May 6th, 2010 by John Grooms in Boomer with an Attitude

Duke Energy wants to be seen as “green,” but it is opposed to its coal ash being declared hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency.  On Tuesday, as reported by Rhi Bowman, the EPA announced it will take public comments for 90 days on two choices for regulating coal ash. One option would classify coal ash as hazardous waste, the other would classify it as nonhazardous, i.e., no worse than regular garbage. The “hazardous waste” designation would bring stricter federal rules regarding disposal of the ash. Duke wants the EPA to declare coal ash “nonhazardous,” which would cost about half as much to deal with as a “hazardous” classification. It would, however, mean regulating coal ash as one would mere household waste. Did we mention? Coal ash contains high levels of metals that cause cancer and myriad other health problems, not to mention contaminating local water tables. And Duke wants something that potentially lethal classified in the same way as household garbage?!

Either option will require that thick liners be installed in all existing ash ponds, in order to prevent groundwater contamination. Duke doesn’t even want to do that much, claiming, through spokesman Andy Thompson, that the extra costs would result in “a tremendous cost to our customers.” And thatstatement gets to one of the problems with how public utilities are treated in the U.S.  You see, Mr. Thompson, retrofitting coal ash ponds to install liners — i.e., being environmentally responsible — will be a “tremendous cost to our customers” only if Duke passes on those costs to said customers.

The bottom line for this writer is that Duke Energy is a public utility, a public necessity, if you will. The only reason Duke can even think of passing on the costs of meeting its environmental responsibilities is, by and large, because it is treated by government as a private corporation that is primarily responsible to its stockholders. The only exception to that is the state Utilities Commission, which is supposed to regulate utilities’ rates and services, but holds a rather spotty record of protecting the interests of everyday N.C. citizens. The way I see it, a public utility — or, again, a public necessity — should not be guaranteed a healthy profit at the expense of citizens’ pocketbooks. Public interest demands that Duke and its energy business cohorts nationwide make enough profit to keep providing energy to consumers and businesses, as well as enough to invest in new technologies. But it should be out of the question for Duke to be able to charge customers for meeting eminently reasonable environmental responsibilities.

 Sourced from www.creativeloafing.com