Durham Dispatch

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, a crowd of 100 frontline community members impacted by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and allies gathered in Charlotte to hold the financiers behind MVP accountable for the destruction the pipeline has wrought across Appalachia. This action took place a week after MVP experienced serious pipe failures during hydrostatic testing as it tries to go into service at the end of May. “We face life-threatening conditions on this methane gas pipeline route due to MVP’s recklessness and it’s all made possible by these banks and asset managers. We are in the midst of a climate crisis; these financiers must stop locking their investors into bad deals by backing companies like MVP,” said directly harmed community member and co-director of POWHR Russell Chisholm. Activists, carrying signs that said “Defund MVP”, met in the morning at Vanguard’s offices to call out their continued reckless and immoral financing of methane gas pipelines like MVP which contribute to climate chaos and destruction. Vanguard is the single largest investor of fossil fuels in the world. “Vanguard is often insulated from the ugly impacts of its massive investments in expanding fossil fuel development, but we know that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a danger to everyday people living nearby, and ultimately, a bad investment for Vanguard. We came all the way from Pennsylvania to act in solidarity with those on the frontlines of this pipeline, and we will be sharing their stories with the growing number of Vanguard customers who are ready to move their money out if Vanguard continues on this dangerous path,” said Lina Blount, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Earth Quaker Action Team. The actions continued in uptown Charlotte where 100 Indigenous water protectors, frontline leaders, and allies carrying puppets and signs, and singing songs and chants, delivered letters on the financial risk of MVP to Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America. They conducted a mock-trial in front of the Bank of America headquarters called “The People vs. Bank of America”, to expose the crimes against humanity and the planet. “No human being can survive without clean water, yet Bank of America continues to fund projects like MVP that destroy precious drinking water sources without a second thought. These banks and asset managers must know that MVP continues to wrack up unprecedented violations, including violations of the rights of tribal nations to informed consultation. So long as they choose to keep funding these harms, our multiracial, multi-faith grassroots movement will only keep getting louder,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, Citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and impacted community member on the Southgate route. This action continues the work that local faith leaders and activists with GreenFaith have been leading against Bank of America including monthly Earth Witness Wednesday events and the most recent protest on April 23 the day before the bank’s annual general meeting. “Our many faiths teach us that we are to care for people and protect the planet.  The financial decisions of big banks are destroying the planet and causing untold human suffering. As people of faith and conscience we know this is wrong, inhumane and also deeply unjust  since so many of these projects disproportionately exploit Indigenous lands and peoples as well as many black and brown communities in the US and the Global South,” said Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, US Organizer with GreenFaith. Further interviews are available with frontline leaders, including: Dr. Crystal Cavalier Keck (co-founder of 7 Directions of Service and impacted community member on the Southgate route), Russell Chisholm (co-director of the POWHR Coalition and directly harmed community member on the MVP mainline route), and Mariah Clay (MVP organizer with West Virginia Rivers Coalition). This article was published first by POWHR.

After COVID struck, the annual raises given to Durham city workers were lower than the inflation rate for three years in a row. The period of real-terms pay cuts, given that wages were already low, devastated municipal employees and city departments. The worst case is the Department of Public Works, where 68 percent of positions are empty. Raises were skipped in FY20–21 and were unusually low in FY21–22. While raises were normal in FY22–23 they were still lower than inflation. In each of these fiscal years, the City Council added millions of dollars to Durham’s rainy day fund, which hit a record-high of $76.5 million in FY22–23. City workers have organized a response. Solid Waste workers, represented by UE Local 150, pulled off a successful strike in September 2023. The City Council will be deciding the FY24–25 budget in June 2024, and a progressive coalition is pushing them to raise city workers’ pay to $25 per hour. Wage Austerity, Vacancy Rates, Fiscal Conditions According to the US Inflation Calculator, inflation has been about 20 percent since 2020 [1]. That has overwhelmed the annual raises of Durham city workers, who are split into three groups — general employees, police, and firefighters. There is a fourth group of “open range” employees but this represents a smaller number of well-paid management and technical positions. The three main groups are in pretty much the same boat — the value of their wages has shrunk. Here is a quote about the situation for general employees in the Department of Public Works: “Over the past four years, wages for public works employees in Durham, who are overwhelmingly African-American, have increased by 15 percent while inflation has risen by 23 percent.” — Payday Report, September 2023 [2] Firefighters have been treated in almost the same way. Their pay has gone up 16 percent in the last four years. That is a four percent cut in real-terms pay, according to the US Inflation Calculator numbers. FY16–17 [3a, pg. 8], FY17–18 [3b, pg. 4], FY18–19 [3c, pg. 5], FY19–20 [3d, pg. 4], FY20–21 [3e, pg. 3], FY21–22 [3f, pg. 3], FY22–23 [3g, pg. 13], FY23–24 [3h, pg. 15] Recently, the City Council had an opportunity to mend fences with at least one group of workers. In June 2023, former Mayor Elaine O’Neal introduced a motion to give firefighters “reclassifications” that were skipped during COVID. The measure would have set aside $8 million to raise their wages. Council members DeDreanna Freeman, Monique Hosley-Hyman, and former mayor Elaine O’Neal voted in favor, but the motion was defeated by a four-member majority — Mark Antony-Middleton, Javiera Caballero, Jillian Johnson, and current mayor Leonardo Williams [4]. “I think they needed to know. Straight up,” Mayor O’Neal after the motion was voted down. “Sometimes, you can just make it simple.” Low pay and low raises have led to high vacancy rates in many city departments. The Department of Public Works has the worst rate of empty roles (68 percent), but Emergency Communications (23 percent), Police (21 percent), Solid Waste (11 percent), and Fire (9 percent) are also plagued by the issue. Public Works, 68 percent as of October 2023 [5] / Emergency Communications Center, 23 percent as of March 2024 [6] / Police, 21 percent as of March 2024 [7] / Solid Waste (collections positions*) [8], 11 percent as of March 2024 / Fire, nine percent as of August 2023 [9] While raises were withheld from city workers, tens of millions of dollars piled into Durham’s rainy day fund. City workers got no annual raise at all in FY20–21, so although inflation was quite low their wages still lost value. In the same year, Durham poured $9.9 million into the “general fund unassigned fund balance,” also known as the rainy day fund. The City Council’s move to freeze wages went against economic orthodoxy, which calls for higher public spending during crises to stimulate the weakened private sector. From a moral point of view, denying a raise to these essential workers was outrageous. In the course of their work, municipal employees exposed themselves and their families to huge risks and got a real-terms pay cut for their trouble. The next year, city workers got two to four percent raises, below the pre-COVID norm. Inflation spiked to seven percent, making FY21–22 the worst year of wage austerity. Meanwhile, the City Council added $11.5 million to the rainy day fund, the largest increase in six years. Whatever the City Council's intentions, their policy created a massive pool of money for whatever programs they wished to establish or fund, and did so on the backs of the city’s workforce. FY22–23 was the last year of real-terms pay cuts. Annual raises for city workers went back to the normal level, but 6.5 percent inflation erased the gains. Millions of dollars continued to flow into the rainy day fund, which reached an all-time peak of $76.5 million. FY16–17 [10a, pg. 156], FY17–18 [10a, pg. 157], FY18–19 [10a, pg. 157], FY19–20 [10a, pg. 157], FY20–21 [10a, pg. 157], FY21–22 [10a, pg. 24], FY22–23 [10b, pg. 5] Not all of it could really be spent. Durham prefers that the rainy day fund not fall below 16.75 percent of general fund spending, although the state only requires 13 percent. At the FY22–23 peak, the fund was $35.6 million above the minimum level. After June 2023, the $35.6 million excess in the rainy day fund started to drop — to $32 million, then $18 million, then $11 million. “The general fund has about $32 million in reserves above the money it needs to have on hand, according to the latest figures ... Nearly $14 million was allocated in the budget approved in July [2023], leaving about $18 million to work with.” — News and Observer, September 2023 [11] In October 2023, the City Council approved $1,000 to 5,000 bonuses in response to a strike by Solid Waste workers, a concession that cost $6.5 million [12]. That money could have been used earlier to give normal raises, probably avoiding the strike’s disruption to workers and the community. FY16–17 [3b, pg. 4], FY17–18 [3b, pg. 4], FY18–19 [3d, pg. 5], FY19–20 [3d, pg. 5], FY20–21 [3f, pg. 4], FY21–22 [3f, pg. 4], FY22–23 [3h, pg. 16], FY23–24 [3h, pg. 16] New Programs Established During Wage Austerity During the three years of wage austerity, the City Council started new programs like HEART, which stands for Holistic, Empathetic, Assistance, Response Teams (HEART). The program, established in July 2022, sends unarmed social workers to emergency calls that don’t require a police officer. The budget for the HEART program is currently $6.4 million, a sum that has grown quickly since the program was established [13]. HEART is a great concept that the City Council was right to create and fund. It is a serious answer to the demands for less militarized public safety that rose up during the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the timing of the program’s creation shows that City Council had money it was willing to spend on recurring annual expenditures that could have been used for city workers’ annual raises. Solid Waste - Solidarity Sparks Action Workers in the Department of Solid Waste Management conducted a "stand down" in September 2023 [5]. “They refused to load the city’s trucks, leaving trash and recycling bins at the curb, prompting the city to send independent contractors on their routes.” — News and Observer [12] Showing remarkable solidarity, the Solid Waste workers made demands on behalf of all city workers and not just themselves — that all city workers should get a $5,000 bonus, pay for work outside of their job title, and all temporary workers should be hired on a permanent basis [14]. The strike was technically illegal due to pro-corporate laws in North Carolina, but the City Council chose not to enforce the legislation. The Solid Waste workers went on to secure a partial victory. In October 2023, the City Council voted unanimously to give all city workers bonuses between $1,000 to 5,000, with larger sums given to those with lower pay [12]. Though a welcome development, the October 2023 bonus did not resolve the root problems of low pay and low raises. The one-time payment will help workers pay some bills, but won't help recruit or retain employees. Unless those insufficient pay and raises are corrected in the FY24–25 budget, Durham will continue to lose skilled and experienced workers, with an effect on institutional memory that is not so easily repaired. Photo credit: UE Local 150 Emergency Comms The Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) answers 911 calls. As of February 2024, the department had a 23 percent vacancy rate, which sounds terrible but in fact is a huge improvement [6]. The rate of empty roles was 42 percent in August 2021 [15]. The problems in Emergency Comms, such as high turnover, could likely be solved by paying a living wage. New coverage about Emergency Comms may have been the first time many Durham residents learned that city departments were being hollowed out. On the night of August 18, 2021, six people were shot at McDougald Terrace. Residents that they’d called 911 six times before anyone answered, causing a scandal and forcing the mayor to apologize [16]. Emergency Comms has improved since then, but problems remain. An industry standard is that 911 call centers need to answer 90 percent of calls in ten seconds or less. Durham has not met that standard in any month since at least 2022. For example, in December 2023 the percent of calls answered in the proper time was 79.2 percent. However, DECC improved to 89.9 percent in February 2024, close to an acceptable level [6]. Image credit: Durham Emergency Communications Center [6] Positions at Emergency Comms do not pay well. New hires started with a salary of $39,000 as of January 2023 [17]. