ALEC is on the ropes!

Help deliver a knockout blow by exposing Duke Energy’s (UF’s energy provider) connection!!

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, has worked to undermine sustainability and the public interest in a wide variety of ways, including prohibiting the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, legal protections for corporate polluters, and prohibiting local governments from taking proactive steps to protect their communities from environmental toxins, among various other efforts. ALEC has also worked in partnership with the NRA to help spread FL’s “Stand Your Ground” law throughout the U.S.

An article in “The Guardian” newspaper this week notes that “…the network has lost almost 400 state legislators from its membership over the past two years, as well as more than 60 corporations that form the core of its funding.” “The Guardian” attributes this membership attrition largely to the controversy surrounding the murder of Trayvon Martin and ALEC’s public role in supporting “Stand Your Ground.”

One corporation which has stood by ALEC, however, is Duke Energy, UF’s energy provider. It’s a shame to think that every time a UF student, faculty, or staff-person flips on a light switch, they are helping to fund an organization that is directly undermining their democracy, their planet, and their future.

Visit Common Cause’s webpage to learn more and sign the petition urging ALEC’s corporate members to end their relationship with the organization.

Contributed by Jason Fults

University of Florida and Duke Energy, an Unsustainable Relationship

Do you know who meets the University of Florida’s energy needs?  Gainesville Regional Utilities?  Progress Energy?  Duke Energy?

It is not Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), and Progress Energy would have been the correct answer before a year ago.  In July 2012, Progress Energy merged with competitor, Duke Energy, forming the largest energy company in the United States.  Duke Energy now provides electricity to a large portion of north Florida as well as western North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

Duke Energy operates a natural gas-powered turbine power plant that generates 42 megawatts of electricity near the Health Sciences part of the University of Florida (UF) campus in Gainesville.  Opening in 1994, the plant generates electricity and has a generator that produced steam for heating.  UF pays Duke Energy about $42 million for electricity and $4 million for steam heating annually.

The contract between UF and Duke Energy expires in December 2014.  GRU and several other energy companies are interested in becoming UF’s energy provider if this deal expires and is not renewed with Duke Energy.  UF faces a huge opportunity to renegotiate with Duke or other service providers for a clean energy future. The ramifications of this decision will be felt for many years to come. We hope that UF will choose wisely and are asking for an open, inclusive process that keeps UF’s sustainability goals at the forefront as it selects its future energy provider.

There are significant opportunities for Duke or other service providers to meet UF’s goal of clean energy in an economical manner. UF’s current relationship with Duke not only harms the planet; it also hurts our economy and wastes taxpayer dollars. Under its current arrangement, much of the tens of millions of dollars that UF spends on energy annually is sucked out of our state’s economy to pay for non-local fuel sources and to pad the pockets of Duke/Progress shareholders. Conversely, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency would not only strengthen our local economy, but would reduce UF’s carbon footprint and the harm that the University’s energy choices inflict upon other communities.”

Why is this relationship with Duke Energy unsustainable?

In comparison to other large utility companies, Duke Energy’s strategies for the future reduce emissions and update their power stations at a much slower rate (e.g. AEP).  Duke Energy’s current 20 year plan calls for an increase in renewable energy generation from 0.2 (2013) to 3% in 2032 while maintaining 77% of its coal capacity, expanding nuclear capacity and doubling natural gas capacity.  Greenpeace analyses demonstrate that if Duke Energy shows a strong commitment to renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, it could save its Carolina customers up to 108 billion dollars.  Instead, Duke Energy has requested increases in residential rates of over 10% after recently increasing energy rates by 7.2%.

A report by the NAACP ranking and grading the effects of coal-fired power plants on low-income and people of color communities gave Duke Energy a failing grade for environmental justice performance.  This grade comes from a study of 378 plants based on their SO₂ and NO_x emissions and a failing grade indicates that Duke Energy operates plants that have a “considerable and disproportionate impact” on low-income households and people of color.

How are other Universities responding to Duke Energy?

On other campuses, students are demanding their institutions divest in big oil and coal companies. Without divesting in companies such as Duke Energy, they would not be able to reach their sustainability goals.  In 2010, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill campus declared it will end its use of coal by 2020.  A few months ago, the UNC system president sent a letter to Duke Energy requesting more clean energy in efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

It is clear that Duke energy does not currently align well with UF’s sustainability policies and carbon neutrality goals.  Join Gainesville Loves Mountains in encouraging UF and its students to demand cleaner energy and higher social responsibility standards by signing our online petition.