Environment
So far, the GOP-controlled state legislature has sided with Wall Street shareholders of the Duke Energy power monopoly and utterly failed to protect ratepayers from Duke’s mammoth coal ash clean up costs. GRAHAM, NC – As the North Carolina Utilities Commission will tonight hold a hearing at the Alamance Co. Historic Courthouse at 7pm in Graham…
Read MoreDuke Energy is asking the NC Utilities Commission to raise electricity rates on its customers by an average of $8 / month for residents or almost $100 / year to pay for coal ash clean-up. The N.C. The Utilities Commission will hold public hearings in Alamance County on Wednesday and Charlotte on Thursday to take…
Read MoreFor years, communities across North Carolina stood up to Duke Energy (as well as the energy giant’s enablers in the McCrory administration and the General Assembly) and fought to get coal ash pollution cleaned up in their neighborhoods. The tenacity of those communities reflects the true spirit of democracy and resilience, now that Duke Energy…
Read MoreAfter years of Duke Energy trying to shirk its responsibility to clean up its coal ash ponds, a new settlement means the energy giant will finally have to clean up these polluted ponds which have leaked countless tons of toxic chemicals into North Carolina waterways. From WRAL: Frank Holleman, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental…
Read MoreA report out today from a coalition of 14 community and environmental justice organizations reveals that Duke Energy skewed its political campaign contributions last year in order to gain support for a highly controversial bill that would make it easier to pass cleanup costs on to customers. Last year, the North Carolina Utilities Commission authorized the giant Charlotte-based utility to charge…
Read MoreIn the Netherlands, the chemical GenX is considered a hazardous substance. Here in the U.S., it isn’t. It turns out that Eastern North Carolina has been importing shipments of the toxic stuff from the Netherlands, and the contents and concentration of the sludge isn’t fully known. It is past time for our lawmakers to put…
Read MoreDespite unconstitutional maps favoring Republicans, North Carolina voters sent a strong message that the GOP agenda of continued attacks on health care, cuts to public education, gutting of clean water rules, and reckless tax cuts for millionaires and big corporations is coming to an end. From WFMY: The balance of power in North Carolina shifted…
Read MoreOur legislature has its head in the sand when it comes to sea level rise and climate change. Toxic coal ash waste, hog lagoons, and poultry factory farms are all located in floodplains. When researchers brought dire news to the General Assembly of the effects of sea level rise, instead of heeding the warning and…
Read MoreCutting taxes has consequences. One of those is a lack of staff and funding to keep water clean and prepare for hurricanes. North Carolina needs leaders that put the health and safety of the people over tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. From The Virginia Pilot: The threat of hurricanes is a constant in…
Read MoreCutting taxes has consequences. One of those is a lack of staff and funding to keep water clean and prepare for hurricanes. From The Virginia Pilot: The threat of hurricanes is a constant in eastern North Carolina, as much a part of the landscape as the golden fields of tobacco that once dominated the region…
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