At a five-hour hearing conducted by the North Carolina Utilities Commission last night, every speaker except those representing the Council of Independent Business Owners and Biltmore Farms objected to rate hikes proposed by Progress Energy. The speakers’ reasons for opposition ranged from the impact of the rate increases on the working poor to projected environmental damage. Photo by Max Cooper
The North Carolina Utilities Commission wants to hear from you: On Tuesday, March 5, the commission will hold a local public hearing on Progress Energy Carolinas’ request to raise residential, commercial and industrial electricity rates by an average of 12 percent.
CWNC will host a rate-hike rally in Pritchard Park this Saturday, Jan. 26, in opposition to Duke Energy’s plan to raise utility rates by 18 percent.
The most-viewed news at mountainx.com this past week: A roundup of Asheville City Council’s Dec. 11 actions, which included approving pub cycles and reviewing the city’s study of the possible merger of the water system with the Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Progress Energy, the biggest electric company serving homes in Buncombe County recently merged with Duke Energy, making it the largest utility company in the U.S. And it’s coming under fire from a variety of groups including the AARP, which is urging residents to fight against rate hikes.
Around 70 people in a variety of oar-powered boats took to the waters of Lake Julian to protest the continued use of coal at the Arden power plant. (photo by Bill Rhodes)
Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club’s ‘Beyond Coal’ campaign, spoke at the May 23 Green Drinks. His goal: Start a local conversation about retiring Progress Energy’s plant in Skyland and get WNC off coal for good.
Greenpeace activists supplied this shot of their morning mission to climb a coal-supply ramp and hoist a banner calling for Progress and Duke Energy to “stop destroying mountains.”
Would you like to live just 60 miles from a nuclear reactor that could shatter "like a glass cup?" You may have that opportunity if you're an Asheville-area resident and the proposed William States Lee III Nuclear Plant near Gaffney Units 1 and 2 is allowed to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a […]
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that “the Proposed Transaction … will thereby have an adverse effect on competition” and gave the utilities 60 days to remedy the identified problems.
Less than 1,000 Progress Energy customers remain without power this morning, April 5, in the Asheville area. Further east, Duke Energy reported that more than 250,000 customers were without power as of 6:20 a.m. Severe thunderstorms swept through the area Monday night, and crews are assessing the damage.
Image taken from Progress Energy outage map
The two power companies will merge, retaining Duke’s name. The merger — if approved by state and federal regulatory agencies later this year — brings 7.1 million customers into the fold for one company.
The WNC Regional Air Quality Agency (WNCRAQA) announced its intent today to modify the permit for the Asheville Steam Electric Plant, located in Arden. The permit controls how much pollutants the plant can legally put into the air.
Here’s a round-up of environmental news that affects Western North Carolina, from local issues to national news we’ve been tracking.
The Environmental Protection Agency lists two coal-ash-storage dams in Buncombe among similar high-hazard structures in North Carolina and the U.S. But there’s no indication the two dams — each about 90 feet high and located just off Interstate 26 near Arden — present an immediate danger.
Elevated arsenic levels have been found in a preliminary sampling of water and sediment collected downstream from Progress Energy’s Skyland power plant and coal-ash pond. A water sample taken from an unnamed French Broad River tributary nearby contained arsenic at slightly above the permissible level for surface waters—and seven times higher than the U.S. Environmental […]
If you flip on a light switch in the Asheville metropolitan area, you’re drawing power from Progress Energy’s Skyland plant.
The catastrophic failure of a retaining wall near Knoxville, Tenn., last month has shined a spotlight on the lack of regulation of toxic coal ash from power plants.
A Progress Energy spokesperson reports that the coal-ash storage ponds at its Asheville plant are closely monitored and safe.
Developer Stewart Coleman apparently thinks to use a legal loophole to do an end run around public and City Council opposition to his proposed Parkside condos adjacent to City Hall. Here’s what’s wrong with this picture: Aside from the litany of serious problems with his plans, citizen scrutiny of Parkside this past year has exposed […]
