It's 504 and welcome in to a Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. We are now in day two of a federal government shutdown as a Senate vote on Wednesday failed to reopen the government after it shut down as the clock struck 12.01 a.m. Wednesday morning.
This is after many federal agencies have begun their process of sloping or cutting down on their workforces and begin shutdown operations. We learned some additional details about that yesterday. Here's the situation that we're in right now. The Republican controlled House passed a bill earlier in the month of September that would keep the government funded at current levels through November the 21st of this year. Senate Democrats, however, refused to support this clean, continuing resolution in an effort to force Republicans to negotiate on the Affordable Care Act and Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the calendar year.
Republicans do have the majority in the United States Senate, but do need support from Democrats to reach that 60-vote filibuster to overcome that. The most recent vote still had just 55 votes in favor of the continuing resolution, so still a multiple votes short. We are going to continue to keep a close eye on this as the impasse continues. Both the sides digging their heels into the sand pretty clearly with this government shut down. The Senate will be back once again this morning to take additional votes on this continuing resolution.
We'll continue to track the details and keep you up to date with everything you need to know right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where it's now 5.06, News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBT. There's been a lot of national discussion over the last couple of years about renewable energy and is that sustainable? Is it affordable for electrical grids across the United States? We've got a pretty substantial story this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour out of Duke Energy, the state's largest electrical producer and provider, and some new filings with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to walk us through some of those details. Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Mitch, it looks like Duke is maybe shying away from some of these renewable energy sources that have been a major political discussion for lawmakers all the way from Raleigh down here to North Carolina.
Well, certainly they're changing the mix of the types of energy sources that they want to use moving forward. You mentioned the renewable sources. One of the major ones, of course, is solar power. And Duke's latest filing really kind of stays the course on what it plans to do with solar, but they would do nothing in terms of wind power during the course of the time period that's covered in this filing, which is something that will be bad news to people who are advocates of wind power. Basically, what happened here is that Duke is required every two years to talk about what mix of energy that it wants to use moving forward.
It files this plan with the state regulators. The Utilities Commission will look at the plan, hold hearings, and then decide whether Duke gets to comply with its plan or has to tweak it in some way. And the major change with this version of the plan compared to the one that was filed a couple of years ago is. Is that Duke really takes more, a greater look at nuclear energy and also ramping up natural gas and also extending. Coal power, remember that coal power is the type of power that's been targeted most for a shutdown.
What Duke is saying in its latest plan is: let's try to extend by two to four years some of these coal plants that otherwise might be shut down, and especially targeting plants that can have multiple fuel sources.
So, this might be a plant that could run on coal, but could also run on natural gas. And so, if you can extend the coal plant for a couple years or more, that might extend the useful life of a plant that could eventually convert over to natural gas. There are a couple of big headlines beyond just the fact that it's ramping up the support of these natural gas and nuclear and coal options. And that is the Duke says that this is meeting a much greater demand for electricity than was even predicted a couple of years ago. They say the growth in the demand for electricity is going to be multiple times higher over the next 15 years as it was over the previous 15 years.
And so By being able to shift toward the nuclear and toward extending coal and to natural gas, that's going to end up helping. Customers, in terms of the bottom line. The estimate from this filing is that the average annual increase in bills for customers will be 2%, which might sound like that's not that great because you're going to see costs go up, but they say that's much less than it would have been. if Duke stuck with the mix of energy sources that were called for in the previous plan. If you went with that previous plan, which is calling for quicker phase out of coal, trying to get much more solar, and not relying as heavily on things like nuclear and natural gas, that the prices for the consumers would have been much higher.
So the big headlines are In addition to The increased emphasis on nuclear and the natural gas and extending the life of coal. It's also that Duke says that this will be more cost effective for the consumers and it will help deal with a major increase in electricity demand far beyond what was even predicted a couple of years ago. Mitch, there's a couple of other things to deconstruct here. You talk about this demand, and this is not just a purely academic discussion. We saw Christmas Eve back a couple of years ago issues with the North Carolina power grid due to some extremely cold temperatures that time of year, causing some black and brown outs throughout portions of North Carolina.
