Goliath Power wants the little guy hammered hard. This week in CIB.

Administrative Watch: Duke Asks NCUC to Hammer Citizen Group

For their temerity in providing cheap electricity to a low-income church, utility goliath Duke Energy wants a nonprofit citizen group hit with fines up to $120,000.

The clean energy advocacy group NC WARN (Waste Awareness and Reduction Network) has created a “test case” for state law that bars one private party from selling electricity to another, without going through the regulated utility (Duke Energy) first. NC WARN installed a solar electric panels system on the roof of Faith Community Church in Greensboro. Instead of charging the church the large up-front cost of the system (which would have been perfectly legal), NC WARN retained ownership of the system and lets the church buy the electricity it produces. (Like many modest-income community institutions, the church could not have bought the system itself without hardship.)

NC WARN made no attempt to hide the transaction. It supports the concept of third-party sales from solar installations (as do a wide range of other groups and many legislators from both parties), on the grounds that it makes the systems more affordable to more community users. It publicly announced the project and petitioned the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) to allow the not-for-profit transaction.

No one familiar with the economic politics of electric utilities expected Duke to support this approach. But it seemed only reasonable to most observers to let the Utilities Commission settle it in a straightforward manner. NC WARN said that if they lost their case they would simply give the system to the church and let them own and run it for themselves.

Therefore, it was high-profile news when Duke’s response was not just to oppose the petition, but also to ask that the NCUC impose a fine of “up to $1,000” per day against the nonprofit.

Duke’s deputy general counsel, Lawrence B. Somers, wrote, “It is ironic that NC WARN, an anti-utility advocacy group, has asked the commission for exemption from any regulation when it has admitted acting unlawfully as an unauthorized and unregulated utility itself.”

Duke’s response strikes many as a case of abusive attempted intimidation against a group which has often criticized it on other policy matters. NC WARN’s Jim Warren responded, “Duke Energy is entitled to disagree with us, but seeking to financially hammer this 27-year-old nonprofit is more proof that Goliath wants neither competition, criticism, nor scrutiny.”

Multiple other parties – from other utilities to other clean energy groups – have filed formal comments in the case before the NCUC. The various filings can be reviewed here.

Public comments can be filed until November 20. Comments should reference NCUC Docket SP-100 Sub 31, and should be directed to the specific issues and merits of this case. The NCUC email address for comments is statements@ncuc.net.

We think NC WARN has the better of this debate, and hope that the NCUC will slap down Duke’s bullying behavior. In fact: Hey Duke, why don’t you pick on someone your own size? Oh, that’s right: As the nation’s largest electric utility, there isn’t anyone else your size – and you mean to keep it that way.

Executive Watch: McCrory Administration Denies Protecting Polluters; EMC Sends Designed-to-fail Plan to Public Review

McCrory Administration Denies Protecting Polluters: When they make a special video response denying a charge, you know they’re feeling stung. In this case, the McCrory Administration rolled out a recorded pitch from a long-term regulatory staff member to deny that the new Polluter Protection Act would favor polluters or jeopardize streams, groundwater, clean air, or public health.

Unfortunately for their argument, most of the pitch is more political puffery than substantive rebuttal. To fully interpret some of the excuses given, it’s helpful to have a working familiarity with the details of the real changes made in the law. For example, the innocent-sounding “creates efficiencies by aligning North Carolina requirements and federal regulations that previously overlapped” and “removing uncertainty about overlapping state and federal Clean Water Act requirements by establishing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the sole authority on intermittent streams near surface waters” translate in reality into repealing important, long-established state clean water protections that go beyond weak federal minimums. In other words, they’re euphemisms for this administration’s ongoing abandonment of the environmental protections established under previous governors of both parties.

In the video, DEQ Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder also blames “misinformation” about the law on citizen conservation advocates: “Environmental special interest groups are fear-mongering to further their political agenda, and the Regulatory Reform Act is at the center of their campaign.”

Sorry, friend. Especially given your department’s recent track record of sweetheart deals with major pollution dischargers, name-calling and bashing citizen accountability groups does little to reassure either conservation advocates or the general public.

EMC Sends Designed-to-fail Plan to Public Review: Rejecting public calls to keep a normal review process and consider alternatives before acting, the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) last week waived the advance review period for the DEQ’s “plan” in response to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan rule. Instead, the DEQ proposal (which conservationists see as designed to be rejected by the EPA as inadequate) was sent without meaningful study or review direct to public hearings in December and January.

Washington Watch: Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline

National environmental and clean energy groups were celebrating last Friday after the Obama Administration issued its long-awaited decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama announced that he was rejecting TransCanada’s application for a pipeline permit.

“America’s now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” said President Obama. “And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.” The statements by Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made clear that they had accepted the analysis that Keystone would support increased carbon emissions, and was incompatible with American efforts to control climate change.

Keystone would have transported oil produced from bitumen, an energy-intensive process that produces more carbon emissions than regular oil production. The strip-mining to obtain the bitumen also devastates large tracts of Canadian boreal forest.

The national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) issued a statement from LCV president Gene Karpinski: “With this historic decision President Obama has cemented his legacy as a true champion in the fight against climate change. The President is showing the world that our country is committed to a clean energy future that will limit carbon pollution and protect the health of our kids and future generations. We couldn’t be more thrilled that this extremely thorough process has finally reached the right conclusion. Kudos to President Obama and Secretary Kerry.”

The decision to reject Keystone was announced in time to build momentum for climate control action going into this year’s round of international negotiations, beginning in Paris later this month.

Campaign Watch: Voters Still Enthusiastic About Green Infrastructure

North Carolina’s municipal elections this past week produced a mixed bag of interesting results that have political junkies buzzing, but one point seemed clear: voters are still enthusiastic about supporting green infrastructure.

The only public bond referendum on the ballot in the state this month was in Orange County, where the City of Chapel Hill asked voters to approve $40 million in bonds for a variety of project types. It was Chapel Hill’s first bond referendum in 12 years.

Included were $5 million for trails and greenways, $16 million mainly for sidewalks, streetscapes, and bike and pedestrian safety, $8 million for parks and recreation, and $6 million for stormwater management. All received voter approvals of 70% plus. Any candidate would be happy with margins like those.

That’s our report for this week.