ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Advocating for Clean & Renewable Energy
Utility rates often operate as a regressive tax on low-income ratepayers who are also likely to suffer health complications from fossil fuel plants. We work to advance energy equity by making sure energy plans, development projects, and utility rate decisions consider environmental justice issues and the hidden costs imposed on impacted communities.
Improving energy equity is a key component of the fight for environmental justice.
Low-income ratepayers spend a larger share of their income on utilities and often pay more per capita due to older, inefficient housing. Utility rates thus act as a regressive tax, while these same communities disproportionately bear the hidden costs of fossil fuel generation. Plants and pipelines are routinely placed in low-income and rural areas, reducing property values, harming health, and shortening lifespans. Residents shoulder pollution, medical bills, and climate impacts, even as utilities pass infrastructure costs to ratepayers while securing guaranteed profits for projects that primarily benefit large industries.
Energy Equity Cases
Energy Equity News
SCSJ, Allies Demand Stronger Protections for Community in Duke Energy’s Roxboro Gas Plant Air Permit
DURHAM, N.C. (Nov. 26, 2024) – Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) released the following statement alongside its public comments to the NCDEQ, Division of Air Quality on Duke Energy’s air permit modification request for the Roxboro Steam Electric Plant: “Southern Coalition for Social Justice stands with our allies in condemning Duke Energy’s ill-conceived proposal…
Read More SCSJ, Allies Demand Stronger Protections for Community in Duke Energy’s Roxboro Gas Plant Air Permit
SCSJ: Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan Prioritizes Profits Over Practical Solutions
DURHAM, N.C. (Sept. 3, 2024) — Duke Energy has made it clear — its Carbon Plan is about making itself richer, not moving North Carolina to a carbon-free future. After a lengthy expert witness hearing, Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) has filed a brief detailing the many ways Duke's plan fails ratepayers, particularly lower-income North Carolinians who disproportionately bear the costs both on their utility bills and their health.
Read More SCSJ: Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan Prioritizes Profits Over Practical Solutions