Whether you're gifting, decorating, or treating yourself, Lowe's December Deal Drops are here to help you save more all month long. Get up to 50% off select holiday decor. Plus, get up to 45% off select tools and accessories. Shop new December deal drops every week this month and get so much more out of your holidays. Lowe's, we help you save.
Selection varies by location while supplies last. It's 505 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Well, back a couple of weeks ago, we brought you a story that we ran over at CarolinaJournal.com that Duke Energy, which of course is the state's largest electrical producer and provider, has proposed a 15% rate hike. And we continue to get reaction to that this morning from state officials, including Democrat Governor Josh Stein and Democrat Attorney General Jeff Jackson. We'll start with Governor Stein. He is opposing Duke Energy's recent request that has been brought before the North Carolina Utilities Commission to revise rates at Duke Energy Carolina and Duke Energy Progress, as the state is technically Duke Energy has two. Different companies essentially that they run in North Carolina, Duke Energy Carolina and Duke Energy Progress.
One serves the western half and then the eastern half of the state, both of which, however, in this new filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, would include a 15% increase from current rates. Duke Energy filed with the Utilities Commission to request an annual revenue increase of a billion dollars for Duke Energy Carolinas, as well as and getting to that total would mean a 15% increase over current revenues and a $729 million increase for Duke Energy Progress. That would equal out to a 15.1% increase for progress. Duke Energy's requests are based on a 10.95% return on equity and 53% equity capital structure. Three requests are subject to approval by the Utilities Commission.
The governor recently said in a press Release, quote, I am pleased that the North Carolina Department of Justice is fighting for the people of North Carolina. Duke Energy's proposed rate hike is simply too high and comes as the company is already retreating on more available on more affordable clean energy. At a time when families are struggling to make ends meet, we should be doing everything we can to make lower more affordable, not less. I will continue to fight on behalf of every North Carolinian to lower costs and grow the economy. During a recent press conference earlier this week, Governor Stein highlighted data centers as one of the facilities that consume a tremendous amount of energy.
Stein's newly formed Council on Energy Policy will be taking a closer look at data centers and see how that plays into some of these requests potentially. And I just lay that out there potentially for Duke Energy with the governor saying, quote, data centers suck. Up an incredible amount of energy, and energy costs are too high as they are, and they continue to rise. Duke Energy has just asked for a double-digit rate increase at the Utilities Commission, something that I hope severely scrutinized and shrinks because electricity is too expensive as is. We have to take a hard look at the state about what the impact of these data centers is on energy demand, and is this the right way we want to deploy a limited resource?
We do not have infinite energy, so we will have more insight into that question going forward. North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilly clarified that data centers are not typically recipients of job development investment grants as other companies like we've talked about, Toyota, Jet Zero, VinFast, other companies, and said during a press conference earlier this week: those data centers are not typically offered on a data center project for a variety of different reasons. They do qualify for other incentives, and in particular, may qualify for local economic development incentives, particularly around property tax abatement. That's a decision, however, of local counties. And I think that's why you've seen different local jurisdictions approach data centers in different ways.
I'd say thus far the answer on data centers in North Carolina has been left to a local decision and a decision about whether or not power is available. Lee Lilly explained that he believes decisions like these will continue to be made at local county levels while simultaneously balancing the policy question of prioritizing the use of power and who pays the bill for large projects that consume an incredible amount of power. John Sanders, who is the director of the Center for Food, Power and Life at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal, quote, it seems Governor Stein is starting to learn the consequences of the carbon plan law. We have been warning for years that shutting down working paid-for power plants, primarily that are coal, and overbuilding expensive, land-intensive, but unreliable renewable facilities that need far more transmission lines built. is a recipe for much higher rates.
