Asheville Beyond Coal Gets Into the Ring with Duke Energy

Last Tuesday night, 250 activists packed into the Buncombe County Courthouse and urged the North Carolina Utilities Commission to reconsider Duke Energy's proposal to build a new natural gas plant in place of a retiring coal-powered facility at Lake Julian.   

For clean energy advocates, neither the natural gas nor the coal-powered option is suitable.  Both perpetuate greenhouse emissions and fossil fuel reliance.  Although transition from coal to natural gas may decrease pollution in the immediate area, it only promises a displacement; the company must engage in fracking to access natural gas.  Fracking enables methane pollution, contamination of water supplies, and a thorough disruption of the planet’s geology, which is strongly linked to earthquakes. 

At the public hearing, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign and its partners pushed for increased efficiency and solar energy.  The Club was joined by allies from MountainTrue, the faith-based Creation Care Alliance, and the Southern Environmental Law Center, all of which oppose the buildout of the natural gas plant.  According to Emma Greenbaum, a Beyond Coal organizer in Asheville, North Carolina, MountainTrue was particularly integral to the effort, and galvanized public outcry into action.

The opposition gave an impressive five hours of testimony, requesting the commission’s six utility regulators think twice before giving the go-ahead to Duke.  In recent years, public opinion has had a major impact on the dealings of Duke, holding up dirty energy operations and facilitating green transitions.

“Duke Energy is very powerful, and there are not many ways around them,” explains Greenbaum.  “They have huge pull in the government.”  But thanks to the efforts of the Asheville Beyond Coal Campaign, which hit the ground running in 2012, progressive public opinion has taken on major influence.

Beyond Coal activists at last Tuesday's Duke Energy hearing wave their fingers in support of the opposition's testimony.
Activists who turned out were asked to use "spirit fingers" rather than applause to demonstrate support for the opposition's testimony.

Last September marked the victorious end of a 15-year legal battle with Duke Energy, waged by the EPA with support from the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the North Carolina Public Interest Research Group, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center.  Duke Energy is being made to close three of five units at its coal-fired Allen power plant by 2024 because of pollution and permit violations.   

In 2014, Duke called for a partnership with climate activists, which resulted in the formation of a clean energy task force.  Duke sent representatives to collaborate in the group’s discussions.  Task force members established a sustainable plan, and their Community Clean Energy Policy Framework was adopted by the Asheville city council on October 27, just weeks before news of the EPA’s win hit. 

It’s clear the direction in which Asheville is headed.  Duke’s proposed Western Carolinas Modernization project, of which the natural gas plant is a part, also attempted to install “foothill” transmission lines.  The transmission lines have been effectively blocked, not just by traditional climate activists but also by the area’s more conservative residents, who feel it is an imposition for the company to place lines on their private property.

But the threat of climate change is what fires up more progressive residents.  Years of tactful rallies calling for the closure of Duke’s coal plants, as well as momentous campaigns to collect public comments (prior to Tuesday’s hearing, over 9,000 were collected opposing the plant), have lent heft to the demands of Beyond Coal and Asheville’s grassroots climate movement.   

Emma Greenbaum says drawing progressives into the issue remains the Beyond Coal Campaign’s best strategy.  Although North Carolina’s 2012 shift to a more conservative state legislature and executive branch brought into power officials who are unlikely to align themselves with climate concerns or support clean energy funding, Greenbaum reassures that the state’s activist base remains formidable. 

Clean energy efforts are off to a positive start, and promise to supplant the state’s needs as dirty energy is phased out.  Solarize Asheville and Clean Energy for Us have introduced a group solar buying model for the area, simplifying the process of investing in solar power for the whole community.

For now, Beyond Coal is working to transition quickly to green energy, to cooperate with Duke when possible, and to wage a dedicated battle when not.