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a worker in Durham needs to earn about $58,000 if their family is made up of two working adults and two children [18]. The wide gap between need and reality fuels a 65 percent turnover rate (as of June 2022) — three times the national average for 911 call centers [19]. “99 employees were hired to work at the DECC from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2022, and during that same time frame, 81 employees quit.” — CBS 17, July 2022 [19] Fast turnover has simple causes like insufficient pay and raises. However, the problem manifests in complex ways. A few workers retire early, others change fields, or employees can be poached by cities that offer fair pay. Fire Department Firefighters at the Durham Fire Department are unionized but the local chapter was never considered very active. That has begun to change. “Blue-collar city workers, the majority of whom are Black, have united with firefighters and their union, Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 668, who have been mobilizing around similar issues.” — Labor Notes, October 2023 [5] Firefighters in Durham are paid much less than their peers in nearby cities. Starting pay is about $41,000, comparing poorly with Raleigh ($47,000) or Apex ($51,000). It’s a wonder that loss of staff to other cities isn’t a worse issue. Only seven firefighters left for other departments in FY22–23 [20]. Photo credit: Durham Fire Department Durham’s firefighters may have been relatively non-militant, but everyone has their breaking point. When the City Council held hearings on the FY23–24 budget in June 2023, firefighters in attendance blasted their low pay in searing terms. “Do you think $14 an hour is enough compensation to show up first to an emergency scene then run across I-85 with a jump bag to start CPR on a 6-month-old infant who had been ejected over the overpass?” — Firefighter quoted by WRAL News [21] In August 2023, the Fire Department had 38 open roles out of 425 [22]. That isn’t as shocking as the rate in Public Works or Emergency Comms, but it has still caused issues like fast turnover and heavy overtime. “[Durham Fire Chief Robert] Zoldos says out of the 35 people who left this year, seven went to other departments, 10 went to other fields, eight moved out of the area and 10 retired or were dismissed for other reasons.” — Spectrum News 1, August 2023 [22] During COVID, Fire Department spending on overtime pay went up dramatically. In FY19–20, $560,000 was spent on overtime pay. That number spiked to $1.3 million in FY20–21 [23]. The overtime bonanza may be softening the issue of low pay, but heavy overtime takes a toll on family life, making the job unattractive to many. Furthermore, the City Council decision to withhold raises makes no sense if the money is spent on overtime anyway. “[We] asked [Durham] where in the budget they found the money to pay for the overtime. The [city] said they used the money they had saved from having so many vacancies.” — WRAL News, July 2022 Close Annual raises for Durham city workers were skipped in FY20–21, unusually low in FY21–22, and below the rate of inflation in FY22–23. During the period of wage austerity, the City Council added tens of millions of dollars to the city’s rainy day fund. As a result, several city departments have been plunged into dysfunction. Solid Waste, Emergency Comms, and others are plagued by issues like labor unrest, heavy overtime, fast turnover, high vacancy rates and more. A progressive coalition is pushing the City Council to raise city workers’ pay to at least $25 per hour in the FY24–25 budget. Get involved with the campaign by following these groups on social media or subscribing to their newsletters: UE Local 150 Southern Workers Assembly Union of Southern Service Workers Work Cited 1. US Inflation Calculator. “Current US Inflation Rates: 2000–2024.” US Inflation Calculator | Easily Calculate How the Buying Power of the U.S. Dollar Has Changed From 1913 to 2023. Get Inflation Rates and U.S. Inflation News., 12 Mar. 2024, www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates. 2. Elk, Mike. “Durham Public Works Employees Illegally Strike for 1st Time.” Payday Report, 6 Sept. 2023, paydayreport.com/durham-public-works-employees-illegally-strike-for-1st-time. 3. Durham’s Adopted Budgets, FY16–17 until FY23–34 3a. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2016–2017.” www.durhamnc.gov, 20 June 2016, www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11260/Budget-book-pages-for-web?bidId= 3b. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2017–2018.” www.durhamnc.gov, 19 June 2017, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/15890/FY-2017-2018-Budget-PDF?bidId= 3c. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2018–2019.” www.durhamnc.gov, 18 June 2018, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/22131/FY-2018-19-Adopted-Budget 3d. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2019–2020.” www.durhamnc.gov, 17 June 2019, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27412/FY20-Final-Budget 3e. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2020–2021.” www.durhamnc.gov, 15 June 2020, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/32352/FY21-Final-Budget-Book?bidId= 3f. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2021–2022.” www.durhamnc.gov, 21 June 2021, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/39290/FY22-Adopted-Budget-Book?bidId= 3g. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2022–2023.” www.durhamnc.gov, 16 May 2022, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46235/Final-FY23-Budget-Book 3h. City of Durham Finance Department. “City of Durham, North Carolina Budget Fiscal Year 2023–2024.” www.durhamnc.gov, 15 May 2023, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/52197/Fiscal-Year-2023-24-Adopted-Budget 4. Moore, Mary Helen. “Durham’s Budget Passes at Fiery Meeting. What Each City Council Member Had to Say. Read More at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article276583981.html#storylink=cpy.” www.newsobserver.com, 21 June 2023, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article276583981.html. 5. Carroll, Ben. “North Carolina Sanitation Workers Strike for $5K Bonuses.” Labor Notes, 6 Oct. 2023, labornotes.org/2023/10/north-carolina-sanitation-workers-strike-5k-bonuses. 6. An Inside Look at Durham 911 | Durham, NC. www.durhamnc.gov/3964/Durham-911-Stats-Updates#data. 7. Durham Police Data, Statistics, and Reports | Durham, NC. www.durhamnc.gov/4743/Durham-Police-Data-Statistics-and-Report. 8. Fall 2023 City Employee Compensation and Solid Waste Collections Update | Durham, NC. www.durhamnc.gov/5134/Fall-2023-City-Employee-Compensation-and. 9. Panetta, Kyleigh. “Durham Firefighter Advocates for Higher Pay as City Launches Compensation Study.” Spectrum News 1 Charlotte, 23 Aug. 2023, spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/08/23/durham-firefighter-advocating-for-higher-pay-as-city-works-on-compensation-study. 10. Durham’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports, FY21–22 and FY-22–23 10a. City of Durham Finance Department. “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, City of Durham North Carolina, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022.” www.durhamnc.gov, 11 Nov. 2022, https://www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/47665/Annual-Comprehensive-Financial-Report-2022. 10b. City of Durham Finance Department. “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, City of Durham North Carolina, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023.” www.durhamnc.gov, 15 Nov. 2023, www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/53560/CITY-OF-DURHAM-FY23-ACFR---FINAL. 11. Moore, Mary Helen. “Garbage Workers Strike for Third Day; Durham Residents Told to Keep Trash on the Curb.” www.newsobserver.com, 12 Sept. 2023, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article279063974.html. 12. Moore, Mary Helen. “City Workers Declare Victory After Durham OKs Bonuses. Here’s What They’ll Get.” www.newsobserver.com, 5 Oct. 2023, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article280117114.html. 13. HEART Program — Participedia. 28 June 2022, participedia.net/case/12955. 14. Durham City Workers Deserve $5000 Bonus and Respect! | Southern Vision Alliance PowerBase. southernvision.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=93&reset=1. 15. Blackwell, Penelope. “‘Seconds Save Lives.’ but for Some Durham 911 Callers, the Seconds Are Adding Up.” Raleigh News and Observer, 1 Sept. 2021, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article253797173.html. 16. “Unanswered 911 calls and ‘the kind of scream that makes your soul shake.’” Raleigh News and Observer, 19 Aug. 2021, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article253622368.html. 17. Krueger, Sarah, et al. “Nearly Half 911 Operational Positions Are Vacant in Durham.” WRAL.com, 5 Jan. 2023, www.wral.com/story/nearly-half-911-operational-positions-are-vacant-in-durham/20656403. 18. Living Wage Calculator — Living Wage Calculation for Durham County, North Carolina. livingwage.mit.edu/counties/37063. 19. Price, Crystal. “Durham 911 employees are leaving at 4 times the rate of other dispatch centers nationwide, new audit shows.” CBS 17, 18 July 2022, www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/durham-county-news/durham-911-employees-are-leaving-at-4-times-the-rate-of-other-dispatch-centers-nationwide-new-audit-shows. 20. “Durham Firefighters Urge City Council to Increase Pay, Say They Can’t Afford to Live in City.” ABC11 Raleigh-Durham, 8 June 2023, abc11.com/durham-firefighters-firefighter-pay-city-council/13356375. 21. Bergin, Mark, and Monica Casey. “Durham Firefighter Union Chief: Pay Raises ‘anything but a Victory.’” WRAL.com, 21 June 2023, www.wral.com/story/durham-firefighter-union-chief-pay-raises-anything-but-a-victory/20919869. 22. “Durham Firefighter Advocates for Higher Pay as City Launches Compensation Study.” Spectrum News 1 Charlotte, 23 Aug. 2023, spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/08/23/durham-firefighter-advocating-for-higher-pay-as-city-works-on-compensation-study. 23. Krueger, Sarah, Mark Bergin, et al. “Durham, Raleigh Fire Departments Spend Combined $5.1 Million in Overtime Pay During Past Year.” WRAL.com, 2 July 2022, www.wral.com/story/durham-raleigh-fire-departments-spend-combined-5-1-million-in-overtime-pay-during-past-year/20357138.

