Tag Archives: jim rogers

How will history remember Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers: climate champion or criminal?

Posted on by
Jim Rogers has a choice between clean and dirty energy.

Jim Rogers has a choice between clean and dirty energy.

“We must move at ‘China speed’ to combat global warming.”

That’s what Jim Rogers, CEO of the largest utility in the country and one of the world’s biggest carbon polluters, Duke Energy, said once upon a time. Now Rogers, who has agreed to retire at the end of 2013, has seven months left to prove he meant it, and determine how history will judge his climate legacy: as a leader who helped start a clean energy revolution, or a polluter who told a nice story about global warming, but never acted to stop it.

That’s why Greenpeace and NC WARN, one of our allies in North Carolina, published an ad today in the Charlotte Observer challenging Rogers to stop talking and start acting, by directing his company to invest in solar energy, wind energy, and energy efficiency throughout the Duke Energy service territory. Continue reading →

The Solar Revolution is Happening, with or without Duke Energy

Posted on by

© Tim Shaffer / Greenpeace

Last week, the largest producer of power in the United States took a radical step to acknowledge a basic fact: the solar energy revolution has finally reached the United States, and it cannot be stopped. Continue reading →

NC: Duke Energy Gave $147,000 to Sponsors of SB10 Power Grab

Posted on by

The North Carolina legislature is taking the unprecedented step of firing 131 officials from several policy and regulatory boards, including the Utilities Commission overseeing Duke Energy, the Environmental Management Commission, and two bodies overseeing policies for the N.C. Coastal Management Program. The bill, SB 10, has already passed in the state Senate and is expected to make its way through the House before winding up on Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk.

Contributions from freshly-merged Duke Energy and Progress Energy to the SB 10 SPONSORS total $147,000:

3 of 3 primary sponsors: $102,500 from Duke Energy and Progress Energy

  • Sen. Tom Apodaca – $35,000 from Duke and $30,500 from Progress (2002-2012)
  • Sen. K. Neal Hunt – $19,000 from Duke and $12,000 from Progress (2004-2012)
  • Sen. Bill Rabon – $3,000 from Duke and $3,000 from Progress (2010-2012)

4 of 9 co-sponsors: $44,500 from Duke Energy and Progress Energy

  • Sen. Andrew C. Brock – $8,500 from Duke and $2,000 from Progress (2002-2012)
  • Sen. Harry Brown – $14,000 from Duke and $11,000 from Progress (2006-2012)
  • Sen. Thom Goolsby – $1,000 from Duke and $2,000 from Progress (2010-2012)
  • Sen. Louis Pate – $3,000 from Duke and $3,000 from Progress (2008-2010)

While Duke Energy recently shut down a couple old coal plants, it also just started operating a new coal boiler at its Cliffside Steam Station in NC. Duke’s coal pollution already contributed to over 400 deaths in North Carolina each year according to the Clean Air Task Force (see also this map). NC Governor Pat McCrory worked for Duke Energy for 28 years, and has already hired several other former Duke executives for his transition team and cabinet.

Groups like NC Warn and AARP of North Carolina were already concerned about incoming Gov. McCrory’s ability to promote industry-friendly regulators to open positions in the NC Utilities Commission. With SB10 well on its way toward McCrory’s desk, the situation is far more grave than good-government advocates realized.

It appears that between Duke Energy, McCrory’s new multimillionaire budget director Art Pope, and shill groups bankrolled by Pope and the billionaire Koch brothers, North Carolina’s government is co-opted and poised to deliver some serious blows to the state’s environment, the global climate, and the health of people affected by pollution and climate-related disasters.

Duke Energy is Shutting Down Two Coal Plants: What’s Next?

Posted on by

Kumi Naidoo and Greenpeace boat at Riverbend coal plant

Today, Duke Energy, the biggest electric utility in the country, announced that it is shutting down two coal-fired power plants near Charlotte, North Carolina — the Buck and Riverbend plants.

The closures are great news, both for communities in North Carolina who want healthy air and water, and for everyone around the world, since burning coal is the leading U.S. cause of global warming.

Continue reading →

Duke Energy Flip-Flop: ALEC Leads Attack on North Carolina Clean Energy with Duke Funding

Posted on by

Corporate polluters are taking aim this year at states with renewable energy laws, starting with an attack on North Carolina’s clean energy economy by a corporate front group known as ALEC with support from Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries.

NC Rep. Mike Hager: ALEC member and former Duke Energy employee.

North Carolina state Representative Mike Hager says he is confident that he has the votes needed to weaken or undo his state’s clean energy requirements during his second term. Rep. Hager is a former Duke Energy engineer and a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Duke and Progress Energy (now legally merged) have given Rep. Hager $14,500 for his last two election bids, outspent only by the NC Republican Party.

This is where ALEC makes things awkward for Duke Energy: the law that Rep. Mike Hager is targeting (2007 SB3) was created with input from Duke Energy, and Duke explicitly opposes ALEC’s “Electricity Freedom Act,” the model law to repeal state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (REPS). Duke Energy re-asserted its support for North Carolina’s REPS law to the Charlotte Business Journal last April and Progress Energy publicly supported the law before merging with Duke.