The public staff at the North Carolina Utilities Commission testified in 2023 that rates could approximately double before 2030. Strangely, Stein vetoed Senate Bill 266, which was nevertheless passed into law and which eliminated the interim goal for the carbon plan law that would have cost taxpayers an additional $13 billion by 2050. Sanders explained that if Stein wants to protect ratepayers and ensure reliable utility services at the lowest rate possible, he should urge the General Assembly to amend the carbon plan law to remove the carbon neutrality mandate by 2050 and ensure that the primary focus of the energy policy in North Carolina is reliability and low-cost energy. The relatively new Democrat North Carolina Attorney General and Jeff Jackson, who of course had a very successful election night back in November of 2024. And has now been on the job going on close to a year, agreed with his predecessor, who was previously now Governor Josh Stein, with Jackson saying in a press release, quote, with rising costs everywhere, it is important that we take a close look at Duke Energy's proposed rate increase to ensure that it is truly necessary.
My office is intervening to make sure we find the right balance between investing in our energy infrastructure and protecting North Carolina's North Carolinians' wallets. On November the 25th, Jackson filed a separate motion to intervene in the rate hike requests for both Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas. Both of those requests for him to intervene were granted on December the 1st.
So that is the reason why this is back in the news this morning and why we are covering it here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Again, back just a couple of months ago, we learned from Duke Energy and some followers. filings with the North Carolina Utilities Commission that they are seeking that major, that they are going to be seeking a major rate increase, 15%.
Now, fortunately, unlike other states in North Carolina, we do kind of have this stopgap, this backstop in place. It is called the North Carolina Utilities Commission. And any public utility, which Duke Energy would unequivocally fall under the umbrella of, any public utility does have to go to the Utilities Commission, which is a bipartisan board of members. They have to make their case, and the Utilities Commission, at the end of the day, will decide whether Duke Energy can. In fact, move forward with this rate hike, depending on exactly what the factors are.
They will, of course, make their claim that they need more money for a variety of different topics. The Utilities Commission, in most cases, will try and push back on that a little bit, and they potentially end somewhere in the middle with those rate and hikes. And this plan from Duke Energy is incredibly relevant as they ramp up nuclear energy, natural gas, extend coal in some areas while emitting wind. This is in their latest energy plan. This was filed back in early October of this year.
It's called the 2025 Carolina Resource Plan, and it projects an average of 2.1% annual increase for customer bills. That's what the plan recommended when we got that back in early October.
However, sometime between then and now, we are looking at that 15% rate hike that was just recently filed with the Utilities Commission. Energy bills have been going up pretty consistently across the state of North Carolina over the couple of years. years so there's no question about it some heartburn there we will watch a multiple angles on this story we'll of course keep an eye on the utilities commission and then we'll see what happens with governor josh stein and democrat attorney um we'll we'll watch what uh comes from governor josh stein and then of course from uh democrat attorney general jeff jackson as well to see what they can do and how involved they can actually get in this i believe it is considered a quasi-judicial hearing that will be taking place with the utilities commission we'll keep you up to date with all those details right here on the carolina journal news hour you can read the latest this morning by visiting our website carolinajournal.com that story's headline duke energy proposes 15 rate hike stein jackson object again those details at carolinajournal.com this is matt rogers from lost culture east us with matt rogers and bowen yang this is bow and yang from lost culture is matt rogers and bowen yang hey bowen it's gift season stressing me out why are the people i love so hard To shop for. Probably because they only make boring gift guides that are totally uninspired. Except for the guide we made.
In partnership with Marshalls, where premium gifts meet incredible value, it's giving gifts! With categories like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto, or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have. Check out the guide on marshalls.com and gift the good stuff at marshalls. Thank you. It's 521.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. The North Carolina State Board of Elections is pushing back against a charge from Democrats and their allies that a recent settlement with the United States Justice Department will give the federal government, quote, unfettered access, end quote, to voters' private information. The election board rebuted that charge in a federal court filing on Tuesday of this week. The filing responds to a request from the Democratic National Committee and a group working with Democratic operative Mark Elias' law firm to revisit a September settlement of the Justice Department's lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. If you'll remember back, that suit was originally filed in May by the DOJ, and it focused on North Carolina's compliance with the voter registration requirements.