Image credit: IndyWeek [1] Despite a years-long campaign to greenwash its corporate image by misleading the news media and decision-makers, Duke Energy remains a leading driver of the global climate crisis and is expanding fossil fuels while undermining clean energy solutions. The latest evidence is data NC WARN’s attorney and engineer obtained during the “discovery” phase of the ongoing challenge to Duke’s latest (pro) Carbon Plan proposal. That plan is Duke’s projection of future power generation, and the NC Utilities Commission is supposed to subject it to rigorous open debate by multiple parties and meaningful input by the public. Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 30] The data NC WARN found show that Duke won’t even begin choosing bids for its much-touted solar expansion until at least 2028 [3]. Construction would apparently begin sometime later, then increase for a few years before reverting to very low levels again by 2037 (just 525 MW) and beyond, according to Duke’s projections in the 2023 (pro) Carbon Plan application [2, pg. 81]. Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 81] For several years, North Carolina ranked 2nd nationally in additions of large-scale solar fields, with 1,250 megawatts (MW) added in 2017 [4]. The number plummeted to 250 MW in 2022 due to pro-Duke legislation and a limit on new solar development that Duke sought and received from the NCUC in its 2022 Carbon Plan order. Those legislative and regulatory barriers have fueled uncertainty among solar investors, leading to market stagnation and the loss of dozens of proposed projects; North Carolina’s national solar ranking fell to 13th in 2023 [5]. The Solar Energy Industry Association says NC ranks 23rd in projected growth over the next five years. Image credit: SEIA [5] To amplify the uncertainty, many of the new solar farms Duke Energy is claiming it will later pursue could hinge on Duke leaders’ dreams to pour billions into new or expanded transmission corridors in southeastern NC, where several community groups have already expressed concerns and demanded to know precisely where Duke intends to use eminent domain (land seizure) for new corridors [6]. All this amplifies our belief that Charlotte-based Duke Energy is gradually strangling the companies that build large solar fields, much like it’s done to the companies focusing on rooftop-parking lot solar through its NCUC-sanctioned change to net metering rules. A ruling that could reverse those changes is pending at the NC Court of Appeals [7]. Guaranteed Failure to Help with Climate Crisis So, even if Duke’s high-risk plans for utility-scale solar, experimental nuclear reactors and “hydrogen capable” gas were to succeed as planned, none would provide any meaningful climate benefit until well into the 2030s – much too late for North Carolina to help avert runaway climate-social chaos. Meanwhile, Duke continues expanding construction of methane-leaking, fracked gas burning power plants, hedging against quitting coal and charging ratepayers millions annually to study the possibility of building an as-yet designed nuclear reactor that, at best, might become operational in 2034. State leaders simply must stop Duke Energy from killing the growth of renewables and doubling down in the wrong direction. Local, rooftop-parking lot solar plus storage, matched with well-placed utility-scale solar is the fastest, cheapest – and could be the most equitable way – for North Carolina to help the millions of people already being devastated by climate impacts. This article was published first at NC WARN. Work Cited Billman, Jeffrey. “Trump’s Failing War on Solar Could Hurt North Carolina.” INDY Week, 8 Feb. 2023, indyweek.com/news/archives-news/trump-s-failing-war-solar-hurt-north-carolina. "Carolinas Resource Plan, Appendix C." Duke Energy, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/DukeCPAppendixC.pdf. “Carbon Plan Data Request, NC WARN Request No. 1, Item No. 1-14.” NC WARN, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/CPDataReq.pdf. “State Solar Spotlight.” SEIA, Sept. 2022, www.seia.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/North%20Carolina%20State-Factsheet-2022-Q3.pdf. “North Carolina Solar.” SEIA, www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/north-carolina-solar. “84 Solar Companies, Targeted Groups and Allies Call for Investigation of Duke Energy.” NC WARN, 13 Dec. 2023, www.ncwarn.org/2023/12/84-solar-companies-targeted-groups-and-allies-call-for-investigation-of-duke-energy-nc-warn-news-release. “Duke Energy on Defense at NC Court of Appeals Over Regulators’ Agreement to Slash Solar Incentives.” NC WARN & EWG, 13 Feb. 2024, www.ncwarn.org/2024/02/duke-energy-on-defense-at-nc-court-of-appeals-over-regulators-agreement-to-slash-solar-incentives-news-release-from-nc-warn-ewg.

From left to right: Vincent Daniels and Willie Brown (Public Works), Mayor Leonardo Williams, Gerald Woody and Montrell Perry and George Bacote (Solid Waste), Councilman Mark-Anthony Middleton On the first day of Black History Month, February 1, 2024, members of the Durham City Workers Union, UE Local 150, from the Departments of Solid Waste and Public Works met with Mayor Williams and Mayor Pro Tempore Middleton to discuss their demands for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget, to be voted on in June 2024. George Bacote, speaking for sanitation workers, started off the meeting by sharing the difficulties that workers face such as working two jobs and many being unable to afford the skyrocketing rent costs in Durham. Bacote also raised the issue of lengthening routes, which are likely to add even more work on the over-stretched workforce. The union reiterated their demand to raise wages to $25 per hour with a special emphasis on workers in Solid Waste and Public Works, who have been the main workers speaking out and participating in UE Local 150 actions. Workers also demanded that Solid Waste Operators be reclassified to a new job title to recognize the special skills they have beyond being “Maintenance Technicians”. Christopher Benjamin recommended the title of “Sanitation Engineers”. Durham's city government has hired the Logic Consultant Group to put together a compensation study with recommendations on pay for city workers. The City Council does not have a release date, but claims the study should be out in mid-February or March. The city is hosting a Budget Retreat on February 16 and March 1 at Lake Mist from 8:30am - 4:00pm. UE Local 150 is encouraging workers to take off work to attend. The compensation study should be released on that date. During the meeting with Williams and Middleton, workers also reiterated the need to think bigger about where to find tax revenues to fund the needs of workers and the community. This article was published first at UE Local 150

By Lexi Schaffer Crystal (left) and Jason (right) Cavalier-Keck participating in a march. Image credit: 7DS In December 2023, progressives in North Carolina celebrated an announcement by Equitrans Midstream. The corporation’s interstate fracked gas project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), would now end in Rockingham County, 30 miles into North Carolina, instead of Alamance County, 70 miles into the state [1]. The subject of a decade’s worth of controversy, the MVP runs 303 miles through Virginia and into northern North Carolina, carving through streams, rivers, forests, and backyards along the way. The proposed section of the MVP that originally planned to reach 70 miles into the state, now reaching only 30 miles, is called the Southgate extension. Green line shows the route of the Southgate extension of the MVP. Image credit: NC Newsline [1] The shortening of the Southgate extension brought joy into the hearts of thousands of North Carolinians who had feared for their land, water, and safety. But the activists behind the success aren’t done. The fight is only just beginning. Building on their partial victory, grassroots groups across North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia are organizing to stop the rest of the Southgate extension and the entire Mountain Valley Pipeline. One of the groups working against the MVP is 7 Directions of Service (7DS), which works to combine Indigenous knowledge with the universal need for clean air and water — a united front for environmental justice. Sunrise Durham sat down for an interview with prominent 7DS leaders Jason Campos-Keck and Coda Cavalier-Keck. Jason co-founded the organization with his partner Crystal Cavalier, an award-winning Indigenous leader. Their child Coda, the Native Youth Organizer for 7DS, is also an influential environmental activist. Crystal, Jason and Coda have worked to turn 7DS into the capable organization that spearheaded Alamance County’s successful expulsion of the pipeline. Jason recalled that the 7DS was “originally a nonprofit called Eastern Woodland Lacrosse” that “offered free stickball to the neighborhood.” Before stickball games, Jason’s players “would do water ceremonies to prepare for the game” in the Haw River, which is sacred to indigenous communities. The Haw flows through six North Carolina counties, including Rockingham and Alamance, providing natural beauty and vital resources such as fish and clean water [2]. MVP ditch behind a home in Virginia. Image credit: Bloomberg In 2018, the Cavalier-Kecks learned that the proposed Southgate extension would cut straight through the Haw River and “cross many streams in the Haw River watershed” [3]. The family and much of the community were appalled. As Crystal and Jason dug deeper into the issue, they were astounded by what they found. If built, the originally proposed Southgate extension “would have crossed 207 streams, three ponds and temporarily damaged 17,726 linear feet of streams, 6,538 square feet of open waters, and 14 acres of wetlands” in addition to cutting through private property [1,4]. The pipeline “threatens air, it threatens land, it threatens animals, it threatens people,” said Jason. It especially “threatens water, because there is no replenishing supply of fresh water once humans have damaged it,” and a proposed filtration system is expensive and “only helps the two legged people. It doesn’t help the fish swimming in it, doesn’t help the insects, doesn’t help the turtles, the birds eating those fish.” Coda added that “once the fish get poisoned, it’s only a matter of time before” people eat the fish, meaning that any water contamination from the pipeline could prove deadly, with or without a filtration system. 