Apparently, Duke forgot about supporting North Carolina’s clean energy incentives somewhere along the way. Duke Energy remains a paying member of the American Legislative Exchange Council. Continue reading →

Duke CEO doesn’t deliver on his clean energy talk

Posted on by

 

Greenpeace thermal airship sends a message to Duke Energy's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Yesterday morning, Greenpeace activists Madhura Deshpande, Mike Karnosky, Holly Hanks and I attended the Triangle Business Journal’s Power Breakfast with Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, the largest electric utility in the country.

Greenpeace activists confront Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers

This was Mr. Rogers’ first public appearance in the Triangle since the completion of the massive merger with Progress Energy.   We asked  Mr. Rogers directly about how he could justify asking North Carolina families to pay much more than they do to fund Duke Energy building new dirty coal and nuclear plants.  He avoided the question and tried to make it sound like they were doing more than they are with renewable energy. Continue reading →

You gotta walk the walk to talk the talk, Duke Energy

Posted on by

Greenpeace airship flies over a Duke coal plant in North Carolina

Duke Energy has revamped its logo. With swooping green and blue bands, the new corporate brand seems intended to invoke thoughts of sustainability. But sadly, Duke Energy has done nothing to change its energy mix.  Set to become the largest coal fired utility in the country, Duke relies heavily on a dirty energy cocktail of coal and nuclear energy.

Following it’s controversial merger with Progress Energy earlier this year, Duke clearly felt the need to innovate. But innovation doesn’t come naturally to Duke – its most recent annual report shows a plan for a mere 3% renewable energy by 2032. Continue reading →

Greenpeace, Dow Jones agree: Duke not a global leader in sustainability

Comment

A.E. Bates airship calls out Duke's dirty energy rate hike.

In perhaps the most public rebuke of Duke’s overstuffed environmental rhetoric to date, Dow Jones booted Duke from its list of greenest companies in the world today. As least as far as Dow Jones is concerned, Duke can no longer claim the mantle of ‘global leader’ in sustainability. When it comes to toxic pollution and climate change, Rogers and Duke Energy need to get out of denial and into action on behalf of the more than 7 million households they serve. Continue reading →

DUKE: DUMP ALEC!

Posted on by

Written by Monica Embry, Greenpeace field organizer in Charlotte, NC.

Yesterday, members of Greenpeace, Energy Action Coalition, and other groups sent a message loud and clear to Duke Energy that we want them to dump ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) before the end of the Democratic National Convention.

Group Duke Dump ALEC

ALEC is a rightwing bill mill group that connects corporations with our elected officials
to draft model legislation in support of corporate profits over the welfare of people and our planet. ALEC has written legislation including Arizona’s racist immigration law SB1070, Stand Your Ground Laws relating to the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida, and many voter suppression laws such as Voter ID here in North Carolina. But that’s not all, ALEC also has an Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force which is working on legislation to stop regulation of coal fired power plants and to prevent laws from being passed that support renewable energy. Continue reading →

Greenpeace at the DNC: Day 2

Posted on by

Greenpeace calls on Democrats to cut ties with Duke Energy

It’s a very different feeling today at the convention that it was yesterday. The Occupy rally rattled a few cages, the good people from Undocubus got out of jail today, and there was a great protest outside of a Southern Company sponsored event. I think that the delegates are getting the message.

To quote today’s Greenwire headline, “Democrats and the energy industry…it’s complicated.”

Well, it’s less complicated than they may think.

This is Duke Energy’s convention and CEO Jim Rogers is the star. Despite ringing this city in four coal and two nuclear power plants, they’ve still managed to escape a good deal of scrutiny. No doubt they are greenwashing every chance they get; including a full publication that given to every member of the press upon arriving at the convention.

That’s a full-on sham if you ask me. So, we’ve had to ramp up the pressure a bit and asked a couple of other folks. Chuck Schumer said they should drop ALEC. So did Dick Durbin. So did 150,000 people from around the country.

What else could we do? Activists in Ohio and right here in North Carolina delivered those petitions right to their doorstep. Then, along with our friends over at Energy Action Coalition, we walked on over and asked Mr. Rogers if he is ready to leave ALEC. He said he’s heard us loud and clear and are making a decision as we speak.

People want Duke Energy out of ALEC. Sounds like it’s time for that “leadership” that Duke speaks about so often.

Leaving ALEC is a first step. Then, maybe they’ll be freed up a bit from the corporate scandals, utility commission hearings and DNC planning to stop using blown-up mountains to power ancient coal plants. Live up to their own sustainability rhetoric – then I’m sure you’d both Duke and the Democrats would have a more inclusive, less confrontational convention space inside a clean, green, renewable Charlotte.

By being a leader, Duke Energy can make this convention less of a locked down security space and more of an opportunity for real change in America.