Senate Bill 266 Not Only Threatens Our Climate Goals – It Could Hurt Hard-Working North Carolinians’ Bank Accounts
Recently, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 266 (SB 266), which could raise ratepayers’ energy bills while gutting our state’s clean energy goals. Governor Stein stood up for hard-working North Carolinians and vetoed SB 266.
Now, it goes back to lawmakers who will choose to side with their constituents or greedy polluters like Duke Energy.
Tell Your Lawmakers to Protect Our Wallets and Our Climate!
Protecting Our Wallets
Wealthy polluters want us to think that clean energy sources are more expensive, but solar and wind energy are now 50% cheaper than energy produced by fossil fuels. Additionally, an independent study found SB 266 would cost ratepayers $23 billion by 2050. This bill also puts ratepayers on the hook for covering the cost for energy plants before they even are operational, even if they never come online. Delayed projects in Georgia ran $16 billion over budget. Likewise, in South Carolina, hard-working families are still paying for a $9 billion project that was cancelled in 2017.
So why are lawmakers trying to pass a bill that could make us more dependent on fossil fuels? Because greedy polluters – like Duke Energy – make huge profits on fossil fuels, and less on renewable energy. As a monopoly, Duke Energy prioritizes its shareholders rather than their energy customers.
Protecting Our Climate
With Congress passing Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, the responsibility to lead on climate falls squarely on the states. In North Carolina, that means taking bold action to create clean energy jobs, improve public health, and protect our communities from worsening natural disasters. This bill moves in the wrong direction.
SB 266 would remove the 2030 climate goal to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2050. At a time when we are seeing devastating floods and record-breaking heat, we need more laws addressing the climate crisis, not fewer. And despite what Duke Energy and other wealthy corporations may say, we can have clean and affordable energy. As previously mentioned, eliminating the 2030 target would cost North Carolina ratepayers an extra $23 billion by 2050.