The state continually is near the top or at the top of CNBC's number one state for business. You've got manufacturing that's moving here. AI data centers have been in the news a lot nationally and internationally over the last couple of months. And the incredible amount of electrical demand that those facilities require to do all of the computer algorithms and checks and things that are done in those AI data centers, this is huge for the future growth of North Carolina. If we don't have a sustainable energy system, you can't imagine that any business would be looking at the tar heel state for any growth or expansion.
That's right. If we don't have the energy to provide to these businesses and to the data centers and to all of the people who want to live in North Carolina, we're not going to be as attractive to folks who are thinking about relocating to North Carolina and thinking about whether they could stay here. One of the other things, and Duke didn't really emphasize it in its announcement, but John Sanders, who's the director of the Center for Food, Power, and Life at the John Locke Foundation, certainly did when he looked at this and commented on it for the story that appears at CarolinaJournal.com. And that is, this is in some ways a reaction to Senate Bill 266, the Power Bill Reduction Act, that the North Carolina General Assembly approved in July over Governor Josh Stein's veto. And that bill basically said we're going to get rid of this 70% carbon emissions reduction goal that was put in place several years ago.
This was. A goal that was a sort of an interim goal in place for 2030 on the way to a larger goal of net zero emissions by 2050. And by getting rid of that 2030 goal, that really freed Duke up to make the types of changes that are called for in this plan. Had we still had that 2030 goal of getting rid of 70% of the emissions, it's almost certain that Duke would have had to have much costlier reasons. Realm and mix of energy sources, and you would not have seen the flexibility in the plan to be able to have the coal power plants extended and to see a ramp up of natural gas.
Nuclear, of course, would be fine under any scenario because it doesn't have emissions. But this certainly, by passing that Senate Bill 266, despite Governor Josh Stein's veto, that frees Duke up. To be able to make these more cost-effective measures to address that huge demand in electricity that you were just talking about because of our booming economy. We don't have time this morning to re-litigate some of the concerns with offshore wind or electrical generation from these massive turbines. We've had some of those discussions in the past.
Mitch, they're incredibly expensive. There's huge environmental impacts. And frankly, they're not incredibly reliable as they are relied on Mother Nature to produce electricity. But I would also imagine some of Duke's decision probably has to do with some of the changes up in Washington, D.C. We've seen with the Trump administration freezing or blocking out some of these federal offshore wind permits here off the coast of North Carolina, a lot of outrage over the last three or four years for folks in southeastern North Carolina, off the Brunswick County coast, about some leasing programs that the federal government was set to lease out to various providers to build these wind turbines.
It seems like that is at least on pause now from the federal level.
So it seems like maybe even if Duke wanted to continue down that path, they may have not even had a viable way to do so.
Well, you're exactly right about the impact of policy both at the state level and at the federal level. And that is something that Duke recognized as it was promoting its latest plan. We looked at what the tax and regulatory policy is for these different forms of energy. And because of changes that have happened on Capitol Hill and have happened in the state capitals in Raleigh and Columbia, that's one of the reasons why they came up with the mix of options that they did. And you referenced wind power, and basically, Duke has.
Very complicated discussion of its various looks at nuclear and natural gas. And you have to know a lot of the jargon to be able to understand much of it. But you can really understand the wind power assessment, which was wind power doesn't make sense anytime between now and 2040. And a lot of that is because it's no longer being looked at as a viable energy source from the federal government as it was when the Biden administration was in place. Had the Biden administration been in place and you still had some of the incentives for looking at wind power, perhaps Duke might have put something about wind power into its plan.
