Greedy Duke Energy owner: "raise consumer's rates to pay for cleanup"

zappasguitar

Well-known member
They are allowed to bleed their customers dry by repeatedly raising rates, but by GOD they shouldn't have to pay for cleaning up their own mistakes.


Duke president says removing toxic ash would cost $10 billion and take decades which is "too much"


In a galling an arrogant presentation Duke Energy president Paul Newton told North Carolina lawmakers that "removing all of the company's coal ash away from the state's rivers and lakes would take decades and cost up to $10 billion," nearly all of which would be paid for by electricity customers. Duke Energy to lawmakers: Moving toxic coal ash costs too much

In a presentation to a state legislative committee, Duke's North Carolina president Paul Newton suggested the company needs flexibility to consider more cost-efficient options. The company's proposal is to remove the coal ash from unlined dumps at four of its power plants, but then leave much of what is stored at 10 other sites in place after covering it with plastic and soil.

Environmental groups are calling for new legislation requiring Duke to move all of its coal ash to lined landfills away from waterways following the massive Feb. 2 spill from a collapsed pipe in Eden that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge.

State officials say all of Duke's 33 unlined dumps at 14 coal-fired power plants scattered across the state are oozing out contaminants into groundwater. All told, Duke has more than 100 million tons of the ash, which contains potentially harmful chemicals including arsenic, lead, mercury and chromium.

While the company said it will pay for for the recent spill cleanup it may ask regulators to raise consumer's electric rates for any additional costs of cleaning up its other sites.

To help illustrate the potential challenge and expense of moving all the company's ash, Newton showed a graphic of what it would take to clear out the 22 million pounds stored at the Marshall Steam Station on Lake Norman, near Charlotte. If workers hauled away a dump truck full every three minutes for 12 hours a day, six days a week, Newton said it would take 30 years to remove all the ash from just that one facility.

Duke energy is a Fortune 500 company whose profits last year were $2.7 billion dollars. An alternative proposal for mismanaged and improperly disposed of coal ash which seems to have been going on at least since 1950, if not well before, from what I can gather, would be to garnish the next 4 years of profits.

Duke Energy has made no compelling argument for why North Carolina's electric customers should have to bear the responsibility for whatever combination of incompetence or malfeasance was the root causes of this disaster.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/...ke-decades-which-is-too-much?detail=facebook#
 
It's dumb to move all the ash to other sites. In most cases it is best left alone. This is why environmental policy should be left to scientists and engineers, not goofy politicians and their minions.

Duke is a regulated utility, Zippygetard. That means that their prices, and therefore their profit, is regulated. It's not like there is a mountain of cash sitting around. So all of these costs will be passed on to consumers. Every. Red. Cent.
 
Last edited:
bilde
 
too big to fail, public service requires public funds, and democrats should be honored and privileged to pay extra taxes for these public services.
 
:rofl2:

How can you call Duke Energy Greedy???

They are the same evil corporation that loaned the DNC the money to put on the Democrat convention in North Carolina, and then later told them not to worry about repaying the $10 million they borrowed.

[h=1]Duke Energy To Forgive $10 Million Line Of Credit To DNC[/h]
The Democratic National Committee will not have to repay the full $10 million line of credit from Duke Energy -- the country’s largest electric power company -- used to fund the 2012 Democratic National Convention, contradicting the committee’s self-imposed prohibition on corporate funding for the Charlotte-based event.


Duke Energy, which is headquartered in Charlotte, announced Thursday that it would forgive the Democratic Party of its unpaid loans, instead leaving shareholders to cover $6 million, according to the Charlotte Observer.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/duke-energy-dnc_n_2791867.html
 
which is what they are doing... putting the cost of clean up into the cost of energy.

If Duke Energy had done their jobs properly, and not tried to increase profits by cutting corners, then they wouldn't have to add the costs of cleanup into the cost of energy.

Lax regulations giving Duke Energy the leeway to freely pollute the surrounding area and Federal agencies left hamstrung without the financial resources to properly police the company led to this problem and Duke Energy should be responsible for it's costs.
 
If Duke Energy had done their jobs properly, and not tried to increase profits by cutting corners, then they wouldn't have to add the costs of cleanup into the cost of energy.

Lax regulations giving Duke Energy the leeway to freely pollute the surrounding area and Federal agencies left hamstrung without the financial resources to properly police the company led to this problem and Duke Energy should be responsible for it's costs.
You don't understand the basics here. Duke is a regulated utility, so its profits are regulated. And they followed the law at the time as to the disposal of the ash. You would have a point if you insisted that the regulators should p[ay for the cleanup, but you're so greedy that you want anyone other than the consumer- the only one actually liable for the cost- to foot the bill.
 
Back
Top