Two Items from CCNC: Enforcements and Duke Energy

Enforcement Update: Get the Dirt on Chronic Violators

Get the dirt on chronic violators of air, water, and sedimentation control permits near you. CCNC’s website now features details on environmental permit violations, organized by state legislative district. Water and sedimentation information is ready now; air data is coming.

Go to http://www.conservationcouncilnc.org/Enforcement/ to dig the dirt nearest you. If you’re concerned by what you find, the format makes it easy to pass along your concerns to the legislators representing your area. They may be surprised by what’s happening in their backyards. CCNC Enforcement Coordinator Robin K. Smith put much work into collecting and sorting this information, which will also be used for the sedimentation control enforcement campaign involving the Watershed Alliance and Muddy Water Watch.

Administrative Watch: Price Jump Undermines Plant Backing

North Carolina Public Staff Director Robert Gruber is having second thoughts about Duke Energy’s proposal to build two new coal-fired power plant units at its Cliffside location. Gruber’s position shift is a result of heightened “sticker shock”: Duke publicly revealed this week that the plants’ estimated price tag has gone up to $3 billion. (Its original announced cost estimate—just two months ago—was $2 billion.)

According to the Raleigh News & Observer this week (11/17/06), the N.C. Utilities Commission was preparing to rule this year on Duke’s application for approval to build the plants, but in light of the 50% jump in their projected price tag, has scheduled more hearings for January 17, 2007. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (an opponent of the Cliffside proposal) told the N&O, “The credibility of Duke has been called into question when they missed the mark by $1 billion.”

Duke is also proposing the construction of two new nuclear power reactors at a (currently) estimated cost of $4 to 6 billion. With prices like these, conservationists’ contention that we need first to consider what we can do to reduce electric demand through energy efficiency and renewable energy resources keeps looking better and better.