North Carolina’s Republican governor, Pat McCrory, worked for Duke Energy for 28 years before he became governor. In 2014 alone, Duke Energy donated $3 million to the Republican Governor’s Association. Last year, McCrory had a fancy dinner at the governor’s mansion for the Duke Energy CEO and other Duke Energy executives.
So it surprised no one when political operatives at North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality overrode the recommendations of the department’s staff and cut some sweet deals with Duke Energy on coal ash cleanup, a plan that would save Duke Energy millions of dollars while leaving millions of tons of coal ash where it is.
It was six years ago that right-wing Republicans got control of North Carolina’s legislature. Two years later, McCrory was elected. All across the state, including rural, Republican-dominated places such as Stokes County, people are mobilizing to reverse this right-wing takeover. These photos were taken last week at a hearing by the Department of Environmental Quality on the plan for coal ash cleanup at Duke Energy’s Belews Creek Steam Station. Duke Energy wants to make some tweaks that would classify Belews Creek as a low-priority coal ash site.
3 Comments
Answer to your post title’s question: Whatever our GOP overlords and theocratic despots want. They are unbound and unapologetic. They simply do not give a shit about what you or any other North Carolinian thinks about what they are doing to this state. They are the wrecking crew, and they are in charge.
As long as stupid voters keep putting them in office, they will keep wreaking the carnage. It’s as simple as that.
Glad to see you got to go to the Duke Energy hearing. Wonderful photos capturing the passion and emotion of the moment. Was just talking to my students about Stokes today. Poor Stokes.
DCS
FYI, new Gallup poll shows majority of Americans now opposed to fracking:
https://www.rt.com/usa/337825-majority-opposes-fracking-poll/
Most interesting finding of the poll shows sharp decline among Republicans:
“The poll also found that Republicans are not as supportive of fracking in 2016, with only 55 percent in favor compared to 66 percent last year. There was not as much change among the Democrats, with 25 percent in favor this year compared to 26 percent in 2015.”
Republicans in rural counties like Stokes are catching on to the scam, apparently. God bless No Fracking in Stokes!
DCS
DCS: For so long, the Republican party has gotten away with lying about its true agenda. But now, anybody who is paying attention can see what its true agenda is. I am not seeing white rural people leaving the Republican party in droves, but I am seeing more and more Republicans who have realized that they’ve been had and who are saying that they will no longer vote Republican. Some Republicans said that in public, into the microphone, at this hearing. If it weren’t for gerrymandering, we’d make a damned good start this November at throwing right-wing extremists out of office.
I took almost 400 photos at the hearing and posted 40 photos in the No Fracking in Stokes Facebook group. At public hearings I make an effort to get a photo of everyone who spoke.
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