The Town of Carrboro is suing Duke Energy, alleging that North Carolina’s monopoly utility has engaged in decades of deception around climate science that has stalled the transition to renewable energy and resulted in “largely unabated” greenhouse gas emissions.

Filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court, the lawsuit likely marks the first time that a municipality has sued an electric utility alleging harms caused by deception about the risks from fossil fuels. Several lawsuits across the country have targeted oil and gas companies, including a 2023 lawsuit a local government in Oregon filed against a gas utility.

“We have to speak truth to power as we continue to fight the existential threat that is climate change. The climate crisis continues to burden our community and cost residents their hard-earned tax dollars,” Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee said in a statement.

Carrboro is alleging that the role Duke executives played in continuing to use and promote fossil fuels even as they knew of the associated risks are similar to the tactics deployed by the tobacco industry. Environmental nonprofits NC WARN and the Center for Biological Diversity are both assisting with the case but are not formal plaintiffs.

“We are in the process of reviewing the complaint. Duke Energy is committed to its customers and communities and will continue working with policymakers and regulators to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible,” a Duke spokesman wrote in a statement.

Under a resource plan approved in November by the N.C. Utilities Commission, Duke will pursue the construction of 6,700 megawatts of solar energy; seven new gas-fired power plants totaling 5,620 megawatts; 2,700 megawatts of battery storage; and 1,200 megawatts of onshore wind. All of those are targeted to be built by 2031, while targets for offshore wind and new nuclear projects are several years beyond that.

The plan also officially scuppered a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions target that was written into state law, with Duke and the Public Staff, a ratepayers’ advocate, agreeing that meeting that goal would be too expensive and threaten reliability.

Adding natural gas was particularly contentious during hearings, with environmental groups expressing concern about the utility’s continued efforts to burn methane and add greenhouse gases when alternatives like solar, wind and battery storage are available. Duke has maintained that instantly dispatchable resources like gas are necessary to maintain reliability, particularly as the state continues to grow and add projected new businesses.

Carrboro officials voted to move forward with the lawsuit Tuesday evening.

The lawsuit says Carrboro will likely incur millions of dollars of costs due to climate change, ranging from more frequent road repairs due to more extreme temperatures and rainfall to infrastructure upgrades to cope with more severe storms.

Should temperatures increase as projected, the suit notes, Carrboro anticipates spending millions of additional dollars cooling the town’s facilities. That money will go to Duke, the town’s electricity provider.

“It is clear that our town and hardworking taxpayers cannot and should not be forced to pay for this. The Carrboro community deserves a safe and healthy climate, not the crisis that Duke Energy Corporation’s fossil fuels continue to cause,” Foushee said at a Wednesday press conference.

Foushee added that town officials have been discussing Duke Energy and potential litigation for “a little more than a year,” beginning with council members receiving information from various nonprofits in June 2023.

Foushee and Matthew Quinn, Carrboro’s attorney, told several media outlets that it will cost Carrboro at least $60 million to adapt to climate change. Wednesday, Quinn said that figure is based on modeling that looks at expenses and damages that have been incurred now and could be incurred in the future compared to what would have been spent had Duke pursued a more aggressive transition.

The model was not immediately available to see, Quinn said Wednesday, because it is now part of active litigation.

Carrboro’s lawsuit is being funded by NC WARN, not the town’s taxpayers, said Quinn, who also frequently represents the environmental nonprofit in utilities matters.

Carrboro has taken a number of steps to curb the town’s own greenhouse gas emissions, said Randee Haven-O’Donnell, a town councilwoman. Those included creating a home and business weatherization and energy efficiency loan program; establishing a stormwater utility enterprise fund; and partnering with Solarize the Triangle to spur rooftop solar adoption.

The town’s citizens are angered, Haven-O’Dennell said, when they are taking those steps only to see Duke pursue more fossil fuels.

“It becomes zero sum when they’re working their hardest and they see that (with) one quick action of use of methane or expanding methane gas, their efforts are erased,” Haven-O’Donnell said.

Duke Energy officials were active participants in groups that acknowledged the risks of burning fossil fuels as early as 1968, the lawsuit alleges, but failed to act, instead participating in other groups that downplayed those same risks. Beyond that, the suit says, Duke is aiming to create the impression that it is shifting to renewable sources much more dramatically than it actually is.

