NC State study highlights the folly of bill to rollback carbon emissions goal

NC Newsline

A study released this week by researchers at NC State University highlights the destructive impact that a bill sent to Gov. Stein by the General Assembly last week will have on electric ratepayers.

The bill, which bears the inaccurate and misleading title “Power Bill Reduction Act,” would repeal a bipartisan 2021 law that committed our state to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 70 percent by the year 2030, as we move to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.

If the proposal were only about the environmental damage it will likely cause it would be bad enough, but as the NC State professors found, the bill will also significantly increase electricity bills for average households.

This is because it will incentivize Duke Energy to build more natural gas-fired electric generation plants—the price of natural gas is notoriously volatile—and shift the allocation of fuel costs from industrial to residential customers.

The bottom line: A bill this bad for consumers and the environment is richly deserving of a gubernatorial veto.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.