Case Summary
The North Carolina Carbon Plan was mandated by bipartisan legislation (S.L. 2021-165) in 2021. The law tasks the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) with developing a plan to reduce carbon pollution from the electric power sector by 70% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Plan must be reviewed every two years in a process involving the utilities, stakeholders, and the NCUC. This process has been combined with the Integrated Resource Plan process and is now known as the CPIRP. For the 2024 CPIRP, Energy monopoly Duke Energy proposed a Carbon Plan that fails to meet the 2030 goal and incorporates a large expansion of the use of methane gas - a carbon emitting fossil fuel. Duke's plan would set too slow a pace for the development of clean energy solutions while doubling down on unreliable, polluting gas plants and expensive, untested technologies in order to line its own pockets at ratepayers' expense by taking advantage of a guaranteed rate of return on new capital investment projects.
SCSJ filed an intervention on May 21 on behalf of North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) and Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN). This intervention seeks for NCUC to account for the true cost externalities and burdens of fossil fuel-based energy imposed on frontline communities.
Why it's Important
Many other intervenors are addressing cost considerations, technological feasibility, and environmental/climate concerns. Our focus is on environmental justice impacts and the hidden costs of Duke's plans to human health in impacted communities.