Requirements that are laid out in federal law under the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which I will note and continue to note is not new legislation. That has been enshrined in federal law now for more than 20 years. Federal government lawyers filed a court document Friday asking. U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Myers to reject the request from the DNC and Elias' clients, a group called the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans.
The election board's court filing on Tuesday also asked Myers to deny the request from Democrats and their allies, with lawyers for the state board of elections explaining its registration repair project. That's ongoing right now, and it is designed to bring North Carolina's voter registration list into compliance with HAVA. The board is seeking a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number from registered voters whose records do not include that information. And again, the reason that they are requesting that it is because it has been required since the early 2000s from HAVA. The court filing also addressed several complaints that the DNC and Elias' clients raised about the settlement, with both groups raising concerns about this.
Settlement giving the federal government access to voters' driver's license numbers, dates of birth, and parcel social security numbers. The Justice Department is the plaintiff in the case.
So, looking at what the election board attorneys recently wrote and brought forth in their legal filings this week, they wrote: The consent judgment in this action permits the plaintiffs to request information about the registration repair project, including appropriate voter records in the state's HAVA list, to ensure that the remedied project is working as anticipated and in compliance with this consent judgment. Contemplating that it is feasible that some of that information requested may encompass confidential data, state board defendants took steps to ensure that any such confidential or sensitive information would be protected. The lawyers went on to say to address that concern and to ensure that no such unlawful use or disclosure. of confidential information arises during the compliance period, the consent judgment specifically reserves the right for the State Board of Elections to seek a protective order from the court if so needed. Thus, contrary to the North Carolina ARA's assertion, that's the group working with Mark Elias, this provision does not grant unfettered access to North Carolina's voter records.
Rather, the agreement states that if any information is requested, the State Board of Elections expressly has the right to seek a protective order from this court to ensure that that confidential information is adequately protected. The United States is also required to keep the information securely and treat it with consistency with federal privacy acts. Thus, it is neither automatic access or unfettered access in violation of either North Carolina or federal law, the court filing added. Instead, it is deliberately constrained access, the bounds of which will be ultimately decided by this court if such request is made. The election board also answered charges that the settlement ultimately could disenfranchise some voters in North Carolina.
That has been a very popular talking point with a variety of different election issues, whether we're talking about voter ID or in this case, talking about repairing the voter registration rolls in North Carolina that are absolutely not in compliance with federal law right now. The court filing from the State Board of Elections reads, the terms of this consent judgment in this action expressly state that no voter will be disenfranchised or removed from the registration rolls as a result of this order. This court decrees the parties' agreement in paragraph 6D of the consent judgment. Judgment that all provisional ballots voted in accordance with this process will be counted for federal contests, regardless of whether they present the missing information or missing information is validated. That is, so long as the voter is otherwise eligible to vote under state law.
The lawyers for the election board continue to provide information in that. It was obviously a lengthy legal briefing. I'm not going to read through the entire thing for you this morning.
Some of the concerns outlined by the Democrat National Committee and the Mark Elias clients will be addressed in other ongoing federal lawsuits. The election board explained those suits involved the election board, the Democrat National Committee, and the Republican National Committee. That's the RNC. The state settlement with the Justice Department only addresses federal elections. And that's, of course, relevant because the way in which, not that the elections are conducted, but the requirements in some Cases for federal elections and state elections can be different.
So, as we have seen, unfortunately, a lot of over the last couple of years, these federal lawsuits against the North Carolina state, these lawsuits, I should say, against the state board of elections, against the General Assembly for a variety of election-related issues do continue across the state. And now we've got both the Justice Department at the federal level and at the state level, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, both of them asking U.S. Chief Judge Richard Myers to reject some recent requests from the DNC and a group called the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, working with a Democrat election operation attorney Mark Elias, who are trying to intervene in that lawsuit and block a judgment that the DOJ and the North Carolina State Board of Elections has already agreed upon. And from all counts, from all of the Data and all the updates that we've received from the state board over the last couple of months indicate that the registration repair project is working and is going through the process. Voters are returning to their local board of election or filling out a form and/or going online through the DMV portal and getting that required information.
