Environment
March 1, 2019 -
A new coalition seeks to end Duke Energy's electric monopoly in North Carolina in hopes of hastening the shift to clean energy. There's also an effort underway to bring competition to the electricity market in Florida, where Duke operates as a regional monopoly.
February 15, 2019 -
Groups funded by Big Oil and other special interests are reviving a scheme — refined by a Koch brothers associate in the 1990s — to evaluate judges in Louisiana and Mississippi based on whether they rule in favor of corporations. It's the latest effort to stack the judiciary.
February 8, 2019 -
Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost way to meet people's energy needs, yet utilities in the Southeast lag behind the rest of the nation in efficiency performance. The federal Green New Deal plan released this week could change that, with its call to upgrade all existing buildings to meet efficiency standards.
January 24, 2019 -
Legislators in Kentucky and West Virginia are discussing constitutional amendments to give governors unprecedented control over choosing judges, who are currently elected. The moves are part of a broader trend of Republican politicians asserting more control over the judiciary.
December 14, 2018 -
The trade associations representing seismic testing firms have doubled their lobbying expenditures since 2016. The move appears to have paid off — but lawsuits filed this week show the fight to block the permits is not over yet.
November 27, 2018 -
Two environmental advocacy groups have filed a petition with the N.C. Utilities Commission calling on regulators to bar the electric utility monopoly from spending millions of dollars a year collected from captive customers to promote its political interests.
November 13, 2018 -
They ended racist Jim Crow-era policies in two states and raised the minimum wage in another. But elsewhere, Southern voters embraced racially discriminatory voter ID laws and took steps to restrict reproductive rights. The ballot measures that passed this year reflect a politically divided region.
