Rate-setting bill gets some well-deserved pushback

It's no revelation that North Carolina is a business-friendly state. Nor is it a surprise that some of our politicians are eager to provide generous corporate interests the best legislature that money can buy.

Notorious polluters have long enjoyed the willingness of state government to turn a blind eye, and the recent tough actions of the state Department of Environmental Quality against Chemours' GenX pollution are a startling — and welcome — turn of events.

But last week, we may have seen the most surprising development of all: Some of North Carolina's biggest corporations and employers — including WalMart, Google and lobbyists representing the state's top manufacturers — have protested legislation that could make life, and rate increases, easier for Duke Energy. The measure has the backing of some of the most powerful state lawmakers from both parties.

Duke, one of the largest electric utilities in the world, is headquartered in Charlotte. Its leaders have long held strong influence over the legislative and executive branches of North Carolina government. That includes, in this case, the company itself writing much of a Senate bill that would change the way electric rates are set and allow the utility to boost its rates up to five years ahead of starting work on major projects — such as modernizing the power grid or excavating the company's dangerous caches of coal ash at present or former power plant sites.

Duke actually suffered another recent setback with its controversial plan to leave some of its unlined coal-ash storage pits in place, where they might leach hazardous substances like lead and arsenic into the water table. The DEQ rejected Duke's plan and ordered the company to excavate all the pits and move the ash to safer storage sites. The order may more than double the utility's cost of handling the power plant waste. The company plans to charge consumers for the work, which will cost billions of dollars. But there's a growing consumer pushback that's beginning to resonate with at least some lawmakers. Duke critics argue that the utility and its shareholders should bear at least some of the responsibility for the company's bad decision-making on coal-ash disposal. The company, after all, could reasonably be expected to know that coal ash includes harmful heavy metals and that rainfall leaching through the ash could carry those elements into groundwater and, in some cases, into public drinking-water supplies.

As for the "modernization" of the rate-setting process, opposition appears to be growing. Walmart, which is the state's largest employer and one if its biggest electricity consumers, said in a statement last week that the bill "could lead to unchecked electricity rate increases." Preston Howard, a lobbyist who represents some of the state's biggest manufacturers, told a Senate committee that the reform is "turning our system on its head. There are better options here. We ask that you slow down. Another manufacturing lobbyist, Sharon Miller, told the hearing that with big costs for the coal ash projects heading our way, "now is not the rime to loosen the regulatory reins." The bill, she said, "would greatly minimize public voices."

Remember, this is commentary coming from lobbyists for the state's manufacturers and other industries, not from consumer advocates.

It became clear during and after the hearing that the bill's sponsors were regrouping a bit and are looking at changes. They might consider starting by asking Duke Energy to leave the room when utility regulatory law is being written. Letting the utility write the law is worse than letting the fox guard the hen house — it's letting the fox design it too.

We like the trend we're seeing as state regulators are taking the consumers' side in environmental issues. Let's hope that trend carries over into consumer protection too. This rate-setting bill is a good place to start.