Duke Energy
If you're reading this right now you're probably not in downtown Chapel Hill or Carrboro. Almost 6,000 homes and business are curently without power, all the way from UNC to Estes Drive Extension (lights out at Sewell School Road). I heard on WCHL that UNC Hospitals are currently operating on generators.
Duke Power reports 5,782 customers without power at the moment (about 9 am) and their map shows that the problem is localized to the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area.
A short story posted today on WRAL.com describes how Durham has entered into an agreement to install internal combustion engines and generators at their landfill. Duke Energy will subsequently buy the power generated which is estimated to be sufficient to serve 1600 homes.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday that a deal with
Methane Power Inc. will allow Charlotte-based Duke Energy to begin
buying up to two megawatts of power generated by the landfill beginning
next year.
- WRAL.com: Duke to turn Durham landfill gas into electricity, 8/7/08
Wouldn't it be nice if Orange County did something similar (which a number of OP posters have been advocating for over the last several years) and then specifically directed the funds generated by the sale of those rights to improvements to the Rogers Road community? It would at least be a start to repaying those folks for the sacrifices they have borne.
I know as a long time observer of campaign finance issues, it is rare that a major corporate political action committee gives to an incumbent’s opponent in a primary. So I noted with interest that Duke Energy’s PAC gave Senator Ellie Kinnaird’s opponent $2000 in this primary. Ellie was the only state senator to vote against Senate Bill 3 which, although sold as renewable energy bill, was hijacked by the utilities so that it shifted most of the financial risk for building new coal and nuclear plants to the ratepayers.
Ellie saw this bill clearly for what it was, spoke out strongly against it, and clearly incurred the wrath of Duke Energy. As Democracy NC found in its research, in the four years ending in 2006, Duke Energy and Progress Energy averaged investments of $10,000 per North Carolina legislator in campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures.
It doesn’t work with our good senator. She represents us instead. Let’s keep it that way.
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