Dan Besse said the state made a mistake approving a new coal plant.
Earlier today, state regulators gave Duke Energy final approval to build a new power plant at Cliffside, about miles west of Charlotte that environmentalists have said will contribute to air pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and global warming.
The Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor told Dome that the the Division of Air Quality's argument that closing older units and offsetting the emissions will reduce pollutants is wrong.
"Even if Duke were to follow through by offsetting the carbon emissions of the new large unit by closing a couple of additional plants or buying trade credits, the onstruction of the new unit still creates a large unnecessary net increase to our total greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
He said regulators have "fallen down on the job."
Blog RSS feed
