Global Warming

Raleigh--In a move estimated to increase North Carolina’s global warming pollution by 3.8 million tons annually, today state officials approved construction of a new coal-fired power plant boiler at Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station west of Charlotte.  The commission rejected a second proposed boiler and required the energy company to make modest energy efficiency investments. 

Environment North Carolina criticized the decision, pointing to an estimated anticipated increase over current global warming pollution levels in the state.

“When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment North Carolina State Director.  “Duke Energy is digging us deeper into the hole of dangerous global warming.  It’s just using one shovel instead of two.”

The new 800 MW plant is estimated to release an estimated 4.6 million tons of global warming pollution annually, and even with the retirement of four smaller boilers at the Cliffside Station, will result in an overall increase in global warming pollution of an estimated 3.8 million tons per year—a 5 percent increase over the state’s current global warming emissions, using 2003 estimates.   

The Duke Energy unit is among more than 150 on the drawing board around the country.  If approved, these new plants nationwide would increase the nation’s global warming pollution by 10 percent, and increase reliance on coal-fired power plants by 30 percent, according to a recent Environment North Carolina report.

To avoid the worst consequences of global warming, scientists believe that the U.S. needs to stabilize emissions within a decade, begin reducing them soon thereafter, and cut global warming pollution by as much as 80 percent by the middle of this century.

“New coal-fired power plants take us in the wrong direction,” concluded Ouzts.