Melissa Williams, melissa.williams@sierraclub.org
CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Duke Energy Progress today filed a request to raise customers’ rates, in large part to pay cleanup and storage costs for the utility’s coal ash waste.
Duke estimates the eventual total costs for coal ash clean up in the Carolinas could be as much as $5.2 billion—about 50 percent higher than previous estimates—and Duke wants to offset that cost by hiking rates.
The N.C. Utilities Commission, which has the authority to deny Duke’s request, will hold hearings on the matter and will accept comments from the public.
In response, Dave Rogers, representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in North Carolina, released the following statement:
“Duke shouldn’t be allowed to push all the costs for coal ash waste cleanup onto families and businesses, especially not after decades of negligence in handling coal ash and disregarding warnings that could have prevented the Dan River spill.
“Meanwhile, some communities are still relying on bottled water, including in several places where Duke isn't planning to excavate the toxic ash. To ask them to pay higher rates for coal ash cleanup adds insult to injury.
“Ultimately, the best way to avoid this problem going forward is to stop the outdated practice of burning coal in the first place and transition to clean energy, so that communities would no longer have to deal with toxic ash and the polluted water and air that result from it—let alone billions of dollars in costs to clean it up.”
###