A North Carolina town is suing utility Duke Energy over climate change

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

December 4, 2024 9:24 AM ET


The small town of Carrboro, North Carolina is suing one of the country's largest electric utilities, Duke Energy, over climate change.

While states and cities have filed lawsuits against big oil companies, suing utilities is less common. The arguments are similar though. Carrboro alleges Duke knew about climate change for over 50 years but continued to operate coal and gas power plants that spewed greenhouse gases. The lawsuit also says Duke participated in campaigns to confuse the public about whether climate change was real to avoid stricter regulations.

Duke Energy is the third largest source of carbon dioxide in the country, according to an analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. That puts it well ahead of ExxonMobil and Koch Industries. The utility has six coal-fired power plants in North Carolina.

"We need to protect our community from future harms and this is why we find ourselves here as a plaintiff in this lawsuit," Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee says. Duke Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/04/nx-s1-5213784/climate-utility-lawsuit

[CousinIT]

1. GOOD! Carborro is a great little town.

I used to visit friends there before they moved. GOOD on them!

[Think. Again.]

2. My deepest gratitude to the people of Carrboro NC.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Thanks for sharing this, BRDS. ...

Two thoughts

1. Doug Kysar doesn't know North Carolinians very well because Duke Power doesn't enjoy a criticism free existence here especially in light of the coal sands leaks they hid for years and

2. The article states that, "The company generates most of its electricity by burning fossil fuels, which is the main driver of planetary warming."

The rest of that energy generation is done by burning wood chips manufactured by the logging industry.

This is appalling to me. First, because I hate seeing trees clear cut and not replanted.

Second, because those trees are essential to broad swaths of flora and fauna for habitat.

Third, it takes a long time to replace that resource.

Fourth, burning the chips also contributes to global warming and climate change.

And finally those trees absorbed CO2 and are being killed just so Duke can make a buck.

Nobody really believes anything they say because they have proven themselves to be enemies of the state and its resources time after time.

I imagine Doris Duke has spun in her grave so many times by now that she's probably tangled up in her funerary garb.

Thanks again for sharing this.

❤️