The North Carolina Utilities Commission is giving residents a chance to voice their opinion on a plan which could influence how their electricity is generated and impact costs for years to come.
The state is updating its Carbon Plan, and in it Duke Energy is proposing a build out of 8.9 gigawatts of new gas plants, representing one of the largest buildouts of new gas plants of any utility in the country. The plan is raising concerns among residents and environmental advocates.
Naomi Albert, North Carolina field coordinator for the advocacy group Appalachian Voices, warned it could affect electricity rates, while posing risks to the state's climate goals and community health.
"For the communities that are directly adjacent to them, there are health concerns," Albert pointed out. "Burning fossil fuels, like methane gas and coal, produces air pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and others that contribute to the development of a whole host of diseases including lung disease, asthma."
Albert highlighted the issue of winter reliability. During Winter Storm Elliot, the failure of gas-powered generation resulted in widespread power outages across the eastern half of the U.S., including 500,000 Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas.
Residents will get the chance to speak in person this week at two public hearings. The first hearing will be today in Wilmington at the New Hanover Courthouse, and the second will take place Tuesday at the Durham County Courthouse.
House Bill 951 outlines energy targets North Carolina utilities must achieve, including a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the electric power sector by 2030, and complete carbon neutrality by 2050. Albert pointed out the proposed plan does not help meet the stated goals and will leave customers with unpredictable bill increases, driven by fuel volatility.
"Recent analysis by EDF and EQ Research shows that high gas prices have driven up electricity rates in recent years," Albert reported. "They found that increased fuel costs drove 67% of the increase in residential rates in Duke Energy Carolina service territory. "
Albert believes improvements can be made to the plan to meet the goals outlined by the state and incorporate resources to increase renewable energy. As the public hearings approach, she urged North Carolinians to raise their voice and share what they think. People unable to make the in-person hearings can leave a comment on the commission's website.
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Cincinnati is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies' $200 million Sustainable Cities initiative and will hire three new staff members to merge climate solutions with Black financial empowerment.
This initiative is part of Cincinnati's broader strategic plans, including the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan for carbon neutrality by 2050 and the Financial Freedom Blueprint to combat poverty and racial inequity citywide.
Ollie Kroner, directory of Cincinnati's office of environment and sustainability, will prioritize green workforce development, minority-owned businesses support, energy poverty solutions and climate adaptation strategies. Kroner said it is all grant funded.
"Bloomberg philanthropy is making an investment in cities that are really trying to go big in both of these spaces," Kroner explained. "This will bring dollars and people to support the effort over the next three years."
The award aims to accelerate progress in 25 U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, and Cleveland, leveraging federal funding to further boost economically thriving communities. Kroner noted the importance of five Ohio cities in the program, given the state's lack of a climate change plan.
Kroner argued investing in combating climate change now is critical and Ohio aims to bring different segments of the community together along the lines of equality.
"It's hard to see the long-term outcomes, but we're certainly trying to strike at this intersection of the climate crisis and racial and financial empowerment," Kroner emphasized.
More than $400 billion in federal funding is available to local governments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for U.S. cities to invest in climate change solutions.
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An environmental justice organization in Wallace, Louisiana, says it won't back down in a fight for the health of its historic community.
The Descendants Project, which focuses on the cultural and historic preservation of enslaved Africans, has been successful in one lawsuit against St. John the Baptist Parish but is heading back to court. The dispute is over zoning ordinances that allow industrial giants to set up shop on the borders of residential areas.
Jo Banner, co-founder and co-director of The Descendants Project, said the battle is far from over.
"The land was reverted back to residential, but unfortunately, our parish administration and Parish Council went right back and switched, zoned the land back to heavy industry," Banner explained.
The land at the center of the conflict is known as the "Greenfield Property," where the company Greenfield Louisiana wants to build a large grain elevator and export terminal. Banner contends the area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge already has an overload of grain and petrochemical industries, and has been nicknamed "Cancer Alley."
Banner noted her organization has now filed another lawsuit against the parish to have the land zoning revert once again to residential. She stressed the tug-of-war shouldn't be happening.
"What's really sad is that residents like ourselves have to go through these measures in order to have safe zoning. If we did not have the support of our legal firms and our advocacy firms, we would not be able to continue the fight," she emphasized.
Banner pointed out residents of St. John the Baptist Parish have some of the highest cancer risk in the country; seven to eight times more than the average American.
"We have men who are getting breast cancer and having to get double mastectomies, children getting cancer at a young age, older people getting cancer when they should be past that point of getting cancer, and also rare forms of cancers," Banner added.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently recognized the community of Wallace as a National Register Historic District as part of the African American experience in Louisiana.
A judge will decide if the parish will be allowed to eliminate the 2,000-foot distance requirement from residential neighborhoods to allow the grain elevator and export terminal to be built.
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Michigan boasts 11,000 inland lakes, more freshwater shoreline than any other state and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams but a new report shows some waters are being contaminated by livestock waste from concentrated animal feeding operations.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center report says the 290 feeding operations in Michigan generate almost 63 million pounds of waste.
Katie Garvey, staff attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Center and author of the report, said lax regulation leads to more pollution.
"This is just a lot of waste, and it all has to go somewhere," Garvey pointed out. "Unfortunately, because of the way that this industry operates and the state's failure to regulate it properly, that 'somewhere' -- all too often -- is the waters of the state."
Garvey said if the feeding operations were regulated like other industrial operations, they would have to either treat their waste before disposing of it, safely manage it, or produce less waste. Some defenders of the operations say every farm is different and the industry should not be painted with a broad brush.
Sarah Fronczak, environmental management educator for Michigan State University Extension, grew up on a farm and now helps to educate farmers and others on best practices. Fronczak believes the most effective way to keep livestock waste from running off is a tried-and-true method many farmers have gotten away from, the use of plants known as cover crops.
"Usually, when I work with a farmer, I'll say, 'Hey, are you applying your manure to living roots?'" Fronczak noted. "Because if a plant is there to take up the nutrients, it's going to be hard for those nutrients to leave, because the plant's going to be there to take them."
She thinks there are more feeding operation owners adhering to their permit requirements than those who do not. However, Garvey argued there are laws in place wrongfully protecting the large operations.
"Most of these legal protections were not designed for these industrial-scale operations," Garvey stressed. "Therefore, they are basically benefiting from loopholes that are intended to benefit smaller-scale farmers."
Garvey added dozens of actions can reduce agricultural pollution, including tightening and better enforcement of permits, conducting more unannounced audits and inspections, and imposing real consequences on repeat offenders.
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