Facing So Sturgis
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Mayor Barbara Foushee and city council members from the town of 21,000 located immediately west of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus pointed fingers at Duke Energy for knowing about the dangers associated with climate change but failing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
This marks the first lawsuit of its kind, in which a town is seeking action against a utility company in this manner, Foushee said. It was filed in Orange County Superior Court in Hillsborough. The state of Vermont passed law earlier this year that requires fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change.
“We’re bringing this lawsuit because taking care of our town, each other, and our climate is at the center of everything we do here in Carrboro,” Foushee said. “The climate crisis is causing tremendous harm to our community’s health and well-being.”
The suit seeks “compensation for the damages (both past and future) that it is incurring as a direct and proximate result of Duke’s campaign of deception and resulting exacerbation of the climate crisis” — damages that the suit estimates will total in the millions of dollars.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Duke Energy said, “We are in the process of reviewing the complaint. 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.”
Suppressing a long-known truth
Top executives at Duke Energy have known about the risks of fossil fuels for more than 50 years, according to the lawsuit. But that didn’t stop the company from a “widespread campaign” to misinform the public about its effects on the environment, the complaint argues.
An example of this deception occurred when one of Duke’s predecessor entities, Cinergy, released an annual report in 2004 claiming there was “an unresolved but robust debate on the ‘science’ of global warming.” The lawsuit points out how “science” is placed in quotation marks even though Cinergy and Duke were aware of the causes and consequences of climate change.
The lawsuit points out that “North Carolina has just suffered its hottest year on record, and temperatures for the region may increase as much as 6°-10°F by the end of the century.”
Climate change, it states, has also contributed to extreme weather events, like Hurricane Helene, which wreaked catastrophic damage across communities in western North Carolina earlier this year.
“For far too long, corporations like Duke Energy have prioritized their executives’ personal fortunes at the expense of our communities, our planet and our collective well-being,” Mayor Pro Tem Danny Nowell said.
Based in Charlotte, Duke Energy provides electricity to more than eight million customers in six states and natural gas to around two million customers in five states. With a near-monopoly in North Carolina, the company is one of the country’s largest operators of coal and natural gas power plants.
The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked Duke Energy as the nation’s third-biggest emitter of gases responsible for climate change on the Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index.
Taxpayers aren’t funding the lawsuit, Foushee said. A nonprofit organization is covering the legal fees.
Council member Randee Haven-O’Donnell said Carrboro has made efforts to mitigate climate change since the 1970s, aiming to protect the area’s natural surroundings and ecosystems.
The actions of Duke Energy, however, have set that process backwards.
“We’ve been working hard and in earnest to protect our climate, and the giant utility has been deceiving us,” she said. “Duke Energy’s deceptive public information campaign has been working against us, erasing the progress we’ve urgently been striving to make to address climate change.”
Echoing findings of a recent nonprofit’s exposé
The allegations in the lawsuit about the knowledge that Duke and its predecessors possessed decades ago and then subsequently suppressed, echo findings detailed in a lengthy report prepared by Sue Sturgis, Research and Communications Manager for the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute entitled “Duke Energy Knew: Documenting the Utility’s Early Knowledge and Ongoing Deception About Climate Change.”
According to the report, which was released in November, warnings about greenhouse-gas-induced climate change from Duke’s corporate predecessors date as far back as 1968 and were regularly touted in the 1970’s as justification for efforts to expand nuclear power.
Later on, Sturgis wrote — particularly in the 1980’s and 90’s as nuclear power fell from favor — warnings about CO2 emission and climate change became muted or disappeared.
In an interview with NC Newsline for an upcoming edition of the radio show/podcast, News & Views, Sturgis described the sequence events:
“And then, when the consensus around the science really came together in the late 1980’s we saw both the Duke utilities and also the industry associations that they were involved in pivot at that point, in order to protect their business model. They realized that if they were saying that…the climate problem was going to cause difficulties for their business model…they moved away from that message. Rather than change their business model, they said, ‘well, maybe we’re not so certain about the science, after all.” And so that’s really when we saw them selling the denial.”
Click here to explore Sturgis’ report. Read the Carrboro lawsuit below:
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com. Follow NC Newsline on Facebook and X.
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end of 2023
- Facing South published more than 70 investigations, interviews, and other stories this year on a wide range of key issues, plus a collection of still-relevant historical pieces from the new Southern Exposure Digital Archives. Below are a dozen of our top stories from 2023.
