Well, we’ve got good news and bad news: North Carolina air-quality officials have granted Duke Energy a permit for a new coal plant (boo) in what Duke Carolinas President Ellen Ruff says is “very likely the last coal plant you’ll see coming from Duke” in the Carolinas (rah!). The permit stipulates that four older Duke coal plants in the state be retired before the new one goes online, the idea being that total emissions will not increase. “What we are signaling through these actions is our intention to reduce our carbon footprint and our openness to the public for ideas on how to do this,” says Ruff. Oddly enough, two-thirds of the 1,865 written public comments received about the new plant were negative, and environmental groups may challenge the permit in court.
