Duke Energy

"We" in this case refers to the state of North Carolina and our addicted-to-carbon energy monopolies.

Duke Energy announced this week that it would move the planned location of an electrical substation it's building out of the direct view of the sacred Cherokee site of Kituwah in western North Carolina.

The decision comes after protests from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who consider Kituwah their mother town. The site adjacent to the Tuckaseegee River in what is now Swain County, N.C. has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years and long used as a center for religious rituals.

"Finding a new location for this important infrastructure allows us to deliver on our commitment to customers, without impacting the landscape around Kituwah," said Brett Carter, president of Duke Energy Carolinas.

Greenwashing fades, true colors show through:

The power companies want relief from the air pollution rules as a price of entry into negotiations if they are going to accept a mandatory carbon limit that won’t apply to other industries. The environmentalists are saying no.

Sources familiar with the dinner said Rogers led the call for regulatory relief on a number of existing Clean Air Act programs dealing with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, including a new EPA rule proposed last week that deals with interstate pollution.

If this is where talks are headed, then talks need to stop.

Duke Energy is reviewing their position on the mining process of mountaintop removal. An article published June 7, 2010 provides a ray of hope for those concerned about the impacts of this practice. Considering the harm mountaintop removal can cause to the mountain, nearby valleys and streams, and local communities, it is encouraging to see Duke Energy reviewing their position on such a practice. This is a positive step towards protecting the mountains and valleys in North Carolina and beyond.

You can't play if they won't throw you the ball:

Independent solar companies say they can’t even get in the door to negotiate with the Charlotte energy giant. “It’s not difficult to do a deal with them,” says Richard Harkrader of Carolina Solar Energy in Durham. “It’s impossible.”

In Charlotte, Optima Engineering founder Keith Pehl says all 17 of the independent commercial solar projects his company brought to Duke Energy in the past two years foundered on failed power-purchase negotiations. Pehl contends Duke’s approach is to control the local market and refuse to pay competitive prices for power from developers and building owners.

Cross posted from from Facing South

Coal ash isn't just dumped; it's increasingly being recycled into building materials and other uses. But in states like North Carolina, the failure to adequately regulate one so-called "beneficial use" of the toxic-filled waste is putting communities at risk.

Poor Jim Rogers just can't win:

About a dozen protesters from the conservative group FreedomWorks marched outside Duke's uptown Charlotte headquarters during the meeting. They targeted Duke's support of a trading system for carbon "credits," or permission to release the greenhouse gas, that is envisioned in congressional energy bills.

Shareholder Tom Borelli of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Rogers has "set our company on a risky course" by its advocacy.

Retired Duke Energy exec spins a yarn in a Charlotte Observer editorial:

From Bill Coley of Charlotte, former president of Duke Power:

The idea of global warming/climate change as a phenomenon is debatable, with good scientific minds taking positions on both sides of the issue. Some very bright scientists are convinced of the concept - and some equally qualified scientists are not convinced at all.

And there are still some "qualified" scientists who doubt that smoking can lead to lung cancer. But the vast majority of their colleagues know better.

Ooops. Must be nice to be a monopoly.

Cross posted from Facing South.

Two construction projects that threatened ancient sites sacred to American Indians in the Southeast are on hold for now, and further action is planned to keep them from moving forward.

In North Carolina, Duke Energy's plans to build an electrical substation near the sacred Cherokee site of Kituwah have been halted temporarily by the local county government while a more permanent solution is sought.

Earlier this month, the Swain County Board of Commissioners voted for a 90-day moratorium on electrical and mobile telephone towers to give staff time to look into an ordinance to regulate their construction and require public input before they're built. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians raised concerns that the substation would disrupt the view of Kituwah, the site of a sacred mound near the Tuckasegee River in western North Carolina. Kituwah is considered the Cherokee mother town, believed to have been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years and long used as a center for religious rituals.