7DS leads a demonstration. Image credit: 7DS Furthermore, Southgate would cut through vulnerable ecosystems previously shielded from extensive human contact by mountains and dangerous terrain. The pipeline also runs through an area that has been “a traditional indigenous trading path for hundreds of years,” explained Jason, making the project a threat to local heritage. In addition to tearing through previously undisturbed land, the Mountain Valley Pipeline endangers local plants and animals that have lived alongside humans in the area for thousands of years. The project is predicted to drive local fish species such as the Roanoke Logperch and Candy Darter to near-extinction [5]. To protect these animals, activists have appealed to laws that protect endangered species to hinder the progress of Equitrans Midstream. “Hunting and fishing alone is not going to deplete the populations of these species,” said Jason. “Fossil fuel extraction certainly will.” Roanoke Logperch. Image credit: Conservation Fisheries / Candy Darter. Image credit: National Park Service The MVP deepens environmental injustices along its route. The Southgate extension “would require a massive, polluting compressor station in a predominately Black community near Chatham, VA” [6]. The pipeline would fuel climate change, emitting an astonishing 89 million metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles [7]. Jason remembered that Crystal “was an elected tribal official at the time” when they learned of the Southgate extension. When she brought the issue “to her council, . . . they basically told her that she could not speak out.” Frustrated, she resigned “so that she could advocate on the community’s behalf.” Crystal and Jason began organizing and mobilizing against the MVP full-time, gathering the support of their peers and the larger community through their roots in Eastern Woodland Lacrosse. They decided to give the organization a new name: 7 Directions of Service. The seven directions are “children, women, men, elders, the earth, the sky (which is also symbolic of culture and the mind) and finally, the direction within” [6]. These values have guided the Cavalier-Kecks and other activists in their work against Southgate and the MVP. Drawing upon principles of inclusivity, 7DS brought together activist groups from around North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia “as one united front” against the pipeline, said Jason. People “have a responsibility and to show solidarity and support with our neighbors, no matter . . . where they are, whether they’re in North Carolina or up in West Virginia and Virginia.” Protestors hold an anti-pipeline banner. Image credit: WSLS 10 Once united, the groups worked closely together to mobilize people against Southgate. Jason said “we go politically, we’ve gone to the Pentagon, we’ve gone to the United Nations, we’ve gone to the White House itself.” In February 2024, 7DS filed a Human Rights appeal to the United Nations claiming that the MVP violates Articles 11, 26, and 29 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [8]. 7DS also encourages its members to contact local and national politicians, in order to spur widespread legislative progress. Despite the group’s political persistence, Jason noted that the most challenging part has been “negotiating with elected officials, regulating people like the EPA, the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), and the Army Corps of Engineers, those people who are supposed to listen to our concerns and make changes.” In his experience, government officials are quick to find loopholes and develop new policies to get around hurdles created by activists, a heartbreaking cycle of progress and setbacks. Jason pointed out an “incentive by government to enable these corporations, regardless if they’re a responsible corporation or a predatory one, like the MVP,’’ that uses “disingenuous and dishonest practices” to force communities into compliance. Fossil fuel companies running roughshod over indigenous land doesn’t just happen in North Carolina. Energy corporations across the nation have broken through activists’ defenses to build disruptive, greenhouse gas-emitting pipelines. For example, the infamous Dakota Access Pipeline threatens the land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other indigenous populations in the Dakotas. Demonstrators protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Image credit: The Daily Northwestern Instead of waiting for delayed government responses and gradual policy change, 7DS organizes public rallies and speeches to press for political change. Jason recalled, “we’ve done civil disobedience, which looks like marches, what they call protests in the media, but we call those protects, not protests.” Coda said that their most effective “community advocacy strategies” have been “art builds, sharing meals together . . . just showing up and gathering support from the community.” They reflected that “support in strength of numbers” shows resilience and determination, two qualities that passionate North Carolinians have fully exhibited in their ongoing fight against the pipeline. Jason and Coda said that, just as the brave “Standing Rock . . folks have not given up,” the people of this state are already to resist Southgate through political and civil means to protect their land and safety, “no matter what happens or what the MVP announces.” Image credit: Jan Burger of Paperhand Puppet Intervention After their victory in reducing Southgate’s reach in December of 2023, 7DS is now mobilizing citizens in Rockingham County, the pipeline’s new ending location. Sunrise Durham asked how people living in North Carolina can help, and Jason and Coda emphasized that anyone, including non-activists, can join the campaign to push back against the pipeline and protect North Carolina’s land, water, plants, and living beings. Coda suggested “following [7 Directions of Service] on social media”. That allows people to receive updates and get involved by coming to events. “There is always some way that you can help out,” they said, “whether it’s by donating or just showing up and supporting even for . . . an hour, a few minutes, just doing something to show solidarity.” Additionally, they said that people can contribute by “calling your politicians, emailing them, reaching out, doing something that you can do within your power” and time, whatever that may be. Simply spreading awareness by speaking to loved ones about the issue will bring attention to injustices that are currently being swept under the rug. “We would love any support,” Jason said, “even if it’s sitting at home sending an email saying, we don’t like this. There’s got to be a better way.” Protesters unite against the MVP. Image credit: In These Times “Welcome to North Carolina,” Jason said when asked about newcomers to the state. “Not only have you moved to one of the largest populations of indigenous tribes in the country East of the Mississippi, you’ve moved to the home of the civil rights movement.” He commented that North Carolina is “the home of the first environmental justice movement, which was . . . near Halifax County, North Carolina, where corporations were trying to poison a small farming community and they rose up and resisted. I would invite you to do your homework on the local indigenous population.” In this state of diverse social movements and sacred land, we can achieve change and protection if we all work together. Organizations like 7DS are leading the charge, acting as spokespeople for all living beings, human and nonhuman. “Environmental rights are rights for every living thing,” Jason said. “We all have to drink water and breathe air, so we might as well drink clean water and breathe clean air and fight to have the most basic human rights.” Works Cited 1. Sorg, Lisa. “MVP Southgate Natural Gas Pipeline Will No Longer Cross Alamance County.” NC Newsline, 2 Jan. 2024, ncnewsline.com/2024/01/02/mvp-southgate-natural-gas-pipeline-will-no-longer-cross-alamance-county/. 2. “Haw River — Guilford/Rockingham/Alamance Counties.” Piedmont Land Conservancy, 5 Oct. 2015, https://www.piedmontland.org/protected-places/clean-water/upper-haw-river/. 3. “Mountain Valley Pipeline Proposal: Haw River Assembly.” Haw River Assembly | Defending the River since 1982, 6 June 2023, hawriver.org/river-issues/mvpsouthgate/ #:~:text =Effects%20on%20the%20Haw&text=The%20pipeline%20will%20cross%20many,stream%20crossings%20leave%20streams%20devastated. 4. “Letter From NC Department of Environmental Quality to US Army Corps of Engineers About Mountain Valley Pipeline.” NC DEQ, 23 Sept. 2019, edocs.deq.nc.gov/WaterResources/DocView.aspx?id=990879&dbid=0&repo=WaterResources&cr=1. 5. “Federal Court Stays Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Biological Opinion Again.” Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Biological Diversity, 11 July 2023, https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/federal-court-stays-mountain-valley-pipelines-biological-opinion-again-2023-07-11/ 6. “Our Core Initiatives.” 7 Directions of Service, https://7directionsofservice.com/core-initiatives. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. 7. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Briefing” https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2017/02/mountain_valley_pipe_web_final_v1.pdf. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024. 8. “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. United Nations, 13 Sept. 2007, www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf.