Criminalizing voters in Southern states
Benjamin Barber, coordinator of the Institute for Southern Studies Democracy Program, examined laws passed by GOP state lawmakers to further criminalize minor voting infractions and create new law enforcement units to prosecute election-related crimes — harsh penalties that will disproportionately impact communities of color. (January 2023)
A Blueprint for a stronger democracy
In February, the Institute joined North Carolina advocates to release "Blueprint for a Stronger Democracy," a report offering policy recommendations for creating a more inclusive and sustainable government. Facing South later reported on how key proposals in the report were taken up by state lawmakers and helped guide voting legislation. (February and March 2023)
Taking on the 'forever chemical' threat in North Carolina school water supplies
University of North Carolina senior Alasdair McNinch's investigation was the first in-depth look at PFAS pollution and the hazard it poses to North Carolina schools. McNinch's pioneering story won second place in the national Hearst Journalism Award Program for student reporters. (March 2023)
An archive in a time of crisis
Olivia Paschal, editor of the Southern Exposure Digital Archives, writes that the collection of writings from the Institute's award-winning journal that published from 1973 to 2011 is important not just because of what it tells us about our past, but the tools it provides for our present and future. (March 2023)
'Throwing the heroes away': As Arkansas Tyson plant closes, workers strike over treatment
Rachell Sanchez-Smith traveled to the picket line in Van Buren, Arkansas to report on workers striking for fair severance after Tyson announced their plant’s closure — one of several Tyson closures nationwide. The piece, reported with Olivia Paschal, was published in partnership with Labor Notes, and an audio version ran on Ozarks at Large, the news magazine produced by NPR affiliate KUAF. (April 2023)
Who gets to rest in peace? The complications of repatriating remains for Southeastern tribes
The Institute's Julian Bond Fellow Maydha Devarajan reported on the fight to return Native American burial remains held by non-Indigenous institutions throughout the South — including the Tennessee Valley Authority. (April 2023)
'My hope is built': A father-son talk with Rev. William Barber, II
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Moral Monday Movement's launch, the Institute's Benjamin Barber spoke with Rev. William Barber, II, his father, about the movement's historic roots and accomplishments, and what keeps him hopeful about progressive change in the South. (April 2023)
'We shouldn't be afraid to fight': New Orleans Starbucks workers on how organizing changed their minds on unions
As Starbucks employees across the country organized for fair pay and dignity, reporter Jason Kerzinski took Facing South readers inside a store in New Orleans to hear how workers' views of labor were transformed through their successful union drive. (May 2023)
Will companies backing anti-trans lawmakers face backlash in North Carolina?
Maydha Devarajan looked at the biggest donors to lawmakers who pushed anti-trans legislation in North Carolina — and found many groups and companies that claim to be champions of LGBTQ equality. (June 2023)
Arkansas advocates voice concern as state weakens child labor protections
As companies in Arkansas and across the South came under investigation for child labor violations, Institute intern Ashley Quincin looked into the history and potential impacts of a new Arkansas law that many advocates fear will make child labor harder to detect, and the role of of a Florida corporate-backed think tank in weakening child labor law protections across the country. (July 2023)
'The stakes are incredibly high': An interview with Devin Franklin on RICO charges against 'Cop City' activists
After Georgia attorney general Chris Carr indicted more than 60 activists on racketeering charges related to the 'Cop City' police training center, Institute executive director Chris Kromm spoke to a leading attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights about the unusual charges and their implications for the right to protest. (September 2023)
Language access at the ballot box lags in a diversifying South
Despite the South's rapid demographic changes, Maydha Devarajan found that few voting jurisdictions in the South are compelled to provide language access and multilingual voting materials under federal law, creating potential voting barriers for growing communities of new Southerners. (September 2023)
cdv an 2 23
But DeSantis never really wanted to stop the virtually nonexistent crime of voter impersonation or fraud. His goal, and that of the GOP nationally, has been to strike fear into the hearts of potential non-Republican voters to ensure election victories for his party.
In states like Alabama, Mississippi, and 20 others where the GOP controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion, intimidating voter-tracking police squads could be the next play in an ongoing effort to undemocratically control elections. Such policing efforts would without question disproportionately target communities of color.
While the expected midterm “red wave” of Republican victories didn’t occur nationally in 2022, the same can’t be said for the South. As documented by the Institute for Southern Studies’ Facing South, the GOP actually outperformed expectations, expanding its hold on multiple state legislatures in the region. Prior to the election, analysts had predicted that the Republicans might gain 40 seats across the South; in fact, they gained at least 55. Not only did they take control of at least 25 state legislative chambers — the lone exception, Virginia’s state senate where Democrats retained a two-seat majority — but they also built or maintained supermajorities in legislative chambers in Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. This means that even if a Democratic governor is in office, Republican legislators can pass extremist bills into law despite a gubernatorial veto.
