Opposition mounts in Senate to NC Green New Deal HB951 | Eastern North Carolina Now

Opposition is mounting in the State Senate to North Carolina's Green New Deal, HB 951, which was rushed through the House by special interest godfather Speaker Tim Moore on behalf of "woke" utility monopoly Duke Energy which wants to line their own pockets while "virtue signaling" to the climate alarmists.  Unlike the House, which jammed it through as a Moore-backed "committee substitute" to what had been a decent bill, the Senate is going through the proper legislative process.  The "committee substitute" was written behind closed doors by a cabal of Duke Energy lobbyists and lobbyists for solar and wind energy boondoggles.

HB951 would prematurely close 6 coal fired power plants and make electric ratepayers pay through the nose to reimburse Duke Energy for that, to the tune of an estimated $5 Billion.  Additionally, it would replace some of those plants with expensive and unreliable solar and wind power, including using giant storage batteries that have so far been a failure in other countries.  That would add even more to the ratepayer cost of this awful bill.  The bill also reduces oversight of monopoly Duke Energy both by the state Utilities Commission and by local governments trying to protect their communities from solar and wind farm blight.  There are also NC taxpayer subsidies in the mix, gouging our taxpayers yet again for the grifters of this special interest.

The Senate has held a committee hearing to actually listen to opposition to this money grab.  Representatives of both residential and business electric consumers sounded off against the rate increases this bill would trigger.  It also would make North Carolina uncompetitive in attracting industry and jobs by giving us higher electric rates.

While House conservatives were somewhat caught flatfooted by the way Godfather Moore rammed this bill through, and some sought to keep their powder dry as a result, that is not the case in the Senate.  The massive warts of this awful bill are on full display and Senators seem to be paying attention.