Shearon Harris, a past Duke CEO, was chairman of the Electric Power Research Institute’s board of directors from its 1972 founding until 1977, for example.

In September 1977, New York University professor Merril Eisenbud published an article in the group’s member journal that said, “If we’re going to go fossil fuel rather than nuclear, the increase of CO2 is going to continue, and one can project that if it continues into the next century, it may increase the global temperature sufficiently to cause profound climatic changes.”

The lawsuit also notes that Duke has pursued upgrades to harden its transmission and distribution system against climate change even as it has pursued the construction of new fossil fuel-powered assets.

Duke was closely aligned with the Edison Electric Institute, which started to more aggressively cast doubt on risks posed from burning fossil fuels in 1989, the lawsuit alleges.

And in 2004, the lawsuit says, Duke’s predecessor corporation, Cinergy, focused on global warming in its annual report, including writing there is “an unresolved but robust debate on the ‘science’ of global warming.” Jim Rogers, then Cinergy’s chief operating officer, became Duke’s CEO when the companies merged.

“In fact, the utility and energy industry, including Cinergy and Duke, were well aware in 2004 of the seriousness of human-made fossil fuel emissions and their contribution to global warming,” the complaint said.

In January 2007, Rogers remarked at a press conference that new coal plants could be built as long as they were also able to capture and store carbon emissions. But the lawsuit notes that the Edison Electric Institute had published a paper as early as 1985 that concluded carbon capture was not a viable solution to emissions problems.

Duke also joined and helped fund the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity in 2007, the lawsuit said. In May 2008, the group ran a TV commercial that touting that coal, the country’s “most abundant resource,” could generate electricity with reduced emissions, including via carbon capture and storage.

Just a month later, the suit says, Rogers, then Duke’s CEO, said carbon capture and storage as “a magical technology that solves the carbon problem for coal plants is oversold.”

The suit notes that Duke aims to portray itself as a leader in renewables, positioning itself as a leader in the transition from fossil fuel generation. That includes a page on Duke’s website titled “The Business We’re In’ with the text set over an image of solar panels.

Those images, the lawsuit says, could leave viewers with a mistaken impression that Duke’s transition is more dramatic than the one the company is actually undertaking.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here.

This story was originally published December 4, 2024, 5:44 PM.

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Adam Wagner covers climate change and other environmental issues in North Carolina. His work is produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. Wagner’s previous work at The News & Observer included coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and North Carolina’s recovery from recent hurricanes. He previously worked at the Wilmington StarNews.

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The News & Observer highlights some of the top high school football players — and top college recruits — in Raleigh, Durham and beyond.

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RALEIGH

The way Kendall Scotton runs with the football, you’d guess he was born to play the sport. And based on the bloodlines of the senior running back at Cardinal Gibbons High, you’d be right.

His father, Stefen Scotton, was a Georgia Tech fullback, from 1987-90. But don’t assume Kendall was born in the end zone solely from his genetic gifts.

Prior to Kendall’s breakout 2024 season, he endured two knee surgeries, subsequent infections, endless rehab hours and an ankle injury. Those obstacles cost him nearly two varsity seasons as a sophomore and junior. Question marks remained as his senior year opened.

“There were times I had doubts that I’d be able to return to the field, but I wasn’t ready for my football career to be over just yet,” Scotton said. “I love playing football. I always tried to keep a positive mindset.”

His attitude sustained dedicated rehab work that paid off with the 5-foot-8, 170-pounder playing all 12 games this year. He leads the Crusaders in rushing yards (664, 7.0 per carry) and rushing touchdowns (eight). He’s also has 19 catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s a phenomenal young man,” said Steven Wright, Gibbons’ head coach. “He’s made an incredible comeback his senior year.”

Last week Scotton carried seven times for 126 yards, with a 19-yard touchdown and a 35-yard gallop to set up another score. His play helped Gibbons beat Hillside, 52-19, in the third round of the NC High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs.

Next up, the second-seeded Crusaders (11-1) meet No. 3 seed Wilmington Hoggard (12-1) in a fourth-round game at 7 p.m. Friday on Gibbons’ campus.

