clean energy
July 27, 2023 -
As the South becomes a hub for electric vehicle production, local resistance to a new Rivian plant in Georgia raises questions about who stands to benefit from these developments.
December 1, 2021 -
Born of the New Deal's anti-poverty initiatives, rural electric cooperatives today serve 42 million Americans, most in the South, Midwest, and Great Plains. They still depend heavily on coal, but the $1.8 trillion spending bill passed by the House has a provision giving billions of dollars to speed their transition to renewables. Will it survive corporate Democrats' obstructionism in the Senate?
August 18, 2021 -
Warning that human activity continues to intensify global warming, the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also says the most dangerous effects can still be avoided if we act now. But the South's two worst climate-polluting electric utilities — Duke Energy and Southern Company — are dragging their feet with transition plans that don't do nearly enough to curb heat-trapping emissions.
January 29, 2021 -
Tied for the hottest year on record globally, 2020 also brought the most $1 billion disasters ever in the U.S., and they took a disproportionate toll on the South's most vulnerable communities. With most states in the region controlled by a party whose platform downplays climate change, environmental advocates are looking to the new president for help. Here's what the Biden administration has done so far.
November 27, 2018 -
Two environmental advocacy groups have filed a petition with the N.C. Utilities Commission calling on regulators to bar the electric utility monopoly from spending millions of dollars a year collected from captive customers to promote its political interests.
March 16, 2017 -
While the state has seen political battles over promoting renewable energy, voters across the partisan spectrum — including Trump supporters — agree that it should. They're also united in their objection to Duke Energy's coal ash cleanup plans and monopoly status and want to see the state's energy market opened to competition.
December 4, 2014 -
The U.N. global climate talks are no longer just about emissions limits and trends. The annual negotiations that got underway this week in Peru have also become the most visible effort to address social justice and human rights.
