While Duke Energy pursues the construction of its controversial Cliffside coal plant 50 miles west of Charlotte, Progress Energy is planning to close its 11 remaining coal-fired units by 2017.
Progress appears more in tune with the future of electricity production than does Duke.
Lloyd Yates, CEO of Progress Energy Carolinas, recently told Triangle Business Journal that, "as environmental regulations continue to change, and as even more significant rule changes appear likely in the near future, the costs of retrofitting and operating these (11 coal-fired) plants will increase dramatically. We believe this is the right decision for our customers, our state and our company."
Progress has obviously decided that coal-energy production is not the right direction. The company is heavily invested in nuclear energy, and natural-gas production of electricity is in the future.
Coal is proving to have a great many environmental costs. Emissions pollute the air and coal ash poses problems to soil and groundwater.
But coal also has lingering financial costs. Duke, for example, recently announced that it will be spending a total of $365 million to install protective caps and liners at its coal-ash landfills. Coal ash is laden with arsenic, mercury and other metals that contaminate groundwater.
And the coal-ash problem gets worse for Duke. The Charlotte Observer has reported that Duke used 2.7 million tons of its ash to fill gullies, level roadbeds and prepare building foundations between 1992 and 2003. Experts told the paper that these ash deposits bear monitoring because they could leak dangerous poisons into groundwater.
The good news is that the state has yet to find any serious metal contamination resulting from its testing of wells in the area of these deposits. But state officials also said that they could miss water contamination, too.
The bottom line here is that coal-produced electricity is marketed to North Carolinians as inexpensive. And, for years, the state did enjoy the economic benefits of electricity rates well below those of other industrial areas in the country.
But that advantage is a myth when the fuller costs of coal are brought in, whether they be the damage to our air and water, or to the public health or to our pocketbooks when clean-ups are needed.
Much is said about the higher costs of electricity produced by alternative methods. But that cost difference is not as great when the full picture of coal's cost is computed.
Coal's days in North Carolina are numbered. We'll pay more for electricity because of it. But we'll pay less in the form of dirty air, water and public-health dangers.
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