Although Scotton’s season stats don’t match the overwhelming numbers posted by other teams’ leading rushers, that’s in part due to Gibbons’ balanced offense and lopsided scores spreading the ball around in the backfield.

And besides — it’s not possible to make a valid case that “664 yards” and “eight touchdowns” aren’t impressive totals for a guy coming back from being sidelined nearly two years.

“It’s truly a blessing to be able to play again,” Scotton said. “This season has been really fun for me. It’s been my best season playing and statistically.”

Scotton’s ill-fated moment thrusting him onto the comeback trail was the first play of the second game his sophomore season. He suffered a dislocated knee cap, but the worst news was yet to come later at the doctor’s office.

The examinations revealed problems with his patellar tendons on both knees. They weren’t holding his kneecaps from riding too high. That also explained the recurring pain he had dealt with previously.

The surgeries were one knee at a time — the first in October in 2022 and the second in January 2023. But just when he thought he was on track for the start of his 2023 junior season, infections turned back this timetable.

He continued his rehab until he was cleared to play seven games into the season. But then he suffered an ankle injury in his fifth comeback game. He was sidelined for the remainder of Gibbons’ postseason run that ended with a 12-3 record in the regional final.

“It was frustrating, but I tried to do my best,” Scotton said. “To keep my spirits up and look at the bright side, I knew I had to try to control only what I could control. Whether that was football or not, I worked on factors I could control.”

Another nuance to his recovery was his inner drive without outside influence or pressure. In American sports, the cliché of pushy fathers is so entrenched a Progressive Insurance TV advertisement comedically played off it with a pushy father and rebellious son.

But the Scotton story doesn’t fall into that category.

“My dad wanted what was best for me,” Kendall said. “He wasn’t pushing me. The comeback was something I wanted, and I thank him for that.

“Both of my parents were heartbroken for me when I was injured because they know how much I love football. But I never felt my dad or mom (Tiffany) pressured me to come back.”

A bonus to Scotton’s comeback story is his success has opened the door to a possible college career. He’s making plans to walk-on at Hampton University, an HBCU in Virginia that was his academic destination before his football prospects were rekindled.

Scotton was admitted to Hampton’s highly ranked aviation program to pursue his dream to become a commercial pilot. The ambition began as a kid with trips to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport Observation Deck.

“I was bitten by the bug,” Kendall said. “I’ve always been intrigued with becoming a pilot and the entire industry.”

But for now, his flying is limited to gliding down the football field. The Crusaders have as many as three games remaining if they keep winning. After Friday’s fourth-round game against Hoggard, the 4A East Region final is December 13 and 4A state final the following week.

The Crusaders are riding an eight-game winning streak since suffering their only loss against Rolesville in a 30-27 overtime result. They seem to be peaking, too. In three playoff games, Gibbons has outscored its opponents 163-40: Willow Spring (60-7), Garner (51-14) and Hillside (52-19).

Comparing Gibbons’ regular-season and post-season Hillside results reflect the momentum. The Crusaders won the regular-season game 21-0, but they led 31-0 by the second quarter of the 52-19 third-round victory.

“We’re playing some good football,” Scotton said. “Our offense has been clicking and our defense has been coming up with big plays. Our team morale has been really good. Everybody is feeding off the energy.”

The ACC had just one win in the ACC-SEC Challenge when N.C. State tipped off against Texas on Wednesday night at Lenovo Center.

N.C. State knew the challenge ahead — not only in its representation of the league, but to its own resume.

“This is probably going to be the most athletic team that we face so far on our early schedule,” Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts said Tuesday before the game. “We gotta be ready for that opportunity.”

Ready? Perhaps. But N.C. State was unable to come up with the win for itself or the ACC.

The Longhorns defeated the Wolfpack, 63-59, in a game that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.

“It’s a very tough one. We feel like we should have won that game,” forward Dontrez Styles said. “We know we’re a good team, so we just gotta keep building. It’s a tough one. I ain’t gonna lie, it’s a very tough one for me and for my guys and the coaching staff. We’re gonna bounce back from it, though.”

Texas (7-1) jumped out to an early 9-0 lead after scoring four straight baskets. Despite N.C. State’s early shooting woes and some sloppy ball handling, the Wolfpack created a competitive game. Marcus Hill and Jayden Taylor hit shots that gave the team two separate leads, while the defense held the Longhorns under 40 points before halftime.