Again, whether it's the last four of a social security number or a full driver's license number, they are, in fact, getting that information to the state board of election. We will continue to follow this progress as it unfolds. You can read some more, some additional legal quotes if you are interested this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline: Election Boards Rebuke Charge of Feds' Unfettered Access to NC Data. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.
This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, Bowen, it's gift season. Stressing me out. Why are the people I love so hard to shop for? Probably because they only make boring gifts.
gift guides that are totally uninspired. Except for the guide we made. In partnership with Marshalls, where premium gifts meet incredible value, it's giving gifts! With categories like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto, or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have. Check out the guide on marshalls.com and gift the good stuff at Marshalls.
It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. Well, we are now officially in the month of December, and I guess that officially kicks off, and it actually technically does. December 1st kicks off the start of meteorological winter, and we are seeing some snow beginning to fall across the state of North Carolina, some wintery mix, potentially even being felt close to the Charlotte Metro and Raleigh Metro as you head north towards the Virginia line and out west. Higher likelihoods of some snowfall totals.
And as of just checking some of the weather cameras across the state of North Carolina, snow is falling in some areas. Roxborough, which is not very far from the Virginia border, some snow beginning to fall there. And out in Kerr Lake, also some flurries in that area this morning as you head further north into Virginia, close to the Washington, D.C. area, ice and snow this week. Weekend.
Fortunately, for the vast majority of North Carolina, it will be just rain with some higher snowfall totals as you head into the mountains, I should say. It's now 5:37. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. A tech company by the name of Wolfspeed. It's something that we've been covering over the last couple of months over at CarolinaJournal.com.
We've got some interesting new information from them this morning. To walk us through that and give us a little bit of the backstory as to why this company is relevant, what it means across the state of North Carolina. Teresa Opeka, CarolinaJournal.com joins us here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Teresa, we've heard from the governor this week about the economy, businesses booming across the state of North Carolina. National surveys back it up.
The tech sector is one of those large reasons that the economy is booming so much here across the state.
However, not every project is inherently successful. What's the latest that you're tracking with Wolfspeed? Yeah, good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me.
So, yeah, Wolf Speed is actually climbing its way back out of bankruptcy protection, which is and has done that, and now is getting some government rebates.
So, I wanted to go in a little more broadly about what Wolf Speed does. They manufacture wide bandgap semiconductors. Focused on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials.
Okay, that's a mouthful, right? That includes microshifts. That's microchips. General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are among its customers. And a lot of those microchips go into electric vehicles.
So that's why they've got a pretty decent footprint in North Carolina when it comes to that industry. And they've been having a lot of financial trouble. We haven't talked about them in a while because things have been relatively quiet. But news came out earlier this week that they received almost $700 million in cash tax refunds from the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit. That's under that came under a provision from the 2022 CHIPS Act from the Biden administration.
So back in September, they actually emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following completion of their financial restructuring process. And they announced that they were filing for that in June.
So remarkable progress they've made. And this money is definitely going to be a boost for them. Teresa, I don't mean to poke fun at Wolfspin, and I'm not going to. It's a very tough business. You talk about some of the companies that they're working with, General Motors and others, specifically in the kind of EV sector.
We've seen a huge drop-off in demand in EVs, not only across North Carolina, but really across the globe. We saw a big hike a couple of years ago. That has been trending downward. This is a very volatile business, as are some other electric vehicle manufacturers in North Carolina and other companies that are involved in that EV sector. It's a rocky road ahead for pretty much every single one of these companies, is it not?
It definitely seems to be at this point. I know we had the federal tax credit that went away on October 1st. That was part of the reason. But you're also seeing a decline in that in this country and in other countries as well. VenFast, which we have picked on, and you want to say rightly so or not, you know, they plan to open a factory in Chatham County in the Triangle area.