But now that those are gone and the Trump administration has looked at wind power much more realistically, Duke also has a chance to look at wind power realistically and say, look, from the timeframe that we're looking at, Wind power doesn't make sense, doesn't mean it might not make sense sometime in the future, but it doesn't make sense now. This is a very impactful story and will affect, as you noted, Mitch, ratepayers all across the state of North Carolina, whether you're talking about your house, your apartment, your business complex, pretty much affecting anybody that purchases electricity from Duke Energy. You can read some additional details on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
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As we are now into the month of October, the fall wildfire season has begun across North Carolina, and the North Carolina Forest Service is reminding residents to use practices recommended by the Forest Service to reduce the risk of wildfires. This has been a major discussion throughout the entirety of this year. The wildfire risk is, of course, due to all of the debris in the western half of North Carolina left in the wake of Hurricane Helene. And Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a press release this week, quote, wildfire prevention and risk reduction are two important areas that each of us has the ability to directly impact.
Sometimes a wildfire is inevitable due to circumstances beyond our control, such as lightning strikes or down power lines.
However, most of our wildfires are avoidable as human activity continues to be responsible for more than 99% of all wildfire causes. Here across the Tar Heels State, the fall wildfire season runs October through early December, and there are two primary wildfire seasons: one in the spring, one in the fall. Earlier this year, we brought you details from Steve Troxler as he told state lawmakers that North Carolina, as it stands this year, is the number one state in the nation at risk for wildfires. And the North Carolina Forest Service responded to more than 56,000 wildfires burning more than 34,000 acres between July 1st, 2024, and June 30th of this year, according to a recent press release. This includes the wildfires that ravaged western North Carolina earlier this year.
The leading ignition source for human-caused wildfires include the use of machines and vehicles, backyard debris burning, arson, and escaped campfires.
Now, the Forest Service does have a lengthy recommendation process for folks to keep an eye on. You can read those details over in the story on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We've also got some additional details from Steve Troxler, who says, quote, We've just surpassed the one-year mark since Hurricane Helene unleashed significant devastation on so many of our citizens and natural resources. Being prepared for wildfires is more important than ever, especially in western North Carolina, where more than 800,000 acres of forest land were damaged, leaving substantial fuel on the ground. Please do your part to prevent and prepare for wildfires.
Prescribed burns have been one of the most effective forms of wildfire management, not just here in North Carolina, but across the country. And North Carolina is one of 11 southern states with a burn manager certification program. According to Margaret Young from the Fiscal Division Research of the North Carolina General Assembly, the Forest Service receives around a million dollars a year in recurring funds from the state budget. Which is appropriated by the General Assembly to fund the prescribed burn cost share program. This program supports private forest owners in covering the cost of prescribed burns as a form of forestry management.
During the fiscal year 2024, 170 burns occurred on more than 8,000 acres. This is private land. 77% of that was 100 acres or less, and the cost share reimbursement was handled through the North Carolina General Assembly giving that money to the North Carolina Forest Service. Troxler told lawmakers earlier this year, quote, I want you to know today that we are not prepared to handle a massive wildfire situation, especially in the mountains of North Carolina. Haleen put a tremendous load of fuel on the ground.
Trees and limbs are laying there, and it's not going to go away. In fact, as it dries more and more, the fire danger is going to get worse, and it's not going to be just a one year thing. It's probably going to take at least three years for a lot of that material to rot out to the point that it is not a tremendous fire hazard.
So, this is something that we are keeping a close eye on. We did see some pretty wild, no pun intended, some pretty wild fires earlier this year burning in the western half of North Carolina.
Some just across the state line, a major wildfire burning just to the west of the Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach area earlier this year.
So, the wildfire season has officially begun across the state of North Carolina. We'll keep an eye on that and again encourage you for folks that do do some of those outdoor burns, those that are camping, so on and so forth. There's a huge list of recommendations and things that you can do to be greater prepared over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline, NC Top Fire Risk State as Fall Fire Season Begins. You can read all of those details by visiting our website, Carolina Journal.
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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliate Snapshot not available in California from all agents, surge possible for unsafe driving. It's 5:35. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. We've got an interesting legal story out of our state capitol this morning. NC State, the University of North Carolina, has filed a lawsuit against chemical giant Monsanto over toxic chemicals found at the university's Poe Hall building.
