Duke Energy asks the EPA to let it release more emissions

Duke Energy recently announced plans to replace several coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired stations at two North Carolina sites by 2029. Now, it’s joined nine other power companies in asking newly-confirmed EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to weaken environmental regulations regarding natural gas and coal ash. 

Environmental advocates in North Carolina are angry after Duke Energy and nine other utility and power companies penned a letter to newly-confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin requesting that environmental regulations regarding natural gas and coal ash be weakened.

The companies allege in their letter, without citing any evidence, that stronger EPA rules for the fossil fuel industry “individually and collectively threaten the reliability of the power grid, jeopardize national security, are a drag on economic growth, increase inflation, and hinder the expansion of electric power generation to support the critical development and deployment of artificial intelligence and related technologies.”

The regulations Duke and other companies are targeting help protect water and air from toxic chemicals, as well as reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. They were enacted under previous administrator Michael Regan, of the Biden-Harris administration.

The companies have specifically asked that Zeldin rescind or postpone the EPA’s greenhouse gas rule, which was enacted last year and aims to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. They also ask that Zeldin begin formally repealing most of the rule’s provisions.

“They’re taking the first available opportunity to try to push back protections,” Mikaela Curry, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign manager, told Inside Climate News. “To me, it just confirms the worst fears in these communities that given any opportunity, Duke will just do whatever they can to advance their own interests, regardless of what the cost is to us on the ground.”

The rule directly affects Duke Energy because it requires the company to limit its emissions or install carbon capture technology at a number of new gas plants the company is constructing in both Person and Catawba County.

Duke recently announced plans to replace several coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired stations at the two North Carolina sites by 2029. Two of the four coal-fired units at Person County’s Roxboro plant will specifically be replaced with gas-fired combined cycle units, according to the NC Utilities Commission. Two of the four coal-fired units at Catawba County’s Marshall plant will be replaced by a pair of gas-fired combustion turbines as well.

Duke has argued that it must use gas during its transition away from coal in order to meet rising demand for energy, much to the dismay of the environmental community, which has argued for a faster move to clean energy sources like solar and wind power.

The approval for the new gas-fired plants came as part of regulators’ efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and switching to natural gas at the Roxboro plant, for example, will result in reductions of sulfur dioxide by 3,676 tons and nitrogen oxide by 4,130 tons per year. But both projects would actually lead to a significant overall increase in total greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are disappointed that the two permits have been granted and we’re hopeful that steps can be taken to address what we see as unfortunately an increasing trend for more and more gas to be built out in our state, which is contrary to what state law requires and is contrary to the state’s overall clean transition objectives,” Munashe Magarira, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, told The News & Observer.

North Carolina leaders passed a law in 2021 that requires major utilities like Duke to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which means ensuring the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activity is equal to the amount absorbed from the atmosphere. The NC Utilities Commission recently approved Duke’s bid to extend that 2030 deadline until at least 2032.

Several energy interests have already sued the EPA over the greenhouse gas rule, and the DC Circuit could soon rule on the case. In the letter, the companies ask that Zeldin direct the Justice Department to file a motion with the court to suspend the deliberations and send the rule back to the EPA.

“Deadlines are approaching, and states and regulated entities will be forced soon to make choices that may be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse,” the letter reads.

Weakening coal ash regulations would also be beneficial for these companies, including Duke, as coal ash is currently used on site at its plants as landfill cover for new basins, for example. Because of this “beneficial” use, the companies believe they should be exempt from federal coal ash regulations.

“The EPA should apply the same exemption to all beneficial uses, whether off-site or on-site,” the companies wrote.

Duke also used to provide ash for structural fill to private developers in North Carolina, but no longer does as there were several instances where the ash Duke provided to these developers became exposed after the pavement eroded or sinkholes formed in parking lots.

If Zeldin honors the coal ash request, the rollback of these environmental regulations would not affect Duke’s evacuation plan for its 31 unlined coal ash ponds in North Carolina. The company is legally responsible for the evacuation of those ponds, which account for roughly 126 million tons of ash. Currently, 11 of the basins have been evacuated and deadlines for the remaining sites range from 2028 to 2037.

Zeldin himself has also advocated for unleashing fossil fuel production, indicating that he could also honor the companies’ request to rescind the EPA’s greenhouse gas rule.

Jim Warren, executive director of NC WARN, which is paying for the lawsuit filed by the Town of Carrboro against Duke Energy over the impacts of climate change, also wrote a letter to Zeldin calling Duke’s reversal over its compliance with environmental standards “reckless and tragic.”

“Duke Energy is again leading a campaign to extend and expand the use of fossil fuels despite the devastating impacts on communities and the climate crisis,” his letter reads.

That lawsuit is the result of a report by the Energy and Policy Institute which found that Duke Energy was privy to warnings regarding climate change as far back as the 1970s, but chose to join in on disinformation campaigns in the 90s which both denied the science that showed humans were driving climate change and opposed national and international legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Curry told Inside Climate News that if she were to write Zeldin a letter, she would try to appeal to his sense of duty as a public servant.

“[The] EPA is supposed to work on behalf of the people, not massive energy companies pushing their dirty agenda,” she said she would write. “We already know that the toxic heavy metals and other pollutants found in coal ash are linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and can inflict permanent brain damage on children.”

“I would urge Zeldin to consider whether he wants the legacy of his work to be serving the interests of polluters at the cost of life and health to people across our country,” she added.