Actually, it was supposed to be up and running already this year. They have plans pushed back to 2028. They're focusing on their home country of Vietnam and Asia. And doing some other things, but even they've reported significant losses this past third quarter.
So the industry, as you say, is pretty volatile at this point. But maybe there's another focus for this company we'll speed to focus on besides EVs when it comes to this. But yeah, it's gonna be, it's the old adage, time will tell. in this respect. No question about that.
And you talk about this boost of money that they're getting coming out of the CHIPS Act. Obviously, that was under the previous administration. And I would presume some very stringent, or at least I'd hope, some stringent guidelines to be eligible for that. Regardless, they've received the money. The big question would be here moving forward, Teresa, kind of what you just highlighted a little bit.
What do we see here in the future? This is not a sector that is necessarily booming right now in terms of supply and demand. It seems like, you know, is this a situation? Hopefully, we're not throwing good money after bad with continuing to bolster up this company that had such rough financial struggles that they had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as you noted earlier this year. Yeah.
Right, right. And, you know, they've had some other, you know, besides the money issues, well, the money issues combined with laying off a lot of their workers. They had actually this new facility in Siler City, which is nearby to where Vinfast was planning to, or is still planning to, you know, hopefully open up their factory. They laid off about 73 workers in August from that new materials factory. And in October of 24, last year, Biden-Harris administration announced they were giving the company.
Up to $750 million in federal funding from the CHIPS Act to construct that new $5 billion silicon carbide wafer manufacturing facility in Silas City. They promised to hire 1,800 workers, but they have not received any of that money. They have fallen short and obviously laying off workers, so they still have to get to that number before they get that money.
So is this, like you say, chasing Chasing the wind with this, or you know. bad putting good money after bad. Again, it's just something we're going to have to keep an eye on. But so far, you know, they're trying to claw their way back up.
So this just have to give them give them some time, I guess. And Teresa, you bring up and rightfully note that this company, again, was told they would have access to some of this money. They did have to meet some of those in hiring goals and some of those employee goals. They have not done that. That was at the federal level.
We see similar things here in North Carolina with our J Dig grant program, where if companies don't hire the jobs that they agreed to the state that they would, they don't get the money. But you continue to see, and we have seen a lot over the last probably six or seven months, a lot of these announcements that were made, some of them a couple of years ago. Here we are, two, three, four years down the road now, and we get the announcement that, oh, the jobs aren't coming, the money's not going out. It's almost like this false start on some of these major business announcements because we're starting to see, and I've seen in other states as well, Teresa, many of these projects are not coming to fruition, even though there's this, in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars being dangled in front of these companies. Yeah, it seems to be a repeat pattern for a lot of these companies, you know, giving them the.
Incentives to come to the state, or in this situation, the federal funding. That was promised to this company if they follow through on their hiring targets.
So it's not a one-off, it's not a one- or two-type company situation. We are seeing a lot of repeated patterns with this. And as you mentioned, the J Dig grants, when it comes to the state of North Carolina, they're not a good predictor of future success when it comes to these projects.
So, yeah, it's becoming a repeat pattern. And not sure exactly. why that is, but there has to be some reasoning behind it. Again, it's an interesting factor when you consider that they are getting this incentive to create all these jobs, bring money into local and state economies and then they fail to follow through on that. Teresa, you've got not only some additional details about Wolfspeed coming out of bankruptcy, but what we've seen over the last year or so with them filing for bankruptcy and some of the issues that they've been dealing with over that period of time.
Where can folks go and get some of those additional details? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com. Teresa Opeco joins us this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments. It's about you, your style, your space, your way.
Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right. From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you. It's your last chance to score Cyber Monday mega deals. Shop up to 50% off plus a free professional measure right now at blinds.com.
Rules and restrictions apply. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East us with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Boen Yang from Lost Culture East As with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, Boen, it's gift season. Ugh, stressing me out.
Why are the people I love so hard to shop for? Probably because they only make boring gift guides that are totally uninspired. Except for the guide we made. In partnership with Marshalls, where premium gifts meet incredible value, it's giving gifts! With categories like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto, or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have.