Image credit: Appily On Wednesday, April 10th, activists met in a Durham church to learn about campaigns for payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) aimed at wealthy, tax-exempt universities. The event was organized by City Council member Nate Baker. The main feature was a conversation with Professor Davarian Baldwin, author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities, a 2021 book about the political economy of higher education. Major universities like Yale, UPenn, and others have been pressured by grassroots campaigns into making PILOTs to their local communities. Yale pays $23 million per year and UPenn pays $10 million [1, 2]. Taking note of these victories, activists in Durham are building a campaign that will push Duke University to contribute $20 million per year to city funds. The total value of Duke University's properties is unclear, so much so that the most reliable estimate comes from a 1998 article in the Duke Chronicle. The author, formerly a high official of the university, estimated that Duke University's properties were worth "somewhat over $900 million, theoretically obligating Duke to pay some $15 million in taxes across the county and the city. Of that, some $6 million would be payable to the city." [3] Davarian Baldwin is the Raether Professor at Trinity College and founder of the Smart Cities Lab. Image credit: X account of Davarian Baldwin The $900 million is worth $1.7 billion when inflation is taken into account. However, the $1.7 billion estimate is certainly too low. It does not include properties that Duke University has acquired since 1998, Durham's increased land values, and several other factors. What is not in dispute is that Duke University and Duke Health System paid only $3.7 million in property taxes in 2023 [4]. Most of the school's properties are used for educational purposes, making them tax exempt under 501(c)(3) rules. “Duke is an important partner in Durham that has some existing community programs and of course covers some of its own services. Nevertheless, we are essentially subsidizing Duke because they are not paying property taxes,” said Baker. “The cash-strapped city of Durham is, in other words, subsidizing a $12 billion-endowed university.” [5] According to US News & World Report, Duke University is the seventh best university in the US. The achievement is bittersweet since Durham Public Schools is ranked 55th among school districts in North Carolina [6]. For an elite university located in a community with poor educational outcomes, voluntary payment of property taxes offers a pathway out of injustice. Duke University may find itself looking at the example of UPenn, which sends $10 million a year to Philadelphia City Schools as their PILOT [2]. Image credit: Amazon During the talk, Baldwin observed that universities don’t often volunteer a PILOT. Payments to the community tend to be won by grassroots campaigns, such as when a movement called New Haven Rising brought Yale to the negotiating table. “Everywhere I go, the schools say, ‘He hates universities’”, said Baldwin, “But every year they put out mission statements talking about being a good neighbor to the community. I’m just holding them to that.” At Wednesday’s event, some audience members were skeptical that Duke University could be pressured to pay up. Baldwin pushed back. He said that universities get uncomfortable when their business, labor, and political practices are subjected to scrutiny. Since PILOT campaigns tend to involve a great deal of public education on these topics, schools often agree to make voluntary payments to shore up their status as a pillar of the community. City Council member Nate Baker. Image credit: Nate Baker Instagram “Go talk to 40 and 50-year residents. They have the receipts," said Baldwin, "They want to talk about their stories’”. Baldwin advised that the PILOT campaign should be led by long-time Durham residents and university workers, particularly the Black members in those groups. He also pointed out that the campaigns often gain allies on the City Council, who are attracted by the prospect of additional revenue. “What mayor doesn’t want more money?” asked Baldwin. Work Cited 1.       Basler, Cassandra. “Yale Announces ‘Historic’ $135 Million Payment to New Haven.” Connecticut Public, 9 Mar. 2023, www.ctpublic.org/education-news/2021-11-17/yale-announces-historic-135-million-payment-to-new-haven. 2.       Stellino, Molly, and Molly Stellino. “Activists Question Whether Wealthy Universities Should Be Exempt From Property Taxes.” The Hechinger Report, 18 Dec. 2020, hechingerreport.org/activists-question-whether-wealthy-universities-should-be-exempt-from-property-taxes. 3.       Burness, John. “Dismiss Durham'S Idea to Tax Duke'S Dime.” The Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1998, www.dukechronicle.com/article/dismiss-durhams-idea-tax-dukes-dime. 4.       Mungai, Mary. Durham City Councilman Proposes Duke Pay “Fair Share” in Property Taxes | the Durham VOICE. 14 Mar. 2024, durhamvoice.org/durham-city-councilman-proposes-duke-pay-fair-share-in-property-taxes/#:~:text=According%20to%20their%202023%20Annual,million%20in%20property%20taxes%20annually. 5.       Duke University. Duke University’s Endowment. 2023, giving.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/DukeEndowment.pdf. 6.       “Durham Public Schools - North Carolina.” Niche, www.niche.com/k12/d/durham-public-schools-nc.

Trade unions, environmental groups, and left-wing parties are preparing to rally and march in central Durham on May 1st, 2024 to celebrate International Workers Day [1]. The May Day rally is being organized by Durham Workers Assembly, United for a Fair Economy, Raising Wages NC, UE Local 150, and other groups. The rest of the world celebrates May 1st as a worker’s holiday. The day was chosen to honor of the victims of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, where four demonstrators were killed by police during a rally for an eight-hour work day. In the US, May 1st is designated as Law Day. “Attacks on workers’ standard of living and working conditions have intensified. During the COVID-19 pandemic, employers made record profits at our collective expense,” the organizers of the May Day wrote in a statement, “Our labor continues to be stolen and used to fund increasingly brutal police and military forces across the planet, all while the costs of living climbs higher and higher.” Haymarket Massacre in Chicago. Image credit: Illinois Labor History Society The May Day rally and march will put forward four demands and themes: 1.     Local minimum wage of $25 per hour for all workers, particularly for city workers. Only the state government can raise the overall minimum wage, while the City Council controls the pay of city workers. These bodies are only likely to act if trade unions press for better pay and conditions. 2.     Measures to make housing more affordable. Various state laws make it almost impossible to pursue the normal methods for creating affordable housing - rent control and public housing. In North Carolina, rent control is illegal under GS 42‑14.1 [2]. Cities in North Carolina are allowed to create public housing, but only for a low-income market that the private sector has no interest in. The state government is similarly bound, unable to help create affordable housing for the majority of the population due to a 1939 state law called the Umstead Act that bars the state government from competing with the private sector [3]. 3.     Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) from Duke University. The university owns at least $1.7 billion of property but pays only $3.7 million in property taxes, since most of their properties are tax exempt [4 , 5]. However, universities across the US such as Yale and UPenn make voluntary PILOTs worth tens of millions of dollars per year [6, 7]. 4.     Support for the Palestinian people with a call for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel, as well as a demand to reallocate military funds to social needs. In February 2024, Durham’s City Council passed a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza by a vote of 5-2, with Mayor Pro Tem Mark Antony-Middleton and Mayor Leonardo Williams voting against. During the City Council debate, Mayor Williams said that “ignorance is not always intentional, so I ask for your grace” before voting against the resolution [8, 5:45:47]. The other vote against the resolution was Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, who commented during the debate that in 2023 he’d been on a trip to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Knesset [8, 5:24:03]. Ceasefire event at Durham City Council. Image credit: Leslie St. Dre / IndyWeek The May Day event hopes to help change a grim status quo for workers in North Carolina. According to Oxfam America, the state holds the 2023 title for “worst state to work in” and “last place position in the Working Women index”. The low ranking is based on North Carolina's $7.25 minimum wage, lack of paid leave, and “right-to-work” laws that undermine the finances of trade unions (and do not guarantee employment) [9]. North Carolina has a unionization rate of 3.6 percent, slightly lower than the 67 percent rate of Denmark but trouncing the 2.7 percent rate of South Carolina. The May Day statement said that “the city of Durham has the highest eviction rate in the state.” EvictionLab numbers run out in 2016 when the city had an eviction rate of 5.2 percent per year, ranked sixth out of nine tracked cities [10]. According to DataWorks, Durham’s eviction rate rose to 9.4 percent during the 2016-2020 period [11, pg. 8]. During that time, the eviction rate for Black people was 15.8 percent, triple the rate of any other group. The data show the source of the anguished pleas to alleviate “gentrification” heard every election cycle in Durham. 