NC should join 2043 jurisdictions around the world, and declare a Climate Emergency
Sunrise Movement Durham hub, NC Warn, and as many as 84 other organizations are gathering in Raleigh on Friday, November 19th to demand that Governor Roy Cooper declare a Climate Emergency in North Carolina. Specifically, this protest will pressure Governor Cooper use the robust powers of the Emergency Management Act to stop Duke Energy’s fracked gas expansion.
Around the world, 2043 cities, provinces, and nations, representing 1 billion people have announced Climate Emergencies since 2016. The declarations aren’t merely used to grab attention. They unlock emergency powers typically used for conventional disasters like tropical storms or earthquakes. Hawaii became the first US state to declare a Climate Emergency in April 2021. France and Japan have had their declarations for a few years. NC should join these jurisdictions, and decision belongs to Governor Cooper.
NC Warn, a 32-year-old non-profit focused on tackling climate change, first raised the idea of a Climate Emergency declaration. They circulated their proposal as a petition for other organizations to co-sign. This document touched on the gravity of the climate crisis in NC, making special note of the hurricanes that have lashed the Coastal Plains in the last 5 years.
- Hurricane Matthew (2016): $5 billion in damage. Lumberton hit with a “1000-year flood”.
- Hurricane Florence (2018): $17 billion in damage. Flooding in most of eastern NC.
- Major storms Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Dorian (2019), and Hurricane Isaias (2020): between them caused five deaths and triggered an NC state of emergency.
According to the 2021 IPCC Report, increasingly “extreme” hurricanes and severe storms will be a major impact of the climate crisis for the US East Coast. Within NC, these storms have struck hardest in the eastern third of the state and will continue to do so. This geographical disparity in damage is a serious environmental justice threat. The Coastal Plains have a greater proportion of Black and Indigenous people than anywhere else in NC. The state’s eastern counties also tend to have higher rates of poverty. A Climate Emergency declaration from Governor Cooper could help North Carolina avoid adding a new chapter of racial and economic injustice to state history.
There have been other recent climate disasters in NC.
Worsening hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, rising seas, and the threat of worse consequences to come demonstrates the existence of a Climate Emergency in NC. The climate crisis is the result of carbon emissions. The start of any emergency response to it is to stop increasing the use of fossil fuels.
Duke Energy is already the second-worst CO2 emitter in the United States, but doesn’t seem content with its silver medal. The company plans to build 9,600 MW of new fossil fuel plants in NC in the next 15 years. That is equivalent to 12 average-sized gas plants, or 50 ‘gas-burning units/turbines’. Duke Energy seems incapable of decarbonizing itself without public intervention, so Governor Cooper should use the robust powers of the Emergency Management Act to halt their planned fracked gas expansion.
Blocked from building new fossil fuel plants, Duke Energy would naturally be guided to adopt the “No New Gas Generation” plan in its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), also called “Portfolio F”.
Perhaps to confuse the NC Utilities Commission, Duke Energy left a bit of coal plant capacity in Portfolio F, which is otherwise the best plan in terms of decarbonization potential. If its coal capacity were replaced with any other form of zero-carbon energy, Portfolio F would cut 80–85% of carbon emissions from the electric grid by 2035. Duke Energy knows this path is possible, but the company won’t do it unless it has no choice.
Governor Cooper may balk at these big plans, particularly due to their interference with the fifth biggest corporation in NC, Duke Energy. During his 2020 re-election, eight of his PAC’s top 10 donors were corporations. If Governor Cooper’s campaign finances are an indication, he is a firm ally of the business community. Duke Energy ranked 15th among Governor Cooper’s donors, so the company isn’t some kind of exception to his pro-business tendencies. By pressuring Duke Energy into decarbonization, Governor Cooper also runs the risk of angering an interconnected web of business power. Among the 13 Board of Directors of Duke Energy, one finds the:
- Chairman of Browning Consolidated
- CEO of Schneider Electric North America (parent company total assets $45 billion)
- Former CEO of Edison International (total assets $41 billion)
- CEO of Merck & Co. (total assets $89 billion). Merck donated $10,000 to Cooper’s re-election.
- Former CEO of Network Solutions
- Former Exec. VP of DuPont (total assets $188 billion)
- Former CEO of Entergy Nuclear (parent company total assets $58 billion)
- Former Senior VP of Corning (total assets $29 billion). Corning donated $5,000 to Cooper’s re-election.
Despite this sort of formidable opposition, NC must do its fair share to fight the climate crisis. Due to its extraordinary threat, Governor Cooper should set aside normal political calculations and use the Emergency Management Act to stop Duke Energy’s fracked gas expansion.
Sunrise Movement Durham hub, NC Warn, the Poor People’s Campaign and the rest of the coalition is headed to Raleigh on Nov. 19 to protest, and to hope. To hope that Governor Cooper, with as many corporate sponsors as a NASCAR driver, finds the courage to stand up to Duke Energy, declare a Climate Emergency, and begin decarbonizing the Tarheel State’s electric grid.
