Town of Carrboro sues Duke Energy
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Emissions rise from the Duke Energy coal-fired Asheville Power Plant ahead of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Photo: Charles Mostoller/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Carrboro town officials filed a lawsuit against Charlotte-based Duke Energy Wednesday morning, accusing the company — one of the country's largest operators of coal and natural gas power plants — of leading a "nationwide climate deception scheme" that has worsened the climate crisis and cost the town millions.
Why it matters: Electric utilities like Duke are key in the transition to cleaner energy, the New York Times reports.
- Duke itself is the third largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, according to the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, though it's vowed to shrink emissions.
Zoom out: Leaders of Carrboro, a town of just over 21,000 outside Chapel Hill, described themselves several times during a news conference Wednesday as the David to Duke Energy's Goliath.
- "The motivation for Carrboro is pretty simple. When I think about righting wrongs or seeking justice, somebody has to do it," Mayor Barbara Foushee told reporters. "What's happening today is another tool in our toolbox to bring more engagement around the urgency of the climate crisis."
The big picture: The lawsuit is just one of dozens that energy companies have faced in recent years alleging they have misled the public about climate change's impacts.
- Not one of those lawsuits has gone to trial yet, and Republican states and oil companies have sought to block them from moving forward, per NYT.
Zoom in: The lawsuit alleges Duke executives have known for decades about the risks of climate change, but nonetheless led a "widespread campaign to mislead the public about its climate harms and increase reliance on coal and gas for electricity," according to a press release Wednesday.
- Meanwhile, despite Carrboro's efforts to combat climate change, it is now on the hook for "millions of dollars in repairs to roads, rising energy bills and other infrastructure costs to adapt to and mitigate the harms from climate change," the release said.
- Duke is responsible for these damages, Carrboro, NC WARN and the Center for Biological Diversity, which have also signed onto the lawsuit, said in the release.
Between the lines: NC WARN is paying for the lawsuit, not Carrboro taxpayers, officials said Wednesday.
The other side: Duke said in a statement to Axios it is "reviewing the complaint" and will continue to work with "policymakers and regulators to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible."
What they're saying: Town council member Randee Haven-O'Donnell said Duke Energy's actions contrast the work Carrboro is doing to mitigate its own environmental impact, from composting to reducing carbon emissions.
- "Community members and Duke Energy ratepayers are angry that they work hard to protect their environment and reduce emissions only to see utility costs rise as the utility continues to invest billions of dollars into new plants that burn methane gas and expand the use of fossil fuels," she said.
Axios Raleigh reported Zachery Eanes contributed to this story.