2020 photo of Lutrenda Sumpter, who has dealt with multiple Durham Housing Authority eviction filings. Image credit: Maydha Devarajan / Durham Voice A mini awakening of Durham’s working class will be on display at the May 1st event. Old unions are stronger and new unions have appeared. The groups that will march from CCB Plaza include “Durham city workers (UE Local 150), school workers (Durham Association of Educators), Duke graduate workers (DGSU), Starbucks workers (SBWU), Amazon workers (CAUSE), REI workers (UFCW), Waffle House workers (USSW)”. In August 2023, graduate workers at Duke University won their NLRB election by an astonishing vote of 1000-131. That victory turned the DGSU into the largest union of graduate workers at a private university in the South [12]. Image credit: DGSU / The Nation In a lesser-known development from 2023, the Starbucks on Fayetteville Road voted 16-2 to unionize with SBWU, joining a wave of 420 stores across the US [13]. Recently, the store’s workers called for community help when managers cut the hours of pro-union baristas to as low as four hours per pay period. The May Day march and rally has been endorsed by dozens of groups including 7 Directions of Service, Black Workers for Justice, NC Environmental Justice Network, and Jubilee Baptist Church. The organizers have encouraged community members and groups to RSVP and endorse the May 1st event with this form. People looking to keep track of updates should follow the social media accounts of Durham Workers Assembly. Work Cited 1.     May Day 2024 - Durham Endorsement and Interest Form. actionnetwork.org/forms/may-day-2024-durham-endorsement-interest-form. 2.     “GS 42‑14.1. Rent Control.” NC Legislature, www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-14.1.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024. 3.     Mulligan, Tyler. Local Government Support for Privately Owned Affordable Housing | Community and Economic Development - Blog by UNC School of Government. 16 May 2022, ced.sog.unc.edu/2022/05/local-government-support-for-privately-owned-affordable-housing. 4.     Burness, John. “Dismiss Durham'S Idea to Tax Duke'S Dime.” The Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1998, www.dukechronicle.com/article/dismiss-durhams-idea-tax-dukes-dime. 5.     Mungai, Mary. Durham City Councilman Proposes Duke Pay “Fair Share” in Property Taxes | the Durham VOICE. 14 Mar. 2024, durhamvoice.org/durham-city-councilman-proposes-duke-pay-fair-share-in-property-taxes. 6.     Basler, Cassandra. “Yale Announces ‘Historic’ $135 Million Payment to New Haven.” Connecticut Public, 9 Mar. 2023, www.ctpublic.org/education-news/2021-11-17/yale-announces-historic-135-million-payment-to-new-haven. 7.     Stellino, Molly. “Activists Question Whether Wealthy Universities Should Be Exempt From Property Taxes.” The Hechinger Report, 18 Dec. 2020, hechingerreport.org/activists-question-whether-wealthy-universities-should-be-exempt-from-property-taxes. 8.    City of Durham NC. “Durham City Council Feb 19 2024.” YouTube, 20 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgMfJf8bp4. 9.     Work in America: The Best and Worst States in 2023. 30 Aug. 2023, www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/best-worst-states-work-us-2023. 10.   “Eviction Rankings.” Eviction Lab, evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=North%20Carolina&a=0&d=evictionRate&lang=en. 11.   DataWorks. Tenant Demographics and Eviction Filings in Durham County. 2023, dataworks-nc.org/wp-content/uploads/Tenant-Demographics-and-Eviction-Filings-in-Durham-County.pdf. 12.  Schlemmer, Liz. “Duke University Graduate Students Win Union Election in a Landslide.” WUNC, 22 Aug. 2023, www.wunc.org/news/2023-08-22/duke-university-graduate-students-win-union-election-in-a-landslide. 13.  Cranford, Claire. “‘Starbucks Works Because We Work’: Inside the Formation of Durham’s First Starbucks Union.” The Chronicle, 12 Jan. 2024, www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/01/duke-university-starbucks-durham-union-formation.

By Emily Chambliss Durham County resident Susanna Strasser speaks about her experiences with construction and development. Image credit: Pam Andrews with Preserve Rural Durham. In 2022, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, Susanna Strasser put framed family photos in her new rental home while the walls shook around her. The floor vibrated beneath her feet, and the few belongings she brought into the home rattled in their boxes. Smoke drifted through her backyard from the construction site behind the 1300 block of Junction Road in Durham, N.C. Construction in the area was nothing new, so Strasser paid it no mind. But weeks later, when dark brown, sour-smelling water poured from her faucet, she knew something was wrong. ー As the fifth largest county in North Carolina, Durham County saw over 25% population growth in the last 14 years, welcoming over 60,000 new residents in that time. To accommodate this growth, the city plans to expand into rural Durham. In November, the Durham City Council voted in favor of amendments to the Simplified Code for Affordable Housing. The code removed many barriers to development, and opponents claimed it encouraged gentrification of the area. Urban developers can acquire farmland and forests in Durham County, and petition the city for voluntary annexation of the land into the city. In November, the city council approved the controversial Perry Farm project, allowing McAdams civil engineering firm to convert 280-plus acres of forested land into 665 new residential units in southeast Durham. In the firm’s rezoning application, it designated 3 percent of the units as affordable housing at 80 percent area median income for 30 years. This is less than 20 affordable units for low-income residents. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a family of four is considered low-income if they bring in less than $30,000 a year. Buyers at 80 percent AMI in Durham would make about $76,000 a year for a family of four. “Public officials and developers want growth in Durham,” Pamela Andrews, founder of Preserve Rural Durham, said. “They want the money. They want the taxes. They don’t care about anything else.” With Durham’s population expected to increase by over 100,000 in the next 20 years, the city council and the Durham Board of County Commissioners have promoted high density housing as a way for all Durham residents to live affordably in the area. High density housing, like apartments and townhomes, increases pollution and pressure on the natural environment. High density development strips land of trees, roots and other vegetation. Deforestation and infrastructure expansion increase the risk of severe flooding and create urban “heat islands.” Structures like roads and buildings re-emit heat from the sun at a higher rate than natural landscapes. These “heat islands” contribute to higher daytime temperatures and increased air pollution. Environmental concerns continue to grow as new annexations push city boundaries further into Durham County. “We need a promise from Durham that they’re going to protect our waters and our environment,” Samantha Krop, Neuse riverkeeper and director of advocacy at grassroots organization Sound Rivers said. “And we don’t have that right now.” During construction, developers blast away rocks to make room for the concrete slab foundations houses are built on. Uncontrolled blasting can produce structural damage to neighboring buildings and structures. The city of Durham has strict blasting regulations, requiring the notification of nearby residents and a safety plan. Durham County does not require either. This construction can also contribute to water pollution from metals, chemicals and sediment eroded by deforestation, blasting and drilling. On Sept. 7, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of grassroots organization Sound Rivers to stop ongoing pollution into Martin Branch Creek, which connects into major drinking water source Falls Lake. The lawsuit alleges Clayton Properties Group, Inc. has committed more than 16 Clean Water Act violations in its development in southeast Durham. Water samples collected by Krop show the developer has discharged sediment into the creek at over 20 times over permit limit. This excess sediment has turned creek water bright orange. The SELC notified Clayton Properties Group of their intent to sue in May 2023, but the lawsuit claims water samples collected 60 days after notification “confirmed” ongoing violations. “We weren’t receiving the response we were hoping for in terms of stopping the pollution,” Krop said. “We’re hoping to encourage developers to value and protect our creeks. We believe we can have responsible development that provides housing that Durham needs while also protecting its water resources.” Krop said Durham’s environmental issues come down to a lack of development oversight, and insufficient regulation enforcement. In October, Sound Rivers filed a lawsuit against Mungo Homes, claiming the development company violated the Clean Water Act over 20 times as it builds homes along Olive Branch Road. “What has happened to Durham that we don’t care about our water systems?” Andrews said. “That used to be taboo. It makes no sense.” Much of Durham falls into critical watersheds, or areas where water supply protection is considered crucial, like Falls Lake and Jordan Lake. Durham developers have, according to the Sound Rivers lawsuits, polluted essential sources of water for drinking, irrigation, flood control or hydroelectric projects. Susanna Strasser, who said she has been without clean water since November 2022, claims excessive construction and development is the cause. ー On the 1300 block of Junction Road, near Walmart Supercenter and Glenn Elementary School, many homes have been without clean water since their wells failed around Thanksgiving 2022. Preserve Rural Durham and residents of the area said the issues started weeks after local developer KB Homes blasted rock behind their homes. Strasser noticed weak water pressure and a “horrible” smell she described as rotten eggs. The water came out of sinks and showers a dark brown. Strasser tried using a water filter, but said it did not last a day. Residents believe the nearby blasting collapsed their wells and ruptured surrounding sewer lines, contaminating their remaining water supply. Despite efforts from landlord Elmo Yancey, little has been done to mitigate the issue. “The county [does] not care what’s happening. The city [does] not care what’s happening,” Strasser said. “We don’t have the money for them to care.” Residents can only use the water for the toilet. They have been purchasing bottled water or collecting rainwater for cleaning, showering, cooking and drinking. Lludiz Velazquez said her daughter complained of dry, itchy skin and rashes before halting showering in the well water. “I’m sure it was that terrible, nasty water,” she said. Several neighbors reported the same issue. Now, Velazquez and her family buy water from Walmart, heat it on the stove and pour water on themselves from a container as they sit on a medical shower chair. The