Duke Energy

By all accounts, Duke Energy is a pretty well run company. Their business model has two simple components: (1) Get customers to use more energy and charge them more for that usage whenever possible, and (2) get customers to use less energy and charge them more for their conservation habits whenever possible. It's a sweet deal if you can get it.

The Man-Who-Would-Be-Governor, of course, has spent 18 years on the "use more" side of the house, doing his best to attract more and more commercial customers onto the growing Duke power grid. With his own personal wealth inextricably tied to the fortunes of Big Energy, Pat McCrory is already emerging a reliable front-man for his ex-employer.

But things are even more insidious on the "use less" side of the Duke Energy balance sheet, as evidenced in this story in the News and Observer.

UPDATED with NC Public Utilities contact information

Dearest Citizens of Charlotte:

You'll forgive us if we're having a hard time getting to the bottom of your perpetual mayor, Pat McCrory. From here in the hinterlands of North Carolina, it looks like Hizzoner has never had much interest in the rest of the state, except as a revenue stream for his employer, Duke Energy. And his bank-rolled campaign for governor seems more about his personal ego and his corporate cronies than dealing with the real challenges our citizens are facing.

For example, Mayor Pat recently reported that he doesn't know what he thinks about oil and gas exploration off the coast of North Carolina. Doesn't know - or is afraid to say? And then there's Pat's "they" problem. Aside from his welcome support for transit in Charlotte, I can't discover anything to like about the man.

The N&O has a story that Representative Harrison is proposing a bill to outlaw out of state coal for NC coal plants.

Updated by James with link to the N&O story.

As part of his plan to polish up his image (sort of like the plan to polish up the image of coal), Pat McCrory's minions have invaded the interTubes with a sweet little entry on Wikipedia.

After graduation, McCrory worked with Duke Energy Corporation in various management positions.

Too bad the entry doesn't describe exactly what those various management positions were. All I can find is that McCoal worked as a senior adviser for Duke Energy's business and economic development group. Which means he was likely responsible for helping to recruit big companies with big electric bills to jump onto Duke Energy's big coal bandwagon, thereby driving the supposed need for power plants like Cliffside, which will pump tons of greenhouse gases and mercury into our environment until well after most of us are dead and gone.

Shouldn't $1.6 million dollars of your hard earned North Carolina tax money give you the right to know and refuse exposure to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals? If Governor Easley can spend $1.6 million tax payer dollars on a pesticide plan to protect farmworkers shouldn't the plan also include protecting the citizens of North Carolina as well. The plan should be comprehensive and not discriminate between industries, companies, workers, and citizens. Tell the Director of the State Office of Rural Health and Community Care, Mr. John Price to implement a plan that protects everyone's right to know when being exposed to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals.

This river supplies drinking water to more than a million people along the way and supports the water needs of numerous coal and nuclear power plants. Duke Energy's renewal of its federal license to manage the Catawba is set to expire this year.

[cross-posted on dailykos at and on my campaign blog]

We’ve been talking a lot about our US Senate campaign being a choice between politics as usual and speaking truth to power.

I was surprised and frankly shocked while reading Greensboro’s Yes Weekly article about State Senator Kay Hagan.

Kay points to Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) as an example of how “we do things right in Raleigh.” The legislation adopted by the state senate last year gives away the store to Duke Energy, one of the top contributors to Kay’s state senate campaigns .

You may not know about SB 3. And the problem is I don’t think you’re supposed to. The Raleigh News-Observer says SB 3 was “an insiders' deal from the get-go,” passed with “virtually nonexistent” public debate and no “serious financial analysis of its total impact on consumers.” http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/martinez/story/626147.html

According to Jim Rogers Duke Energy CEO:

"He said that Duke Energy was the third largest emitter of carbon in the United States and the twelfth in the world -- and if considered an independent nation, Duke Energy would be 41st in the world -- so carbon emissions is a huge issue for him and his firm and wants to turn that around."

Looks like the pro-Cliffside crowd want Duke energy to break our Clean Air Law. Fortunately the SELC would rather them not.

Mountain Xpress: This morning, the Southern Environmental Law Center and 18 other environmental organizations from across the state issued a petition to the state Division of Air Quality, urging the agency to revoke or modify an air permit issued to Duke Energy for its new Cliffside facility.

In a letter to Keith Overcash, director of the division, the SELC charges that the permit, which was issued to Duke on Jan. 29, violates the Clean Air Act because it does not require Duke to use the best available controls for mercury emissions.

Recently Duke Energy received permission from the State of North Carolina to build a new coal fired power plant in Cliffside, North Carolina. Despite the facts that this new plant could be a major polluter of CO2, mercury, and evaporate 21 million gallons of water each day. You can find all the details here on NC Warn's website.