Free Republic

A driver tried to crash through the exit gates of a South Carolina nuclear plant Thursday night about an hour after security asked the same car to leave when it tried to enter, authorities said. A pop-up security barrier stopped the car with an Arkansas license plate at the Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca around 8 p.m., Oconee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Watt said in a statement. The driver backed up and tried to drive down a dirt road as Duke Energy security tried to block him in. The driver tried to hit the guards, then drove through a fence...

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation following a concerning incident at the Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina on Thursday night. At approximately 8:05 p.m. on Thursday, deputies from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office responded immediately to an emergency call from the Oconee Nuclear Station. An unknown individual had reportedly driven a car through the exit side of the facility’s gate, facing Highway 183, FOX Carolina reported. According to on-site accounts, following the unauthorized entry, the facility’s security systems activated pop-up barricades designed to immobilize intruding vehicles. The rogue driver, however, managed to reverse the vehicle upon encountering...

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- More than 30,000 Duke Energy customers spent a second straight day in Moore County without any power with temperatures in the 40s and 50s. The widespread power outage was caused Saturday night when someone intentionally opened fire and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to two of the county's power stations. In an update Monday afternoon, Gov. Roy Cooper led a news conference with other officials. They did not reveal any new details about the motive behind the attack. SEE ALSO: Drag artist vows to return to Moore County despite recent show ending early...

The term "pedestrian" has a derogatory meaning because peasants walked while nobles were "equestrians" and rode horses. The industrial revolution eliminated this class difference, as it did so many others, by making car ownership available to the masses until eventually Herbert Hoover was able to boast that "Republican prosperity has reduced and increased earning capacity” to "put the proverbial 'chicken in every pot' and a car in every backyard to boot." Democrats have spent two generations trying to get those cars out of every backyard. Biden is trying to bring back Obama's mileage standards that were estimated to raise car...

Duke Energy Corporation warned Thursday that coal and natural gas supplies would be tight this winter, resulting in higher power prices for customers. Duke operates a diverse mix of power plants – including coal, hydro, natural gas, nuclear, solar, and wind – and battery storage facilities across several regions and states, including the Carolinas, Florida, and Midwest. Duke Energy CFO Steve Young said coal and natural gas prices are the highest since 2014, and these two essential commodities are in short supply. "It's been a while," since we've seen commodity prices like this."The winter of 2014, we had a very...

Duke Energy Florida is continuing their mission to bring cleaner, cost-effective energy to consumers, breaking ground on several new solar sites in the Sunshine State. The company made the announcement on Tuesday, stating that they would be constructing new solar power facilities in Manatee and Hardee counties. The new sites, which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021, is expected to create approximately 200 to 300 temporary jobs. Additionally, the plants will generate quiet, carbon free energy that will bring tax benefits to the counties. The Florida utility company, a subsidiary of Duke Energy headquartered in Charlotte,...

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden's pick for energy secretary, could pocket up to $5 million for stepping down from a prominent position with a Silicon Valley energy company. Granholm will relinquish her spot on the board of Proterra, Inc., an electric-vehicles manufacturer, if she is confirmed by Congress. She will also sell off all stocks in the company, resulting in a windfall. Disclosure forms show that Granholm's stock in Proterra is valued between $1 and $5 million. She will also divest from other energy companies, including First Solar, a solar-panel company, and Duke Energy, an electric company....

If we expect to create a prosperous future fueled by low-cost, clean energy, it’s time to recalibrate the way we think about renewables. That requires us to move beyond the once cutting-edge view that solar power is a key ingredient in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Ironically, a frequent target of environmentalists, Duke Energy, is showing us that’s not the case. In fact, Duke documents show the negative impact of deploying solar power on the electric grid.

Big Upstate manufacturers stand ready to challenge Duke Energy if the Charlotte-based power company asks South Carolina regulators for permission to raise rates on its Upstate customers. Duke announced Aug. 25 that it planned to cancel decade-old plans to build the two-reactor Gaffney plant. Scott Elliott, a Columbia lawyer who specializes in utility regulation, has already picked out arguments he intends to make on behalf of manufacturing clients in opposition to the expected rate hike request. Elliott represents the S.C. Energy Users Committee, a group of manufacturers that buy a lot of electricity. The group includes big Upstate employers such...

Why Trump may be costing Democrats millions for their convention The GOP is struggling to raise cash from corporate donors, and now Democrats are feeling the pinch. By Anna Palmer and Brianna Gurciullo 04/18/16 05:34 AM EDT Republicans have been struggling for months in the shadow of Donald Trump to get corporate sponsors to pony up for their convention. Now Democratic fundraisers are feeling their pain, too. Several Fortune 500 companies — including Bank of America, Duke Energy and Time Warner —are taking a pass on chipping in for the Democratic convention in Philadelphia or, with just 100 days to...