family stopped showering every day, reducing to twice a week. “We will shower three times if we can afford it,” Velazquez said. She said it embarrasses her daughter at school to be without water, and that she gets excited to use an actual shower when staying with family. “She’ll say ‘Mommy I wish we can move to another house,’ I say ‘We cannot afford to live in another house,’” Velazquez said. Velazquez collects rainwater for dishes and buys the rest in gallon jugs. According to a study by DigDeep, a nonprofit aimed at improving universal clean water access, purchasing drinking water costs a family an average of $1,350 a year, or about $112.50 per month. The average water bill in Durham comes out to approximately $40 a month for 5,000 gallons of water for all uses. The DigDeep study states households without adequate water and sanitation access spend over $15,000 a year on healthcare costs and other related expenses. Seventy-nine year old Strasser said the water has deteriorated her health. “I have to eat out every day. I can’t lift the water I bought from the store. I can’t always get to my son’s house to use his water, especially when it’s cold,” she said. “So I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” In May 2023, Durham County provided a tanker truck to supply water to the homes with failed wells. Residents said there wasn’t enough water for everyone. In November, the county removed the tanker without providing a permanent solution. A few days before the removal of the tanker, Strasser said she received a bill for the water because it was on her property. She said the bill charged her $500 per day. “I don’t know where they think I am going to get that money,” Strasser said. “The people who did the damage haven’t had to pay nothing,” The Durham Voice reached out to Durham County about the issue, but received no response. Few options remain for Junction Road residents to regain access to safe water. The property owners can petition for annexation of the area into the city of Durham and petition for an extension of the city’s water services. Or, they can petition for annexation and extend the water line at their own cost. It can take weeks to months to design, assess and install any kind of water line extension. Velazquez reached out to the Durham City Council about a quicker solution. She said city council members expressed interest in solving the issue; even going as far as to visit the Junction Road homes for themselves. Velazquez has not heard from any council members since, despite several attempts to contact them. “Lot’s of promises. Lot’s of hope,” she said. “But still there is nothing.” Almost a year and a half after their wells failed, residents of Junction Road have not found a solution. Renters and property owners continue to hope the issue will soon be resolved. “Nobody is fighting for us. We are the only ones fighting for us,” Velazquez said. “It’s been a nightmare. But we’ve gotten used to a nightmare.” Edited by Phillip Le This article was published first in The Durham Voice

Speech by Rania Masri from NC Environmental Justice Network On Tuesday evening, about a hundred people gathered in front of the Durham County Courthouse to protest the climate policies of Duke Energy and the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC). Speakers at the rally criticized the utility's plans for 8.9 gigawatts (GW) of new fracked gas plants in speeches. At seven o’clock, the crowd went into the courthouse for an NCUC public hearing. According to state law HB951, Duke Energy and the NCUC must eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2) in the utility sector by 2050. In apparent defiance, the utility has planned for 8.9 GW of new fracked gas plants by 2035 [1]. Duke Energy’s excuse that new fracked gas plants will be converted to hydrogen fuel in the 2040s has been viewed by many with ridicule. CT and CC technologies are compatible with fracked gas. Image credit: Duke Energy, “IRP Load Growth Fact Sheet” The “Rally Against the Duke Energy Carbon Plan” featured speeches from Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck from 7 Directions of Service, the Raging Grannies, Caroline Armijo of The Lilies Project, Rania Masri from NC Environmental Justice Network, and Bobby Jones of Down East Coal Ash. The event was MC-ed by Karen Bearden from 350 Triangle. "The Dan and Roanoke River watersheds are the only places on earth where you can find the Roanoke Logperch and James Spinymussel,” said Cavalier-Keck. “These and other endemic species will cease to exist if we don’t protect them from harm like Duke’s proposed methane-fracked gas build outs in Rockingham, Caswell, and Person Counties.” People at Tuesday’s rally debated the size of Duke Energy’s fracked gas expansion, which is complex and poorly covered by media. Some saw a small victory since as recently as 2022 Duke Energy was planning an even-larger fracked gas expansion of 11.7 GW [2, pg. 86, table E-84]. Others worried that the reduction to 8.9 GW by 2035 not fully understood, and could be a trick to push through other negative policies. “We're here because we recognize that the climate change emergency is upon us. We're not talking about climate change coming tomorrow or in ten years, it's already here," said Masri, "We’re here because we believe that not one community can be regarded as disposable. We believe that for our communities in eastern North Carolina… for our workers here in Durham County…and for people overseas.” Twelve environmental groups planned the rally together including Climate Action NC, NC Black Alliance, and Sunrise Movement Durham Hub. Organizers were pleased that the event included both “climate change” and “environmental justice” groups, which often divide on lines of race and class. During the “Rally Against the Duke Energy Carbon Plan”, speakers accused Duke Energy of pushing fracked gas under false pretenses. The power plants have a lifespan of 30 to 40 years. Green groups fear that plans for 8.9 GW of fracked gas would enable Duke Energy to emit CO2 far past the 2050 deadline ordered by HB951. The utility has promised to convert new fracked gas plants to green hydrogen in the 2040s, but the technology for a full transition to hydrogen fuel does not exist. There are no 100 percent hydrogen-fired plants in the world, a fact often pointed out at Tuesday's rally, making Duke Energy’s proposal some combination of dubious, reckless, or fraudulent. Speech by Caroline Armijo from The Lilies Project State law requires the NCUC to revise the carbon plan every two years. Many of the green groups in front of the courthouse had held similar events for public hearings in 2022, but the NCUC still went ahead and approved plans for two GW of new fracked gas plants [3]. That led many environmentalists to view the regulator as a rubber-stamp for Duke Energy. The activist’s speeches ended at seven o’clock and people lined up to get into the courthouse. Some attendees didn’t plan to stay for long. When NCUC member Floyd McKissick opened the proceedings, disruptions began almost immediately. The first to stand up and loudly denounce the NCUC was Bobby Jones from Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition. “This hearing is a farce! We already told you what you need to do last time, and you betrayed us! I’m walking out, and we’ll be holding a real hearing outside for anyone that wants to join.” NCUC member Floyd McKissick chaired Tuesday’s hearing. Image credit: NC Legislature McKissick soothed the crowd, assuring them that public testimony was taken seriously by the NCUC. There were two more protests and walkouts in the early minutes of the hearing. By the time calm was restored, a dozen people had left the courtroom to go outside for a “People’s Hearing” led by Jodi Lasseter of NC Climate Justice Collective. Environmentalists have good reason for cynicism toward the NCUC. On paper, the regulator oversees Duke Energy, with full powers to apply state laws to the private monopoly. While accurate, that picture leaves out Duke Energy’s spectacular influence over state politics which the utility has used to shape energy laws and ensure a compliant NCUC. In the last two years, the NCUC has rubber-stamped four of Duke Energy’s requests – the last carbon plan docket in December 2022, a rooftop solar case in March 2023, as well as two huge rate hikes in August and December 2023 [4]. “Rally Against the Duke Energy Carbon Plan” on April 30, 2024. Image credit: NCCJC When the interruptions petered out, McKissick began to call up attendees to give testimony on the carbon plan. Speech after speech requested the same policies – speed up closure of coal plants, scrap plans for new fracked gas, and move toward a renewable grid based on local solar, battery storage, and wind power. McKissick listened to the comments politely, as he had during the 2022 hearings. A bailiff watched the crowd carefully, on guard for more mischief. Outside at the “People’s Hearing”, participants passed around a microphone and talked about Duke Energy and the NCUC. One member, Steph Gans, said the whole situation reminded her of her work as a therapist. She recalled clients who were cigarette smokers tell her about the emotional agony of knowing they’d paid thousands of dollars for a product that later gave them cancer or heart attacks. “It’s a little different with Duke Energy. They come and tell us that they’re going to ruin our communities and destroy our environment. And the kicker is, we have to pay for it”. Flooding in Fair Bluff, NC caused by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Two years later, the town was hit by Hurricane Florence. Image credit: The Guardian Work Cited 1.    Duke Energy Corporation. Supplemental Updates to Duke Energy’s Resource Plan. season-01 2024, www.duke-energy.com/-/media/pdfs/our-company/carolinas-resource-plan/january-24-fact-sheet.pdf?rev=8e61a3e3e8c844daaf4f2d5b6635c687. 2.    “Carolinas Carbon Plan, ‘Quantitative Analysis.’” NC Utilities Commission, 16 May 2022, starw1.ncuc.gov/NCUC/ViewFile.aspx?Id=bad82411-63e7-4553-9c0c-18a8f671773d. 3.    Clingman, Alex. “NC Utilities Commission’s Carbon Plan Order.” NC Sustainable Energy Association, 6 Feb. 2023, energync.org/nc-utilities-commissions-2022-carbon-plan-order. 4.    Habash, Ziyad. “Duke Energy’s Wins at the State Utilities Commission Are Holding Back Necessary Climate Progress.” NC Newsline, 18 Jan. 2024, ncnewsline.com/2024/01/18/duke-energys-wins-at-the-state-utilities-commission-are-holding-back-necessary-climate-progress.

