Posts Tagged ‘Duke Energy’
North Carolina Coal Ash Bill Pending
By Brian Sewell On July 14, the N.C. Senate voted unanimously to reject the state House’s revised version of the Coal Ash Management Plan, which weakened the cleanup requirements in the Senate’s original bill. Now, a committee with members of both chambers must craft a compromise bill. Sen. Tom Apodaca, who sponsored the Senate bill,…
Read MoreEnvironmental community calls for major changes to North Carolina House’s coal ash bill
Environmental community calls for major changes to North Carolina House’s coal ash bill
Read MoreAnna Behnke: A Seventh Grade Activist
By Sarah Kellogg Seventh grader Anna Behnke loves to swim in Mountain Island Lake, but two years ago, she learned about the water pollution caused by Duke Energy’s Riverbend coal-fired power plant and began to worry about the impact the pollution could have on children’s health. So, for a sixth grade science project, Behnke tested…
Read MoreInvestigation Finds Fraud in Black Lung Cases
By Kimber Ray A year-long investigation revealed evidence this fall that the coal industry has supported fraudulent practices in order to block workers’ compensation claims for black lung disease. According to the investigation conducted by The Center for Public Integrity and ABC News, it appears that officials at prestigious medical institutions including Johns Hopkins Hospital…
Read MoreN.C. Citizens Speak Up About Power Plant Water Pollution
By Sarah Kellogg Four out of five power plants currently have no limits on the levels of heavy metals they can dump into rivers and lakes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, is preparing to change that, and in the process they are hearing from impacted citizens around the country. Since June, more than 165,000…
Read MorePower to the People
By Molly Moore It’s no coincidence that the words “electricity” and “power” can be used interchangeably. Our society owes a huge debt to electricity — it’s often easier to recount the aspects of our lives that are connected to an outlet than not. But instead of controlling our energy use, we’ve let our addiction to…
Read MoreCoal Report
Impoundment Safety Called Into Question Questions and criticism followed a Nov. 30 accident at a CONSOL Energy-operated coal slurry impoundment in West Virginia that left one worker dead. A few days after the incident, The Charleston Gazette reported that records “outlined company concerns that construction to enlarge the dump had not been moving fast enough…
Read MoreSoutheastern Coal Plants Retire and Convert | Other Shorts
The growing share of electricity generated by natural gas and recent announcements of coal plant retirements are rapidly changing the energy sector across the southeast. On Jan. 7, Georgia Power announced its plans to retire 15 coal- and oil-fired units at four plants across the state. The same week as Georgia Power’s announcement, Duke Energy…
Read MoreDuking It Out: CEO Retires, Rates Increase and other shorts
By Matt Grimley Under a proposed settlement with the N.C. Utilities Commission and the N.C. Public Staff, Duke Energy President and CEO Jim Rogers will retire from his positions at the end of 2013. The agreement, announced late November, would resolve all issues involved in the commission’s investigation of Duke’s $32 billion merger with Progress…
Read MoreA Finite Frontier: Facing the Future of Central Appalachian Coal
By Brian Sewell On Sept.18, Appalachian coal mining giant Alpha Natural Resources announced it would idle eight mines and lay off 400 employees in the first phase of a “strategic repositioning” plan designed to meet the evolving demands of a changing global coal market. According to Alpha, the plan aims to enhance the company’s position…
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