monopoly

September 1, 2021 - The same North Carolina law firm that successfully took on Smithfield Foods' hog farm pollution is now representing a group of plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Tennessee-based hospital company HCA, owner of Asheville's Mission Health System. The suit — which claims the company has monopolized the regional health care market in a way that's hurting patients and caregivers — comes amid heightened scrutiny of health care monopolies.

August 20, 2021 - A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists finds an "alarming" level of concentration in Arkansas's chicken industry. Facing South spoke with the report's author about the implications of such high levels of concentration for farmers, workers, and consumers, and possible policy solutions.

January 28, 2020 - With Southern states' monopoly electric utilities clinging to a business model that's worsening the climate crisis, polluting the environment, and costing consumers dearly, there's growing interest in opening markets to competition. While a ballot initiative to end Florida's electricity monopoly was recently rejected by the state Supreme Court, there are efforts underway to end Virginia's monopoly system and to study the question in the Carolinas.

October 23, 2019 - Officials in Tennessee and Virginia allowed a hospital monopoly to form on the borders of their states, promising that any negative effects would be counteracted by state regulation. But is that realistic?

May 9, 2019 - The nation's largest investor-owned utility was recently named the worst for the environment. But changes recently proposed for the utility regulatory commission by the governor in the company's home state of North Carolina could push Duke in a more environmentally sustainable direction.

March 28, 2019 - In 2001, the U.S. nuclear industry began hyping plans for new commercial reactor construction, which had skidded to a halt after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. But utilities' ambitious and expensive plans have fallen apart, leaving ratepayers in some Southern states forking over millions of dollars for nothing.

March 1, 2019 - A new coalition seeks to end Duke Energy's electric monopoly in North Carolina in hopes of hastening the shift to clean energy. There's also an effort underway to bring competition to the electricity market in Florida, where Duke operates as a regional monopoly.