Appalachian Voices works with communities and organizations across North Carolina committed to a clean energy future. Due to our efforts, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002, which has dramatically reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury and oxides of nitrogen from fourteen existing coal-fired power plants in the state. Now, we are working to transition away from dirty, coal-fired power, promote energy efficiency and renewable energy, and stop the burning of mountaintop removal coal.
Repowering North Carolina Coalition
We are working in coalition with several other grassroots organizations to develop an ambitious vision to get North Carolina moving towards a cleaner energy future. We will be encouraging individuals, organizations, businesses and local governments to endorse a resolution with that goal in mind and leverage regulatory and legislative changes to make a cleaner energy future a reality.
Moving Away From Coal-Fired Electricity
Our work in opposing Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal-fired plant culminated in reducing the plant in half and created an atmosphere in which construction of new coal plants will be near impossible in North Carolina. We also made a strong case to move away from mountaintop removal coal, as evidenced by this quote from Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy:
“I’m under incredible pressure on mountaintop mining…I’m doing the math now and looking to determine my contracts and posing the question to my team, what if we made a policy decision that we’re not going to buy coal as a consequence of mountaintop mining. I actually can see a future where coal is not in the equation in 2050.”
We will continue to advocate that capital investments be made in renewable energy and energy efficiency, rather than in coal-fired power plants.
Wind Energy
In Western North Carolina alone, there is enough responsibly-sited wind power to easily replace the Cliffside plant. However, North Carolina is currently facing the most extreme, anti-wind energy legislation in the country, in the form of Senate Bill 1068.
North Carolina