On April 19, the new Arab Caucus held a heritage celebration at the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters. Friday evening at Raleigh's Goodwin House featured lots of keffiyehs, laughing children, Palestinian food, elected officials, and calls for justice in foreign policy. The "Arab Heritage Celebration" was the Arab Caucus' first event, and brought together around eighty people. Attendees were mostly Arab Americans but also included friends of the community, elected officials, and candidates for office. The caucus timed the event for April, which is Arab American Heritage Month. Members of the relatively new caucus, like civil rights lawyer Reem Subei, said they had long been involved in Democratic politics but were galvanized to join the group due to the growing need for collective advocacy in the local Arab American community. When the Arab Caucus was approved by the North Carolina Democratic Party in February 2024, Subei was elected as its first president. Arab Caucus leaders pose for a photo. Subei is second from the right. “Our caucus stands as a testament to the collective voice and strength of the Arab community in North Carolina,” said Subei. “Together, we are committed to building a more inclusive democracy, advocating for our community's interests, and supporting Arab Democrats in their pursuit of public office.” A Palestinian chef catered the event with trays of musakhan rolls, mini-pizzas, and a few types of fatayer. Attendees wore many kinds of traditional Arab clothing including keffiyehs and red-and-black thobes. A mannikin in the foyer of the Goodwin House wore a Palestinian wedding dress. Image credit: Big Bite Kitchen One of the main topics of discussion at the Goodwin House was the current political nightmare faced by progressive Arab Americans. There was unanimous fury at U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza and deep anger at the top-level Democrats who are complicit. Many caucus members, like secretary Ziyad Habash, joined the new group to channel the community’s response in a constructive direction. “There is a risk that the Arab community refuses to engage in formal politics, or worse, that a significant number turn to the right-wing to punish the Administration. We don’t want to let that happen.” Six elected officials and candidates for office came to Friday's event, including Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, Congressional candidate Frank Pierce, and state representative Maria Cervania. Raleigh City Council member Mary Black introduces a ceasefire resolution in March 2024. Image credit: Youtube account of City of Raleigh Raleigh City Council member Mary Black also attended the Arab Heritage Celebration and got a warm welcome because of her efforts to pass a ceasefire resolution in Raleigh. During her brief remarks, Black joked that it was a happy coincidence she’d worn green, a color often used to show support for Palestine. “I am supportive of this monumental caucus because it comes at a time when we need more voices from the Arab community informing politics,” said Black, “There’s a famous quote that says, if you’re not at the table then you’re on the menu. As a black American whose ancestors had to fight for every single freedom owed to us, I believe that to be true.” Moving forward from its first event, the Arab Caucus plans to continue pressing for a ceasefire in Gaza. In addition to anti-war work, the group said it will work on protecting U.S. democracy, advocacy for community interests, and supporting Arab Democrats running for office.

An aerial view of the Moriah Energy Center in Person County shows 74 acres of clearcut land which is now impacting local creeks. Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman took to the air last week to check in on several pollution concerns in the upper Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. From the air, they took in Dominion’s Moriah Energy Center, currently under construction in Person County, the Upper Piedmont landfill near Roxboro, and a number of development sites in the Lick Creek watershed. “The most notable thing we saw was that the Moriah Energy Center has completed the initial land-clearing phase of construction, and all trees have been removed from the construction site,” Sam said. “It was alarming to see the vast swath of barren land where there used to be forest — seeing it all from above really puts into perspective how significant 74 acres of clearcut land is.” Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and SouthWings pilot Rolf Wallin mid-flight. Though no water quality permits were required for the MEC project, because the facility will not encroach on the network of streams and wetlands on the site, Sam, with the help of landowners adjacent to the site, has been tracking sediment runoff into those streams. “Recent turbidity samples taken after this past weekend’s rains found levels of turbidity in receiving creeks, downstream of the facility, at 110 and 750NTU, respectively. That’s over twice and 15 times the state standard. The creek that was at 110NTU this weekend, after around .5 inches of rain, was just 10NTU after roughly 1.5 inches of rain in March, before all of the land clearing was complete,” she said. “If Dominion’s sediment and erosion control practices were working, we would not be seeing this elevated sediment in creeks next to the construction site, where these creeks ran clear in the past. Now more than ever, it is critical for locals to keep an eye out for sediment and erosion control violations on this site, especially sediment leaving the site, and to report violations to the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources when seen.” In the Upper Tar River watershed, Katey has been keeping tabs on the Upper Piedmont Landfill since September of last year, when Sound Rivers received a report of discolored, murky water on Cub Creek, which is downstream of the landfill. An aerial view of the Upper Piedmont Landfill near Roxboro, in the upper Tar River watershed. The aerial surveillance came courtesy of SouthWings and volunteer pilot Rolf Wallin. SouthWings partners with conservation groups, community groups, media and decision-makers to provide a unique perspective to better understand and solve pressing environmental issues in the Southeast. For more information, visit southwings.org. This article was published first in Sound Rivers Sediment runoff from a housing development impacts an adjacent wetland in the Lick Creek watershed.

Climate non-profit NC WARN tells state leaders to end suppression of local solar, says that all customers can benefit by sharing solar costs through the rate system With the global climate crisis at a point of desperation, power bills soaring and Duke Energy stifling renewables while aggressively expanding fossil fuels, clean energy group NC WARN and allies are calling for state leaders to finally consider – instead of suppressing – the fastest, cheapest and most equitable way to phase out climate-wrecking power plants. At a press conference today, NC WARN proposed a major shift for the state [1]. The 36-year-old nonprofit says the costs and benefits of local solar-plus-storage (SPS) – including lower power bills – should be shared by all customers the same way we all pay for polluting power. There would be no up-front cost, plus financial incentives for adding solar power and battery storage on homes, businesses and others. Today NC WARN released a two-page summary of its "Sharing Solar" proposal [2]. It says locating solar panels and storage batteries where power is used, particularly rooftops and parking areas, will generate jobs in towns and cities across the state, add protections during emergencies, and help all customers avoid annual rate increases while reducing climate pollution instead of expanding fossil fuels. The proposal calls for prioritizing low-income customers. NC WARN will soon file engineer Konidena’s testimony critical of Duke’s proposed Carbon Plan for gambling on high-risk, climate-wrecking approaches for future power generation. He also explains how other utilities are using solar-plus-storage to create “virtual power plants” that help phase out fossil fuels and save millions. The NCUC already approved Duke Energy’s plans to expand solar power many years from now. Duke assumes this would be larger-than-ever solar farms near rural communities, preceded by billions of dollars in new transmission projects that would drive up the cost of the solar. NC WARN argues that most of it should be local SPS, where the benefits of generating and storing power where it's used could begin right away, expand quickly and be shared statewide. Jim Warren, director of NC WARN said today at a press conference, “A key hindrance for expanding rooftop solar has long been the up-front cost. But NC electricity users don’t pay a large up-front cost to build giant fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. We all share the cost of kilowatt-hours on our monthly power bills, and polls show that, overwhelmingly, North Carolinians and businesses would rather be buying clean power.” Warren said the new proposal will launch a new statewide campaign with clean energy allies to lift up rooftop solar just as Duke tries to bury it. Scores of solar companies and advocacy groups have already called to expand local solar instead of bulldozing farms and forests under Duke’s plan. A verdict is expected by the NC Court of Appeals in a case where NC WARN and allies seek to reverse a ruling that allowed Duke Energy to stunt the economics of rooftop solar. Bobby Jones, President of the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition, said at the press conference that his group is excited about the possibilities of the shared solar proposal. “It’s exactly what we need to address our climate and energy crisis.  Right now, we’re at the mercy of the Duke monopoly and its unclean energy … and what they charge us for it. We’re paying for our own demise.” His group is joining NC WARN, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP and Robeson County’s Seeds of Hope as intervenors in the Carbon Plan docket. The allies will promote local SPS and challenge Duke’s plans for billions in new transmission corridors through disadvantaged rural communities. Duke remains secretive about where it would seek to locate those corridors. Sharing Solar will help all customers avoid constant rate hikes caused by the tens of billions of dollars Duke wants to spend on high-risk power plants and new transmission [3]. SPS also adds much-needed resiliency for all power users – such as emergency facilities – during outages. “Not enough roof space”? Duke Energy and others have long claimed rooftop solar can’t help slow the climate crisis. In fact, North Carolina has twice the practical space needed to meet climate goals on rooftops, parking areas, contaminated brownfields and vacant land close to towns and cities, according to federal data [4, pg. 6]. NC WARN has been proposing SPS since 2017 [5]. With the new payment approach, the group says its way past time for the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) and Duke Energy to finally agree to a fair consideration of local SPS – especially because Duke can profit from it. Image credit: NC WARN [4, pg. 8] NC WARN says Duke leaders’ “pro-Carbon Plan” would ensure that North Carolina remains a top driver of the climate crisis. Thousands of state residents are still reeling from past superstorms even as scientists warn that the coming hurricane season could be our worst ever. Jim Warren added, “Duke Energy leaders and state officials simply must, finally, break out of the years of appalling pretense that North Carolina is ‘making a clean transition’. The climate situation is desperate, this state is failing its duty, and local solar could quickly begin to change that.” This article was published first in NC WARN. Work Cited NC WARN. “NC WARN Proposes Sweeping New Solar Approach for NC Electricity System.” YouTube, 15 May 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=asCr2BPtqio. “The Quickest, Most Affordable Way to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Cut Power Bills - NC WARN.” NC WARN, 14 May 2024, www.ncwarn.org/sharing-solar-summ. Heilman, Sara. “84 Solar Companies, Targeted Groups and Allies Call for Investigation of Duke Energy — NC WARN News Release.” NC WARN, 13 Dec. 2023, www.ncwarn.org/2023/12/84-solar-companies-targeted-groups-and-allies-call-for-investigation-of-duke-energy-nc-warn-news-release. NC WARN. Moving North Carolina Forward: The Case for Local Solar-Plus-Storage. 26 June 2023, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/MovingNC-Forward.pdf. Powers, Bill. “North Carolina Clean Path 2025: Achieving an Economical Clean Energy Future.” NC WARN, by NC WARN, report, Aug. 2017, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/NC-CLEAN-PATH-2025-FINAL-8-9-17.pdf.