Back in 2023, Poe Hall, which housed the College of Education and the Department of Psychology, was shut down after tests detected high levels of PCBs, a chemical widely used in construction until it was banned in the United States in the late 1970s. The lawsuit, which was filed in Wake County yesterday by NC State, alleges that Monsanto marketed PCB mixtures to the building industry while representing them as non-toxic and non-volatile, despite internal knowledge dating back decades that PCBs are toxic, persistent, and prone to migrate and contaminate indoor environments. This suit is massive. It seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in remediation costs for the building, plus punitive damages and legal fees, while also holding Monsanto liable from any future personnel injury claims. And this is relevant because NC State has.
Has already faced legal challenges over PCB exposure from students and employees over the last year or so. The lawsuit reads in part, Monsanto never advised NC State or the public that its PCB products would inevitably leak, emit, discharge, and release PCBs, particularly in such a manner that requires remediation despite being used for their ordinary and intended use. Had Monsanto adequately warned NC State prior to the construction of Poe Hall, NC State would have not allowed the use of the building material with PCBs in the construction process. The chancellor of North Carolina State University, Kevin Howell, said in a press release that this is simply about accountability, writing, since I joined as chancellor in May, a vacant contaminated instruction hall has caused much concern and worry for many as it has been sitting idle and must be remediated. This lawsuit is about responsibility and accountability for the cleanup of this building so that we can get our students back to learning.
In the meantime, along with concerned students, faculty and staff, we are eagerly awaiting results from a pending environmental report. Built it back in 1971 before the federal ban on PCBs, Poe Hall was constructed with material containing the chemicals. Environmental testing that happened in both 2023 and 2024 found PCB levels in the building's HVAC system that exceeded EPA standards. UNC system president Peter Hans applauded the university for taking legal action, saying, This legal action is just the right thing to do, and I applaud NC State for taking this step. Countless people are understandably fearful and concerned about the university and taxpayers as they face a nine-figure bill.
This lawsuit is about assigning accountability and responsibility where it properly belongs. This is going to be a long process. Engineers already say that fixing Poe Hall will require the building to be almost completely demolished and then rebuilt. Rather than waiting for that lawsuit to play out, NC State has reported that they have already started remediation efforts as officials say that that work is necessary to comply with federal law and ensure that the contaminated building does not sit idle, which would be in violation of EPA standards. Monsanto has been in the news a lot over the last 10 or 15 years with a lot of lawsuits over some of the chemicals that they make.
Now you've got North Carolina State University, NC State, suing the chemical giant. You can read some additional details on that story this morning by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The story's headline: NC State Sues Monsanto over toxic chemicals in Po Hall. It's now 5:39. You're listening to.
to the Carolina Journal News Hour. When you voted last November, you may have noticed some individuals sitting alongside the polling location. Those individuals are called poll observers. They are nominated by both the Republican and Democrat Party in counties all across North Carolina to do exactly what their name states, observe what's going on in voting or polling locations. That does continue to be a traditional and typical task during a general and midterm elections.
However, for municipal elections, things are a little bit different. To walk us through a recent decision from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Andy, for last year's election, you had Republicans and Democrats on the ballot, Republican and Democrat poll observers. Things get a little dicey, however, when you go into nonpartisan municipal elections, many of which are taking place coming up here a little bit later on this year. Right.
And what this stems from is an interpretation of a law that was passed in 2023, 747. And it said that parties could nominate observers when they had candidates from their party on the ballot. And so the State Board of Elections Executive Director at the time, Karen Brinson Bell, interpreted that to mean that the parties could only have observers if. there was a nominee of their party on the ballot at the time. And a lot of municipalities do not have partisan elections.
School boards don't have partisan elections. And so, under that interpretation, the parties couldn't appoint observers. But we do know that these municipal elections are really important. We do know that both parties, even if they don't have official nominees, are often neck deep. in this election.