None of this is spontaneous, nor is it random. Tens of millions of dollars or more from super-rich conservative donors and right-wing foundations have poured into voter-suppression and election-manipulation efforts. Heritage Action for America, a conservative legislative-writing group linked to the Heritage Foundation, spent upwards of $24 million in 2021 and 2022 in key swing states to help Republicans write bills that would restrict voting, targeting Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and Texas. Consider it anything but a coincidence that the language in voter-suppression bills in those states and elsewhere sounded eerily familiar. As the Guardian reported, at least 11 voter suppression bills in at least eight states were due, in part or whole, to advocacy and organizing by Heritage Action. A *New York Times* investigation found thatin Georgia, “Of the 68 bills pertaining to voting, at least 23 had similar language or were firmly rooted in the principles laid out in the Heritage group’s letter” that offered outlines and details for how to limit voting access.
Contemporary voter suppression efforts, however, go significantly beyond just trying to prevent people from voting or making it harder for them to do so. Credit that, at least in part, to the determination of so many Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans to vote despite restrictions imposed by the states. Consequently, Republican legislators now seek to control — that is, manipulate — election administration, too.Their tactics include the harassment of election workers, far-right activists seeking positions as election officials, and various other potentially far-reaching legal maneuvers.
In fact, in recent voting, attacks on election workers, officials, and volunteers have become so prevalent that a new national organization, the Election Officials Legal Defense Network (EOLDN), was formed to protect them. EOLDN provides attorneys and other kinds of assistance to such officials when they find themselves under attack....
https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/institute-index-confronting-gops-poll-watcher-threats
Hours after the start of the Sept. 29 presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden — in which Trump refused to condemn white supremacists, made false claims about voter fraud, and urged his supporters to "go into the polls and watch very carefully" — that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued a Tweet saying "voter harassment and intimidation will not be tolerated" in his state: 14
Number of days before the debate that Herring issued an advisory opinion outlining protections in both state and federal law against voter intimidation in response to reports of activity near polling places that led some voters to fear for their safety: 5
Date on which a group of Trump supporters waving campaign flags disrupted early voting in Fairfax County, Virginia, by rallying near the entrance to a polling place following a "Trump Train" parade led by Republican National Committee (RNC) Co-Chair Thomas O. "Tommy" Hicks Jr. of Dallas: 9/19/2020
Year in which the RNC, after a lawsuit over its hiring of off-duty police to monitor polling places in Black and Latino communities in New Jersey as part of a so-called "ballot security" operation, signed a consent decree pledging to end intimidation of Democratic voters though admitting no wrongdoing: 1982
According to RNC officials, number of voters another one of their 1980s-era so-called "ballot security" efforts was expected to kick off Louisiana's rolls in an effort the officials said was designed to "keep the Black vote down": 60,000 to 80,000
Year in which the consent decree expired despite Democrats' attempts to get it extended, making the 2020 presidential election the first without its protections in 40 years: 2017
Date on which President Trump, in a private meeting with civil rights leaders at Trump Tower, acknowledged that lower turnout among Black voters helped him defeat Hillary Clinton: 1/16/2017
Year in which Justin Clark, an attorney and Trump reelection campaign official, was recorded telling Republican lawyers that the expiration of the consent decree was a "huge, huge, huge, huge deal": 2019
Number of people the Republican Party is now aiming to recruit to serve as what it calls "poll watchers" to look for election problems, raising concerns about possible voter intimidation: 50,000
Date on which Roger Stone — the longtime Trump confidant convicted of felonies for witness tampering and lying to investigators in the Russia election interference case and whose sentence was commuted by the president — appeared on the radio show of Dallas-based far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and said the only legitimate outcome to the 2020 election would be a Trump victory: 9/10/2020
Date on which, Stone, who has Proud Boy ties, organized what became known as the "Brooks Brothers riot" — a violent protest involving George W. Bush campaign operatives who targeted a meeting of election canvassers in Florida's Miami-Dade County during the 2000 presidential recount and succeeded in shutting it down, ultimately leading Al Gore, who won the popular vote, to concede: 11/22/2000
Of the 50 states, number with statutes regulating poll watchers, also known as "partisan citizen observers": 45
