News

Rate Freeze Allowed Despite Audit

RALEIGH—Despite strong evidence that Duke Energy intentionally fudged its accounting in order to preserve its level of earnings, in 2002 the North Carolina Utilities Commission agreed to allow the utility to freeze its rates for five years through the Clean Smokestacks Act. Auditors from accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP, after wrangling with Duke for access to documents, determined that the company hid $124 million in excessive earnings by moving money from its regulated business to its unregulated business.

Paul Chesser
News

Duke Doubted Smokestacks’ Merits

RALEIGH—When the North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Plan was first presented to the Department of Natural Resources staff, several environmentalist groups and the state’s two investor-owned electric utilities already supported the legislation. But statements and information culled from e-mails, obtained from state agencies by Carolina Journal, show that Duke Energy did not agree that the Smokestacks bill improved air quality.

Paul Chesser
News

Smokestacks Built on Dubious Data

RALEIGH—The North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Plan, the report on which the state’s landmark 2002 legislation was built, was written by a left-wing environmental group and contained assumptions based on what some call “junk science.” Environmental Defense, which produced the plan, believes the United States should sign on to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and used last year’s big budget film fantasy "The Day After Tomorrow" as a launching point to warn about the dangers of global warming.

Paul Chesser
News

Smokestacks Bill Helped Utilities

RALEIGH—Contrary to the stated objectives of its supporters, the 2002 North Carolina Clean Smokestacks law — based on controversial environmental assumptions used to espouse questionable health benefits — may have been crafted to help protect the state’s two largest electricity suppliers from federal lawsuits and fines. The plan, signed into law June 2002, was developed by the liberal group Environmental Defense, which had joined the federal Environmental Protection Agency in a lawsuit against Duke Energy for alleged emissions violations at seven coal-fired power plants.

Paul Chesser
News

Cooper Worries About Bush Plan

RALEIGH — In his latest promotion of North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act, Attorney General Roy Cooper last month objected to provisions of President Bush’s Clear Skies initiative, because of concerns that it would override provisions in the state law. But an analysis of Cooper’s claims show that his worries are unwarranted or that they are based on a dubious legal foundation. Documents show that either the Smokestacks law would not be affected by Clear Skies, or that the Smokestack law’s implemented requirements might have been unconstitutional in the first place.

Paul Chesser

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