The Town of Carrboro is suing Duke Energy over its contributions to climate change, slow transition away from fossil fuels, and the resulting economic pressures put onto the local government and its residents.
Carrboro’s town council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the litigation during its business meeting on Tuesday night and filed the civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday morning. The challenge is the first of its kind from a local government against an energy provider over its knowledge of the risks of burning fossil fuels for power and its efforts to “mislead the public about its climate harms.”
The measure claims Duke Energy’s “extensive, unreasonable and unnecessary reliance upon fossil fuels in the conduct of its businesses” is causing climate change to be “materially exacerbated.” Additionally, Carrboro says Duke Energy not only knows its actions fuel global warming, but the utility giant continues to deceive the public on the effects of its operations and “greenwashes” its attempts to incorporate more renewable energy options.
“We have to speak truth to power as we continue to fight the existential threat that is climate change,” said Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee in a release from the town. “The climate crisis continues to burden our community and cost residents their hard-earned tax dollars. Duke Energy’s knowledge of the environmental injustice being caused by the use of fossil fuels has unfairly plagued our community for decades. Historically underserved and marginalized communities are facing disproportionate impacts and health risks that are associated with climate change. This was not an easy decision to make but I believe that we must be courageous as we call out these injustices and seek change and accountability.”
“The motivation for Carrboro is pretty simple,” Foushee added at a press conference held Wednesday afternoon at Carrboro Town Hall. “When I think about righting wrongs and seeking justice, somebody has to step out and be the voice, and take the action. Today, we’re doing that.”
The town is being represented by Matt Quinn of Lewis & Roberts, PLLC in the lawsuit. The energy and climate justice nonprofit NC WARN is bearing the financial costs of the lawsuit, while the Center for Biological Diversity is assisting the case.
“We’ll soon have a climate denier-in-chief in the White House, but Carrboro is a shining light in this darkness, taking on one of the country’s largest polluters and climate deceivers,” said Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Climate action doesn’t stop at a national level, and Carrboro is holding Duke Energy and all fossil utilities’ feet to the fire. This town is paving a way for local governments to drive climate justice despite who’s in Washington.”
The Charlotte-based Duke Energy is one of the largest electricity providers in the U.S., with 8.2 million customers across six states — including nearly all of North Carolina. In Wednesday’s release, Carrboro and NC WARN say the utility emitted roughly 80 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2021, which would make it one of the largest corporate polluters in the world. To help with its business’ positioning, Duke Energy has employed several public relations tactics to both deceive the public about the science of climate change and block action to combat it, the litigation claims. And while the utility has proposed a variety of ways to meet North Carolina’s law calling for net-zero emissions by 2050, groups like NC WARN say Duke Energy is intentionally promoting slower transitions to renewable energy methods.
The Duke Energy coal plant in Roxboro, N.C. The utility company says it aims to retire all coal plants in the state by 2035, but environmental advocates have said Duke Energy could transition faster if additional alternative energy methods are adopted. (Photo via D.W. Evans Electric Inc.)
Photo via Catherine Lazorko/The Town of Carrboro.
Jim Warren, the executive director of NC WARN, said during Wednesday’s press conference that Duke Energy’s leaders did not just go along with a plan to deceive customers about the effects of fossil fuels, but have been “ringleaders” in doing that and perpetuating their use in the energy industry.
“This lawsuit exposes Duke Energy executives as using the tobacco scandal playbook,” said Warren in the release. “They’re making the global climate crisis worse despite widespread and accelerating misery,” “And they’re still expanding fossil fuels and suppressing renewables – in flat defiance of scientists demanding that we do the exact opposite. We need the judicial system to hold Duke Energy leadership accountable and finally break their corporate control over our political system and public decisions.”
Carrboro’s local government has made addressing climate resiliency a key part of its operations, passing a Community Climate Action Plan in 2017 and including climate action policy as one of the key components of its comprehensive plan adopted in 2022. The town pays millions of dollars to repair roads damaged by extreme weather, establish a stormwater infrastructure fund, and cover rising energy bills — which officials say can all be traced back to the warming climate.
“This lawsuit represents an incredible opportunity to put an end to corporate deception and enter a new era for Carrboro,” Mayor Pro Tem Danny Nowell said in Wednesday’s release. “It’s time for us to hold Duke Energy accountable for decades of deception, padding executives’ pockets while towns like ours worked to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. This suit will allow the Town of Carrboro to invest new resources into building a stronger, more climate-resilient community, using the damages justly due to our residents to reimagine the ways we prepare for our climate reality.”
“Every level of Carrboro governance is centered on the climate crisis and climate justice,” added Council Member Randee Haven-O’Donnell at the press conference. “Carrboro is small, but mighty — and in the face of climate emergency and the need for urgent action, we are taking a stand. We want to model the way for other towns bearing these same burdens and damages from fossil fuel-driven climate change and decades of corporate climate deception. We are ‘The Little Engine That Could,’ and hope other towns can be too, and hold their deceptive and polluting utilities accountable.”
When asked about whether other towns or cities have similar complaints or could join the litigation as co-plaintiffs during the press conference, town officials and Quinn said they are focused on arguing and representing Carrboro’s specific damages in the case.
While Tuesday’s move marks the first time Carrboro has formally approved litigation seeking damages from instigators or perpetuators of global warming, it is not the first time the town has explored such action. In 2022, the local government sent a notice to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the cogeneration plant at West Cameron Avenue operated by UNC — which burns coal and natural gas to create steam for heating, cooling, and powering facilities on campus. At the time, town officials said they wanted the EPA to step in and enforce the facility to follow the Clean Air Act despite a permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality allowing the operations, and emission of pollutants, to continue.
A spokesperson for Duke Energy shared a statement with Chapelboro on Wednesday about the litigation, which said the company is reviewing the complaint filed by Carrboro.
“Duke Energy is committed to its customers and communities and will continue working with policymakers and regulators to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible,” added the spokesperson.
More information about the lawsuit against the Duke Energy Corporation can be found on the Town of Carrboro’s website. The rest of the town council’s meeting on Tuesday, which featured the swearing-in of Cristóbal Palmer to its ranks, can be found on the town’s YouTube page.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said NC WARN was part of the lawsuit alongside the Town of Carrboro. The piece has since been updated to remove this and clarify NC WARN is participating in an advisory capacity.
Featured photo via Catherine Lazorko/The Town of Carrboro.
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What a joke! Carrboro’s religion is climate change. Climate change has been going on for thousands of years and fossil fuel contribution is miniscule.
These same litigants sued the cogeneration plant and found out that they had no standing. These are poor misled liberals looking for publicity. Check out their HUGE signage for the press. Get a life, Carrboro!