Of the 13 Southern states*, number with poll watcher statutes: 13
Number of provisions of federal law that also bar voter intimidation, some of which impose lengthy prison sentences: 6
Factor by which the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a voting rights advocacy group, has boosted its squad of attorneys who'll be on call to help voters who experience intimidation or other problems at the polls this year: 4
Number of attorneys now helping that effort nationwide: more than 21,000
Phone number that voters who experience problems can call to get help from those attorneys: 866-OUR-VOTE
* Facing South counts among the Southern states Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Tags
- TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
- POLL WATCHERS
- VOTER INTIMIDATION
- REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
- MARK HERRING
- VIRGINIA
- TOMMY HICKS
- BALLOT SECURITY TASK FORCE
- VOTER SUPPRESSION
- RACISM
- LOUISIANA
- JUSTIN CLARK
- ROGER STONE
- ALEX JONES
- BROOKS BROTHERS RIOT
- 2000 ELECTIONS
- FLORIDA
- GEORGE W. BUSH
- AL GORE
- LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW
- ELECTION PROTECTION
confederate 'Lost Cause' defenders run to keep seats in Southern legislatures
Meet the state lawmakers up for reelection in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee who champion the Lost Cause version of history that claims that the Civil War was not about slavery and the Klan were the good guys. Also meet who's funding their campaigns. (10/8/2020)
VOICES: NC farmworkers forced to buy low-quality meal plans from employers
Deprived of access to kitchens, North Carolina farmworkers must purchase meal plans from the growers they work for. But far too often, these meals are nowhere near adequate for people performing backbreaking labor, and the COVID-19 pandemic has raised new concerns about sanitation. (10/8/2020)
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https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/09/meet-southern-donors-who-have-already-maxed-out-trump-2020
...So far, 486 donors from Southern states have given as much as they legally can to the Trump campaign, including seven donors who have maxed out their giving to Trump Victory. Texas is home to the most at 209, followed by Florida with 152, Louisiana with 54, and Virginia with 24. Among them are people with deep ties to the oil and gas industry as well as a prominent leader in the private prison business — both industries that have benefited greatly from Trump administration policies. They include:
- Kelcy Warren, chair and CEO of Energy Transfer Equity of Dallas. This is the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked months of protests over its route through the Standing Rock Sioux reservation but that was approved by the Trump administration in 2017. Energy Transfer's net income more than quadrupled in 2017 due to the pipeline approval and Trump’s tax legislation, according to Bloomberg. Its stock value has also fared well under Trump, and the company has an inside man in the White House: Energy Secretary Rick Perry was on Energy Transfer's board from 2015 until 2017, when he joined Trump's cabinet. Warren and his wife, Amy, have donated a combined $721,200 to Trump Victory, including the maximum $5,600 each to Trump's campaign.
- Syed Javaid Anwar, CEO of Midland Energy in Midland, Texas. Midland Energy is an oil drilling and exploration company founded by Anwar in 1984. Anwar told E&E News that his interest in politics stems from the latest boom-and-bust cycle affecting oil prices, which began about a decade ago. Anwar and his wife, Vicky, have been actively contributing large sums to Republican candidates since 2012; their recent donations included $1.7 million to various Texas Republicans during the 2018 midterms. And now they appear to be jumping full-throttle into presidential giving. Anwar, who is friends with former President George W. Bush, told E&E News that though he was initially skeptical of Trump's candidacy, he wound up donating an unspecified amount to Trump's PAC before the 2016 election. The Anwars have each donated the $5,600 maximum to the Trump campaign, included in their $275,000 contributions each to the Trump Victory Fund.
- The Saulsbury family of Saulsbury Industries in Odessa, Texas. Saulsbury Industries is a oil and gas conglomerate that engineers and constructs energy infrastructure nationwide, including natural gas processing facilities and oil pipelines. Political contributions are a family affair for the Saulsburys: Father Charles "Dick" Saulsbury Sr., an Arkansas native who founded the company, donated $110,000 to Trump Victory this year while his wife Amelia gave $50,000 and his oldest son Charles "Bubba" Saulsbury Jr. donated $172,500, though none of their donations went directly to the Trump campaign. However, sons Matt and Mark Saulsbury and daughter Diane Zugg have all given the legal maximum to the Trump campaign through donations to Trump Victory. In total, the family has given $560,600 to Trump Victory and $16,800 to the Trump campaign. The family has a history of involvement in conservative Texas politics, while Charles Sr. has been heavily involved in conservative religious and pro-Second Amendment activism.
