North Carolinan Town Sues Duke Energy For Coal Reliance

A town in North Carolina on Wednesday, December 4, has filed charges against Duke Energy Corporation, accusing the utility giant of causing infrastructure damages and rising energy costs due to its ongoing reliance on fossil fuels.

In a complaint filed before a North Carolina state court, the town of Carrboro—about 30 miles from the state capital of Raleigh—sued the company allegedly for its increased reliance on coal and gas for electricity despite being aware of the risks from fossil fuels for more than 50 years.

The town claimed that hotter temperatures created more road maintenance, while electric bills were higher in city buildings due to increased use of air conditioning.

It alleged that Duke Energy also participated in campaigns to confuse the public about whether climate change was real to avoid stricter regulations.

The lawsuit did not request a specific dollar amount, but Foushee believed that the town has already incurred up to $60 million in damages.

A recent study by the Political Economy Research Institute by the University of Massachusetts Amherst said that Duke Energy ranked third in its Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, with carbon emissions totaling to 79.4 million metric tons.

“Our community floods fairly regularly as a result of the supercharged storms that are dumping large amounts of precipitation in short periods of time,” said Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee. “The climate crisis continues to burden our community and cost residents their hard-earned tax dollars. We need to protect our community from future harms and this is why we find ourselves here as a plaintiff in this lawsuit.”

At present, Duke Energy powers more than 8 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. It planned to add 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2035 and shift some of its coal-based energy production to natural gas.

In a statement, it said it was already in the process of reviewing the complaint.

“Duke Energy is committed to its customers and communities and will continue working with policymakers and regulators to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible,” it added.

It said added that it was executing an ambitious clean energy transition and had a goal of “net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050” in line with the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement.