Mural at Pettigrew Bridge Envisions A Fossil Fuel Free NC
On Sunday, September 26, the Sunrise Movement’s Durham hub painted a Green New Deal mural on Pettigrew Bridge, just south of Duke University’s East Campus. The mural was an attempt to imagine a future without fossil fuels, both on the city and state level. Our design was a collaboration between hub members Lucie Ciccone, Larissa Wood, and Daksh Arora. A dozen hub members worked in three four-hour shifts to complete the painting.
The mural project was the second event of the No Toxic Money and No New Natural Gas campaign. Running since May 2021, this initiative has two simple demands for elected officials.
- Stop taking donations from fossil fuel companies. In North Carolina, this means Duke Energy and Dominion Energy.
- Stand against all new fossil fuel infrastructure. In practice, this means new natural gas plants and pipelines, since coal is already being phased out.
The yellow banner on the top of the mural reads: IPCC: Hotter Future is Certain, Policy Change Needed Now! This is a reference to the 2021 Assessment Report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a “code red for humanity” published on August 9th. The report, and its implications for North Carolina, was a major influence on the timing and design of the mural.
The IPCC report concludes that Earth will be hotter by 2100, but also makes clear that global public policy will decide whether the increase is 1.5° or 4.5° C. Even the former scenario would bring epic challenges. The latter would be beyond catastrophic.
The IPCC report calls for aggressive reductions in fossil fuel usage, but in its executive capacity, the Biden Administration is enabling an increase. The IPCC Report was released on Monday, August 9th. That Wednesday, August 11th, President Biden pleaded with the OPEC+ nations to raise oil production. This is an attempt to lower gas prices and thereby boost his polling numbers. On August 29th, President Biden ordered the Department of the Interior to resume auctions for oil and gas exploration licenses. The White House explained that the destruction of the environment “does not present sufficient cause” to halt the growth of US fossil fuel extraction. Short-term political calculus and Big Fossil Fuel pressure seem sufficient to force the hand even of politicians who acknowledge the climate crisis.
There is a glimmer of hope in Congress, thanks to the Progressive Caucus. The Build Back Better Plan would create a Civilian Climate Corps, subsidize greener household appliances, promote electric vehicles, expand railways, invest in renewable energy, among other measures. The Green New Deal-inspired sections in the reconciliation package aren’t enough to decarbonize the American economy, but after 50 years of bipartisan inaction, they are worth supporting and fighting for. The effort by a handful of conservative Democrats to gut the Build Back Better Plan of these promising measures must be defeated.
In the midst of a beautiful fall season like the one North Carolina is now enjoying, the climate crisis can seem like an abstract concern, with consequences restricted to a far distant future. The reality is that alarms are ringing across North Carolina, clearly audible to anyone listening.
In the Outer Banks, a section of Highway 12 now needs to be raised to escape rising sea levels. Raising this 2.4 mile stretch will cost $150 million. In 2021, Dare County voted to spend $100 million on “beach nourishment”, piling sand onto beaches to stop them from being washed away. The new sand will wash away in 5 years. In 2007, North Carolina had the worst drought in its history. Farmers in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains lost $570 million dollars in produce. The city of Charlotte now has 20 more days of 90° F weather each year than in 1970. Since 2016, an average of fifteen Charlotteans have died from heat-related illnesses each year. The climate crisis has arrived in the Tarheel State. The destabilization of our environment has already destroyed lives and livelihoods.
The climate crisis is here. What are political leaders in Raleigh doing to address it? Decarbonization in North Carolina must confront Duke Energy, which owns the state’s electricity grid. As a result, one would hope to find elected officials fighting for the public interest against the $168 billion corporate giant.
Instead, a bipartisan who’s-who is splashing around in a pool of Duke Energy campaign contributions. Duke Energy political-related spending in 2020 was between $41 and $51 million. Politicians who have taken their donations include Rep. John Szoka (R), Rep. Dean Arp (R), Sen. Phil Berger (R), Sen. Dan Blue (D), and Gov. Roy Cooper (D), as Sunrise Durham has noted in public callouts.
In 2021, Duke Energy’s spending spree in Raleigh was more extravagant than in previous years because the company wanted to pass HB 951. An early version of HB 951, which passed the NC General Assembly, would have allowed Duke Energy to build up to 3000 MW of new natural gas plants in North Carolina. Under pressure from Governor Cooper, HB 951 was rewritten. Permits for new natural gas plants were stripped out, and the governor’s goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030 was added. The new HB 951, which fails to ban new natural gas construction, has passed the NC Senate, and seems destined to be signed into law.
Duke Energy’s attention, and ours, will now turn to the little-known NC Utilities Commission. Due HB 951’s vagueness, this seven-member body will now decide if new natural gas plants will be built in North Carolina, although the 70% decarbonization requirement does provide minimum guardrails. Through its 15-Year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), Duke Energy has signaled that it will ask permission to build 6,000 MW-worth of new natural gas plants in the state (before HB 951, their request was for 9,600 MW). The average Duke Energy gas plant produces 800 MW of electricity, so 8 new gas plants would probably be constructed, with the final number depending on the size of the new plants. To be clear, Duke Energy knows that there is no practical need for new gas plants, but they don’t like this path (Plan F in their IRP), because it requires a $9 billion investment. Their current plan would cost between $3.1 and $7.5 billion.
The NC Utilities Commission has 6 Democrats and 1 Republican, suggesting that there is a chance for public pressure to stop them from approving new gas plants and pipelines. However, who can guess which way the commissioners will go? Are they going to buckle before a $168 billion Toxic Giant, or be moved to reason by the petitions, testimony, pickets, and chants of the progressive movements? Given the temptations of corruption, a major effort should be made to hold commissioners accountable. All of them should pledge not to take jobs at Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, or any fossil fuel company after their public service is complete.
The passage of HB 951 demonstrates that North Carolina is still stuck in a Duke Energy Dystopia. Our unsustainable present has a few stark features. The legislature and executive mansion are drowning in Toxic Money. New fossil fuel plants are countenanced as climate policy. The gravest public decisions are delegated to unelected, unknown commissioners.
Sunrise Durham has a plan to escape the Duke Energy Dystopia. North Carolina should convert the fossil fuel component of its energy system to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible. Progressive movements should push for versions of the Green New Deal on a city, state, and national level. Solar farms should be built across the Piedmont, with due consideration for local flora and fauna. Wind turbines in their thousands should be placed off the Outer Banks and on the Blue Ridge Mountains. Storage energy should be developed further and, along with existing hydroelectric and zero-carbon resources, should constitute an energy reserve for the days when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
New climate policy is hard to outline in a mural, and mainstream media outlets have only intermittent interest in the climate crisis. To supplement our artwork, Sunrise Durham is using grassroots journalism to convey our views in their entirety. Still, our mural says a lot on its own.
· IPCC: Hotter Future is Certain, Policy Change Is Needed Now!
· New Jobs and A Livable Future!
· Civilian Climate Corps!
· Clean Air!
· No Pollution!
· End the Duke Energy Dystopia!
· Pass the Green New Deal!
· End the Era of Fossil Fuels!
· No More CO2 Emissions!
It is disappointing that such basic demands even need to be made, but we will continue to organize and raise our voices until a livable, sustainable future is secure.
Sunrise Movement Durham is five months into a year-long campaign: No Toxic Money and No New Natural Gas! Get involved by emailing sunrisedurham@gmail.com, filling out our sign up form, or following our social media channels. The campaign was inspired by the No Toxic Money Coalition, NC Environmental Justice Network, Appalachian Voices, and NC Warn, whose combined decades of public advocacy for environmental causes is an inspiration.