- George Zoley, CEO of the GEO Group in Boca Raton, Florida. The GEO Group is one of the largest for-profit private prison companies in the country. GEO facilities hold 32 percent of the immigrants detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States, according to 2017 ICE data obtained by the Detention Watch Network. The Trump administration's immigration policies have been lucrativefor the GEO Group's bottom line:23 percentof the company’s revenue came from ICE in 2017, up from 10 percent in 2007, and $480 million in federal funding has been directed from ICE to the GEO Group since Trump's inauguration. On an earnings call with shareholders earlier this year, Zoley told investors that he was "hopeful" that increased federal funding for immigrant detention would, in the words of an inquiring shareholder, "translate into business opportunities."
The ranks of Trump's maxed-out Southern donors also include Duke Buchan III of Florida, an investment manager who is the current ambassador to Spain; Isaac Perlmutter of Florida, the chair of Marvel Entertainment; Christopher Goldsbury of Texas, the former owner of Pace Picante Sauce; and Pat Chazen of Texas, whose husband, Stephen Chazen, is the CEO of Magnolia Oil & Gas, an oil extraction company in South Texas. See the complete list here:
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Duke Energy's new climate plan has a fracked gas problem
The North Carolina-based company recently released an updated climate plan promising "net-zero" carbon emissions by 2050. But Duke is clinging to coal decades longer than climate advocates say it should while pressing ahead with polluting fracked gas projects that could soon be economically unfeasible.
ow-wage workers gather to build power across sectors in the South
Workers from across the low-wage economy convened in Durham, North Carolina, recently to discuss how to build on victories in the fight for a livable wage and union rights in the region. (9/19/2019)
Southern cities tackle homelessness
Local elected officials in the South are creating programs to address growing numbers of homeless people and the broader affordable housing crisis. (9/27/2019)
Five supreme court elections to watch in the South
Elections for high courts in five Southern states will take place over the next year, including special elections in Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Some of these courts are already facing unprecedented political pressure, and more money in high court races is coming from groups that don't disclose their donors. (9/25/2019)
Black Southern mayors issue endorsement 'roadmap' to presidential hopefuls
Big-city leaders in the early primary states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina have told presidential candidates that it will take the promise of funding focused on racial justice and equitable housing, climate, and infrastructure policies to win their support. (9/20/2019)
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https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/07/institute-index-cashing-child-abuse-border
INSTITUTE INDEX: Cashing in on child abuse at the border
By Sue SturgisJuly 5, 2019
Under federal law, maximum number of days children captured after crossing the border into the U.S. without authorization are allowed to be held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection before being transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR): 3
Number of weeks some migrant children were held at a border station in Clint, Texas, where visiting lawyers found filthy and overcrowded conditions: 3
Date on which an asylum-seeking father and daughter from El Salvador, trapped in a holding camp in Mexico because of the Trump administration's "metering" policy of limiting the number of asylum claims it will process per day, drowned while crossing the Rio Grande: 6/23/2019
Number of migrant children who've died in U.S. custody so far this year: 6
Percent by which the number of children in ORR custody grew in the first two years of the Trump administration due to its aggressive and unprecedented family separation policy: 400
Month in which immigrant rights advocates won a major victory by shutting down the notorious Tornillo detention camp for children in the Texas desert: 1/2019
That same month, factor by which the Trump administration increased the number of children in custody at the ORR shelter in Homestead, Florida, which has been described by critics as a "prison camp": almost 2
Value of the tax break Comprehensive Health Services, the Florida company that co-manages the Homestead facility, got from the state in July 2017: $600,000
Five months before receiving the tax break, amount the company paid to settle a medical fraud claim brought by the U.S. Justice Department: $3.8 million
Value of the contract that Virginia-based defense contractor General Dynamics got to provide training and technical assistance at the Homestead facility: $1.6 million
Year in which the investment firm D.C. Capital Partners purchased Comprehensive Health Services and three other companies to form Caliburn International LLC: 2018
Month in which Caliburn announced plans for a $100 million initial public offering of stock, promising growth because of Trump's immigration policies — plans it withdrew after negative press coverage: 10/2018
Month in which former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a former adviser to D.C. Capital Partners, joined Caliburn's board of directors: 5/2019 ()
In a victory for the movement to end migrant child detention, date on which North Carolina-based Bank of America, Caliburn's chief financier, announced it would no longer work with operators of immigrant detention centers and private prisons: 6/26/2019
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Tags
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IMMIGRATION POLICY FAMILY SEPARATION IMMIGRANT DETENTIONCHILD DETENTION CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENTHOMESTEAD DETENTION CENTER COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH SERVICES GENERAL DYNAMICSDC CAPITAL PARTNERS JOHN KELLY CALIBURN INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AMERICA
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https://www.facingsouth.org/2010/09/special-report-industry-wraps-coal-ash-regulation-fight-in-the-mantle-of-civil-rights.html