They encouraged people to run. And so folks were expecting that they'd be able to have observers in these elections to make sure that they're satisfied that the election was run properly. And even though later on this year, some folks might not see Rs or Ds next to individuals' names, Andy, there is a very high probability that every one of the candidates on the ballot is likely registered with the Republican or Democrat Party.
So while it doesn't appear on the ballot, many of these individuals are strict partisans and are, as you noted, actively engaged in working with their local Democrat Party or their local GOP. Right. Yeah, that's true. And so, what you have here is you have the parties are very much involved. We also know that people that with a partisan registration do tend to be more active in voting.
They also tend to be more active in running for either partisan or nonpartisan races. And so you could expect that. At least the majority, if not all, on the ballot are people with one party or the other. And so the parties have a stake in this outcome, both from a policy perspective and also because these municipal elections are kind of like farm teams for later-on elections for the state legislature or statewide office. Andy, can you go through the process kind of erasing what we're talking about with partisan versus nonpartisan?
Can you explain briefly the benefit of having poll observers from both major political parties in voting locations all across 100 counties here in North Carolina?
Well, there's a couple of them. The first one is that you have this extra set of eyes on the process. Election workers are busy checking voters in, going, getting them their ballot, helping them get the ballot into You know, to be counted. And so, this is an extra set of eyes to make sure that everything is running as it is supposed to run. And so, that helps the actual election integrity.
There's also the comfort level of voters, especially partisan voters, voters from both the Democratic and Republican parties. If they have their people in watching and those people don't see a problem with the process, that helps reassure voters that everything is on the up and up. Earlier this year, we saw some changes to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, previously a 3-2 Democrat to Republican majority. That has now changed. It is a 3-2 Republican over-Democrat majority, a new executive director.
What did we learn from their meeting earlier this week as it relates to these poll observers for the upcoming municipal elections?
Well Basically, what they did is, so they Karen Brinson Bell, the former executive director dominated by a Democratic majority, was replaced with Sam Hayes, appointed by the new Republican majority. And essentially, Hayes reinterpreted the rules and put it up to a vote of the board. And I believe it was a 4-1 vote. We had at least one Democrat also supporting this change. And so they reinterpreted that law.
To mean that it wasn't necessarily a nominee of the party as long as it was a person affiliated with that party.
So, somebody registered Republican or registered Democrat, as long as they have that. Then they can appoint an observer.
Now, this would also perhaps ironically encourage the parties to make sure they have at least one person on the ballot, because you need to have a person from your party on the ballot in order to be qualified to appoint observers.
So it's an important change and it's going to allow the parties to kind of do the function that they're used to doing as far as appointing observers and making sure that the election process is run as it is supposed to be run.
Now, here in North Carolina, we have the state board of elections, kind of the overarching entity. But Andy, in every 100 counties, or all 100 counties, I should say, there are county board of elections. Those are the groups that are actually responsible for facilitating early voting, election day, all of the various things that voters go through throughout that process. This decision is coming pretty close to the start of the early voting period. That kicks off here not too long from now.
Election day is just right around the corner. I think the intention is to have this squared away for this election cycle, but we're running very close to some of these deadlines to not only get these poll observers nominated, but trained in the process. This is really going to come down to the wire. It really is. And, you know, as we've already had a round of elections in September, and you do have to nominate, you know, you do have to have a gateway before nominating people.
It may be too late in some counties to have people ready and get them nominated for early voting. They certainly should be able to have them ready for Election Day. But of course, most of these poll observers, there's new people every year, just like there's a new election workers every year. But most of these folks are people that already have experience as observers.
So that aspect of it won't be too much of a problem as far as getting them trained and knowing what to do. It's just meeting those legal requirements and deadlines and calling people saying, hey, I didn't think that we'd be able to appoint you to as an observer, but can you go ahead and serve on such and such a date?
So there is a logistical hurdle that the parties are going to have to overcome to get those observers in. It's an interesting story. We've got some additional coverage this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the information and the insight from doctor Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation, who joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Progressive knows we all crave validation.
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But forget the fact that you can stream just about any song ever created for a few dollars a month. No, no. You need to listen to music in the most difficult way possible.