Duke Energy seeks nearly $2 million in Florida electricity rate hikes to pay for a new power plant made necessary by environmental restrictions. The electricity rate hikes became necessary as environmental restrictions force the closing of two coal power plants providing Floridians with inexpensive electricity. ... Aided by $10 million in campaign spending by billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, the Charlie Crist campaign is hammering Gov. Rick Scott for not imposing still more stringent power plant restrictions, above and beyond those imposed by the federal government. Steyer and Crist say Florida should impose state-specific power plant restrictions that would close...

Last week’s punishment/settlement between the Department of Justice andDuke Energy over bird deaths caused by itswindturbines gives evidence that the Obama administration needed a scapegoat, to defuse accusations that it applies a double-standard in enforcement of wildlife laws. The Friday before Thanksgiving both parties announced that Duke would pay $1 million for the deaths of more than 160 birds that are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The incidents occurred over the last four years at two Wyoming sites operated by the utility’s Duke Energy Renewables subsidiary. “This case represents the first criminal conviction under the Migratory Bird Treaty...

The “war on coal” has five new casualties. A lawsuit brought by environmental groups has forced the shutdown of five Indiana coal-fired power plants by 2018, totalling 668 megawatts of power. ... “While today’s settlement is a step in the right direction, more must be done to ensure that Hoosier families are protected from rising energy bills and the enormous health threats posed by Indiana’s reliance on coal-fired power plants,” said Jodi Perras with the Sierra Club’s anti-coal campaign. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have been targeting coal plants nationwide for retirement, which they say contribute to global...

Apple's pretty products do a good job distracting from the bleak reality of how they're made. As we've learned from the Foxconn debacle, that means sub-standard working conditions. But it's not just people that are affected, but also the environment. Built to support iCloud, Apple's new billion-dollar data center in Maiden, North Carolina is another strike against the world's most valuable company. In fact, the behemoth, which is one of the largest such facilities on the planet, is powered mostly by coal, through Duke Energy. Even though Cupertino is building a solar farm down the road from the data center,...

Say what you want about Duke Energy and the often-injudicious CEO James Rogers, but at least he is focused on his company’s profitability and the interests of shareholders. Last week he composed an op-ed forThe News & Observer of Raleigh in which he praised Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican Sen. John McCain for their introduction of the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act. The bill would give American companies a “holiday” from the 35 percent U.S. corporate income tax, enabling businesses to – as James Valvo of Americans for Prosperity explained – invest in capital and R&D, hire and train...

Ashley Turton, a former senior aide to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), was intoxicated when she died in an accident last month, according to an autopsy report. Turton, who was working as an energy lobbyist at the time of the accident, died from the “inhalation of products of combustion and thermal burns,” according to Beverly Fields of the D.C. Chief Medical Examiner’s office. “Acute alcohol intoxication” was a contributing factor in her death, Fields said. Turton was found dead inside of her burned SUV, which apparently caught fire in the early morning hours inside of her garage on Capitol Hill. Turton...

Things that make you go Hmmmmmm... First, the Tuscon shooting. An anti-immigration Judge just happens to be in the line of fire Ashley Turton, a former senior aide to Rep. Rosa DeLauro and an energy company lobbyist is ‘burned in her car’. The car just happened to ‘crash into the garage of a home in the 800 block of A Street SE....When the fire was extinguished, firefighters discovered Turton’s body inside the car” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/ashley-turton-dead-car_n_806780.html And today, there was a deal that just happened to get done... Deal Profile: Duke, Progress Agree to $13.7 Billion Deal http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/01/10/deal-profile-duke-progress-agree-to-137-billion-deal/ Business Lunch: Duke Energy...

Jim Rogers is not happy with the Obama administration. Ever since the White House unveiled its costly climate program, the CEO of Duke Energy has been arguing the proposals amount to nothing more than a tax. Indeed. Mr. Rogers belongs to the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, about 30 companies that decided to [cooperate on] global warming legislation. The group demanded a "cap-and-trade" system, figuring they'd craft the rules so as to obtain regulatory certainty, with little upfront cost. At the time, Mr. Rogers explained: "If you don't have a seat at the table, you'll wind up on the menu." ......

In February last year, the chairman of the Senate energy committee sat down at Los Alamos National Laboratory for a private briefing on climate change. Was global warming real, Sen. Pete Domenici wanted to know. He turned for answers to a federal lab that he had gazed on admiringly since he was a boy. In a barrage of computer slides, Los Alamos scientists showed the 72-year-old Republican senator a planet tipping into uncertainty. Greenhouse gases were increasing in the atmosphere and the trapped solar radiation was boosting temperatures worldwide, with cascading impacts on natural and human welfare. Natural causes alone...

WASHINGTON - Efforts since the Clinton administration to clean up the nation's biggest industrial source of air pollution reached what may be a legal dead end Wednesday. A federal appeals court ruled that power plants can throw more pollutants into the air annually when they modernize to operate for longer hours. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Duke Energy Corp. didn't need the Environmental Protection Agency's permission when it made improvements between 1988 and 2000 at eight power plants in North Carolina and South Carolina. While the modifications would allow the plants to operate more hours and,...