The N.C. Utilities Commission refuses to bow to political pressure –sort of– when it allowed Duke Energy to build one, not two, energy plants in western North Carolina.
That’s not good for Duke Energy because a coal-fired power plant isn’t something you just scratch from a plan:
The decision could effectively kill the other Cliffside unit. Duke Energy had previously said that building just one of the coal-fired units would not be economical, and the company is reviewing whether it’s committed to building one Cliffside unit.
“Our decision will not be made until we have seen the final cost estimates,” Ellen Ruff, president of Duke Energy Carolinas, said in a prepared statement. “Our initial estimates were based on two units.”
One option –not at all certain for Duke– is too build a coal-fired power plant and a natural gas plant. But that won’t do for Jim Warren of the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network:
“That’s a loser scenario for North Carolina,” Warren said. “The country is just now rapidly awaking to global warming and how serious it all is.”
Yeah, we know. But what’s the point of handing Duke a deal where it has to mothball four older –and dirtier– plants without letting them adequately replace them? If the utilities commission really didn’t want Duke to build more plants in North Carolina, it should have turned down the plan as it was presented. So what else can you call the commission’s action but a bow to political pressure?
Loser scenario, dude.