So go ahead and get progressive so you can save while protecting the things that matter to you. Progressive Capital Insurance Company and affiliates and other insurers, not available in all scheduled situations. Progressive knows we all crave validation. Girl, you are not 37. I would have guessed 27.
You guys are too sweet. Sure, dewy skin. Terrific. Um, is something wrong, Ned? Why would you ask?
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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliate Snapshot not available in California from all agents surge possible for unsafe driving. Good morning again. It's 552. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News stock 1110-99.3 WBT.
Keeping an eye on our big story that we've been following over the last couple of days. Day two of a federal government shutdown as a Senate vote to reopen the government did fail yesterday. This is hours after many federal agencies began the process of ceasing their operations, at least temporarily, as the government has now officially shut down. As we were learning some additional details this morning, the Senate will once again try to convene today to pass the Republican-led CR. That's the continuing resolution to keep the government funded through November the 21st.
Both sides have dug their heels into the sand pretty heavily on this one.
So we'll keep an eye on the details over the next couple of days and provide you updates as soon as we get them right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. hour. In some statewide news this morning, Duke Energy in a new two-year long-range energy modernization plan is set to rely more heavily on nuclear power, natural gas, and coal. This plan was filed Wednesday with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, and the plan holds the line on solar commitments but calls for no use of wind power moving forward. Duke's new 2025 Carolina Resource Plan projects an average 2.1% annual increase in customers' power bills, lower than the rate of inflation and significantly less than projected costs for the previously approved plan, according to the power utility.
It is important to note that state regulators do have to approve Duke's plan before the utility can proceed. Those hearings will be scheduled and take place in 2026. Duke writes in their plan, quote, this plan reflects rising electrical demand across the Carolina. Carolinas at an unprecedented pace. Across the Carolinas, customer energy needs over the next 15 years are expected to grow at eight times the growth rate of the prior 15 years.
To put that in perspective, that growth alone is more than double the energy use forecasted when the 2023 Carolina Resource Plan was initially filed. The updated plan adapts to significant policy changes at both the state and federal level, according to a press release from Duke. Both North and South Carolina have approved recent legislation emphasizing reliability of electrical generation.
Meanwhile, changes at the federal level support advanced nuclear and battery storage and provide flexibility for existing coal and new natural gas generation. Changes from the twenty twenty three plan include adding light water nuclear reactors or LLWR technology for evaluation along with SMR. These are small modular reactors. Duke has targeted potential twenty thirty seven in service dates for an SMR generation. Plant in North Carolina and another one of these light water nuclear reactors in Cherokee County, South Carolina.
Duke would add two natural gas combustion turbines beyond the 2023 projections. The utility is now targeting 4,000 new megawatts of solar power by 2034 and maintaining the 2025 procurement target to maximize customer benefits of remaining federal energy credits for solar. One of the big things missing from this plan is offshore wind. This has drawn major controversy in coastal areas up and down the east coast of the United States, particularly here in North Carolina, folks off the Brunswick. County Coast, pretty dismayed over the last couple of years with reports that the federal government would begin the process of leasing out hundreds of acres of land just off the shore of the coast for companies like Duke Energy and others to build very tall and very expensive offshore wind turbines.
Duke Energy does not include, as we mentioned, does not include any offshore wind or any wind generation in this plan. They are looking at these new nuclear SMR and LLWR technologies for nuclear reactors, looking at adding some additional natural gas plants to the mix and even keeping some of their older coal-fire plants still active and operational for the coming years forward. This is the wind power is labeled as quote not an economically viable resource for customers through 2040 in the updated report according to Duke Energy, but the utility does. Note that it will reassess wind in its next planned update, which will be coming out in about two years. Changes in Washington, D.C.
from the Trump administration and changes here in North Carolina with some of our legislation dealing with renewable energy and also dealing with carbon and emission goals have opened the door for Duke Energy to get back to some of these more reliable forms of energy and electrical generation. You can read some additional details on that story by visiting our website this morning. CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Thursday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
