DURHAM (May 21, 2024) – Environmental justice organizations filed to intervene in Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan to ensure the voices of frontline communities are heard in the North Carolina Utilities Commission’s (NCUC) process.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice filed a petition — and was approved — to intervene in the Carbon Plan and Integrated Resource Plans on behalf of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) and Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN).
The Carbon Plan was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2021 and requires the NCUC to reduce carbon pollution from the electric power sector by 70% by 2030 and go net-zero by 2050. As an energy monopoly, Duke Energy has almost sole control over how North Carolina reaches those goals.
Duke Energy’s proposed Carbon Plan fails on so many levels, from over-investing in costly new technologies meant only to line Duke Energy’s pockets at the expense of ratepayers, instead of developing cleaner renewable sources, to over-burdening communities already dealing with the cumulative impacts of environmental injustices with new polluting methane gas infrastructure.
NCEJN and EJCAN both bring into the Carbon Plan process the much-needed perspectives of communities dealing most severely with environmental injustices and the ongoing crisis climate, according to the petition.
“Because of the Commission’s narrow scope of economic and rate impacts, much of the real cost of Duke Energy’s plan is ignored,” said Sherri White-Williamson, Executive Director of EJCAN. “We hope to show that vulnerable communities across the state are not just paying for this plan through their electric bill— they’re paying for it in hospitals, in prescriptions, in illnesses, and lower quality of life as a result of air and water pollution and mental health impacts from having industrial energy facilities in their communities.”
“SCSJ is proud to stand with our partners in this effort,” said Anne Harvey, Chief Counsel for Environmental Justice with SCSJ. “We believe the communities most impacted by the problem are closest to the solution and are confident the experiences of NCEJN and EJCAN members will show the far-reaching impacts of Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan.”
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) is a North Carolina-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on, and dedicated to, achieving environmental justice. EJCAN provides resources to communities in Sampson County, NC seeking assistance in improving the environment where they live, work, play and pray. EJCAN serves these communities by empowering them with the technical, scientific, legal, educational and funding resources they need to overcome the powerful interests that stand in the way of successfully addressing the environmental problems they face.
North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) is a grassroots, people of color-led coalition of community organizations and their supporters who work with low-income communities and people of color on issues of climate, environmental, racial, and social injustice.