Check out the guide on marshalls.com and gift the good stuff at marshalls. Yeah. Good morning again. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended on November the 30th.
And well, the entire continental United States was very lucky without a single hurricane making landfall. That's according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA. But however, while a hurricane didn't make a landfall, multiple tropical storms affected the U.S. and the North and South Carolina in 2025, probably the most notable being Tropical Storm Chantal. It hit the state and it hit both North and South Carolina in the parts of early July, right around the July, the 4th weekend.
And the Piedmont region in particular got slammed by this storm and did see some pretty significant damage. Hundreds of road closures, rivers cresting at record heights. Unfortunately, the loss of life as a result of the storm, even though it was. Only, and I say only, put that in quotes, a tropical storm. Dr.
Neil Jackson, who is the NOAA administrator, said, For the first time in a decade, not a single hurricane struck the U.S. this season, and that was a much-needed break. Still, a tropical storm caused damage and casualties in the Carolinas. Distant hurricanes created rough ocean waters that caused property damage along the east coast, and neighboring countries experienced direct hits from hurricanes. The Atlantic basin produced 13 named storms this year, five of which became hurricanes.
Four of those were major hurricanes in the 2025 Atlantic season. Multiple hurricanes and tropical storms that did not immediately impact the state of North Carolina, however, did cause some significant beach erosion across the eastern half of the state. Just since September, so just going back a couple of months, 16 homes in the outer banks have collapsed. That has prompted state officials, including Democrat Governor Josh Stein and Republican Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey, to ask Congress to pass House Resolution 3161, which its name is the Preventing Environmental Hazards Act of 2025, that would try and bolster some of those properties in the outer banks. Again, as 16 homes have collapsed just since the month of September, you can read some additional details about the 2025 Atlantic season.
And as we flip the calendar over to 2026, the hurricane season next year will run as always from June the 1st through November the 30th.
However, I will note hurricanes and Mother Nature do not necessarily wait for a calendar before getting things going.
However, the official season, again, June 1st through November the 30th. In some other statewide news this morning, both Democrat Governor Josh Stein and Democrat Attorney General Jeff Jackson are objecting to a recent rate increase request, request is the keyword I'll use there from Duke Energy that was recently filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Both Duke Energy Carolina and Duke Energy Progress, which serve different portions of the state, are requesting a 15% increase from the Utilities Commission. That request was filed and is looking at an annual revenue increase of about $1 billion for Duke Energy Carolina and about $729 million for Duke Energy Progress. Governor Stein said in a press release this week, I am pleased that the North Carolina Department of Justice is fighting for the people of North Carolina.
Duke Energy's proposed rate hike is simply too high and comes as the company is already retreating on more affordable clean energy. At a time when families are struggling to make ends meet, we should be doing everything we can to make life more affordable and not less. I will continue to fight on behalf of every North Carolinian to lower costs and grow the economy. However, not everybody is fully on board with this. John Sanders, who is the director of the Center for Food, Power, and Life at the John Locke Foundation, recently told the Carolina Journal this was self-inflicted, saying, quote, it seems that Governor Stein is starting to learn the consequences of the carbon plan law.
We've been warning for years that shutting down working paid-for power plants, most of which are coal, and overbuilding Expensive, land-intensive, and unreliable renewable facilities that need far more transmission lines to be built is a recipe for much higher rates. The public staff of the North Carolina Utilities Commission testified in 2023 that rates could approximately double as we approached 2030. Sanders goes on to say, strangely, Stein vetoed Senate Bill 266, which nevertheless was passed into law and would eliminate the interim carbon goal of the Carolina carbon plan that would have cost taxpayers an additional $13 billion by 2050. The Democrat Attorney General in Jeff Jackson did ask to jump in on both of these requests, both the Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas requests. Those requests were granted to the AG's office back on December the 1st.
You can read some additional details on this rate hike: what Stein and Jeff Jackson are saying, plus what Duke Energy is saying, those details over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
