Green-energy groups slam Duke Energy in ad — The Charlotte Observer
Greenpeace, NC WARN challenge Jim Rogers’ climate legacy with ad on eve of his final shareholder meeting — News Release from NC WARN
On the day before Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers’ final shareholder meeting, environmental groups published a full-page advertisement in the Charlotte Observer asking whether Rogers wants to be remembered as a hero or villain in the increasingly urgent fight to combat global warming. The groups also sent an open letter to Rogers and Duke’s Board of Directors explaining the risks to the company if it does not move toward clean energy.
Duke Energy’s Climate Legacy
Commission Tries to Limit Court Appeal of Duke Energy Merger — News Release from NC WARN
State regulators yesterday made a strange ruling that, if upheld by the courts, would abolish part of an ongoing appeal of a 2012 merger that created the nation’s largest electric utility. Duke Energy is seeking to prevent NC WARN’s case from being heard by the NC Court of Appeals, and the state Utilities Commission is claiming it has the authority to govern what the court can hear.