Duke Energy

February 13, 2013 - As commissioners consider whether to approve Duke Energy's controversial electric generation plan, the legislature wants to fire all of them and let Gov. Pat McCrory appoint a new slate. But given McCrory's longstanding ties to -- and ongoing investments in -- the utility giant, watchdogs say that represents a serious conflict of interest.

February 4, 2013 - Critics say the president's plan for a new nonprofit group to push his second-term agenda opens the door to influence by corporations and other big donors.

January 29, 2013 - An environmental watchdog group has petitioned the N.C. Attorney General to reopen the probe into the controversial Duke-Progress merger, pointing to CEO Jim Rogers' newspaper interview in which he contradicted official testimony and described what sounds like illegal secret talks with state regulators during merger settlement negotiations.

January 15, 2013 - Corporate polluters are taking aim this year at states with renewable energy laws, starting with an attack on North Carolina's law by a corporate front group supported by Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries.

January 11, 2013 - The Koch brother from another mother overseeing the state budget. A man found guilty of assaulting children running the Department of Public Safety. A science skeptic chosen to protect the environment. What is Gov. Pat McCrory thinking?

January 2, 2013 - Speaking today at the N.C. Bankers Association's 2013 Economic Forecast Forum, incoming Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said he would waste no time in joining with Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia to begin negotiating with the federal government to drill offshore for gas and oil.

December 6, 2012 - The N.C. Utilities Commission and attorney general have settled their probes into Duke Energy's controversial $32 billion merger with Progress Energy. But a watchdog group calls the settlements a "sell-out of the public" and says it will continue to fight the merger in court.