Conservation Outdoors Sustainability

Sierra Club Presentation on NCUC Carbon Plan February 2

Coal-fired Belews Creek Steam Station

On Thursday, February 2, at 7 p.m., the Western North Carolina Sierra Club will host a presentation via Zoom to discuss the carbon plan recently filed by the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) and what it means for North Carolina’s energy future. Mikaela Curry, the senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in North and South Carolina, will lead the presentation.

The carbon plan is in response to the new energy bill HB 951, signed into law by the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Roy Cooper in October of 2021. The law called on the NCUC to develop a carbon plan for the state by the end of 2022 that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 70 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The NCUC directed Duke Energy to submit a proposed plan. Duke submitted four proposed plans in May of 2022, only one of which met the 2030 target.

“The carbon plan decision is important to the community because it affects everyone’s health and well-being, now and in the future,” says Curry. “We cannot rely on Duke Energy to make choices in the public interest, when we know their priority is earning money for their shareholders.” Curry cites the winter storm outages in December of 2022 as evidence that this plan has direct impacts for all residents. “Those blackouts were a direct failure of fossil fuel infrastructure and Duke’s planning,” says Curry. “Utilizing reliable, low-cost renewable energy is a vital part of energy security for North Carolina’s future, and it’s important for everyone to understand these issues, and how they can be a part of this process moving forward.”

Visit SierraClub.org/north-carolina/wenoca to learn more and register for the Zoom presentation.

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