N.C. State (5-3) came out of the locker room with a sense of determination, led by three transfers — Styles, Marcus Hill and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield — who accounted for 43 points. Texas outscored the Pack by two points in the second half, giving the visitors a win.

The free-throw line was the Wolfpack’s kryptonite in the loss. It went 5 of 14 from the stripe for its worst showing of the season.

“The biggest thing is we have some missed those shots and free throws, but we’re still right there,” guard Michael O’Connell said. “We had a chance to win the game, so if we can just clean some of that up, obviously, myself included, then we can win these games.”

Defensively, the Wolfpack made the Longhorns uncomfortable. Texas entered the game averaging 8.9 turnovers per game to rank No. 4 in the nation, according to the NCAA. It had committed a turnover on 12.9% of its possessions, which ranked No. 6 in the nation, according to KenPom.com. The Wolfpack forced 12 total turnovers, or one on 21.4% of the Longhorns’ possessions.

Texas’ roster features Kadin Shedrick, who grew up in Holly Springs. Shedrick finished with five points and five rebounds in his homecoming.

“What a what a hard fought battle tonight against Texas, a really good Texas team,” Keatts said. “It felt like one of those late February ACC games where both teams were playing extremely hard and really wanted it.”

Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s loss in the ACC-SEC Challenge:

N.C. State went 0-2 at the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego last week. Its biggest issue was rebounding. It lost the rebounding margin by double digits against BYU and Purdue. It was still a problem on Wednesday, but it wasn’t as bad.

“We didn’t do a good job of finishing possessions with defensive rebounding, which I thought really cost us, getting out in transition,” Keatts said during a press conference on Tuesday. “For the entire weekend, we gave up 28 offensive rebounds. You don’t rebound the basketball, you’re not able to get out in transition. So I thought we got hurt in those situations.”

The Wolfpack, at times, still lacked effort — allowed a Texas put-back on what should’ve been an easy board and allowed a pair of offensive rebounds on a single possession down the stretch — but looked more engaged this time.

N.C. State entered the game pulling down 34.8 rebounds per game, ranking 262 in the nation. Texas averaged 37.3, or 155th in the country.

The two teams entered the locker room with the Pack holding an 18-14 rebounding advantage. It didn’t maintain that lead, with Texas ending the game up, 37-30. However, there was no denying N.C. State looked more competitive off the glass.

“They beat us to a couple 50 balls,” Keatts said, unconcerned with the final rebounding totals. “I thought in the first half we did a really good job. We came into this game we’re focusing on not giving up offensive rebounds. At halftime, we’d done a great job. I thought in the second half they beat us to some loose basketballs. I thought we made a better effort to block out. There were long rebounds that we didn’t get.”

The Wolfpack likes to run. Keatts hasn’t been shy about the desire to play fast and get out into transition. N.C. State played fast, but it struggled to get into transition for the third straight game.

The team scored six fast-break points in the first half and ended with 11. It came into the contest averaging 22.1 transition points to lead the nation. It scored five transition points against BYU and eight against Purdue.

N.C. State may not be able to run quite as much against other power programs as it did against mid-majors, but it would like to get a little more production in that area of the game.

Jayden Taylor told reporters in September and October and November that you have to play hard to play for N.C. State. A guy doesn’t have to be the best shooter, and off nights are OK, as long as there’s toughness and togetherness.

Those haven’t always been consistent, but the Wolfpack took a step forward.

Michael O’Connell finished with his worst shooting night of the season, going 1 of 8 from the field and making one free throw, but impacted the team in other ways. He finished the first half with five rebounds to lead the team and finished with six. The graduate point guard added seven assists and two steals.

Dennis Parker Jr. forced a first-half turnover under the basket against one of the most disciplined teams in the nation. Ben Middlebrooks was more than once tangled up with opposing players, on both ends of the floor, trying to fight for the upper hand.

“The teams that come together a lot faster are the guys who are going to win a lot quicker...You can’t do it by yourself,” Keatts said. “One of my messages to our guys is, if you’re not scoring the ball, what are you doing? What else are you doing to affect the game? And are you rebounding the ball? Are you playing great defense? Are you being a good teammate? Are you bringing energy to the team?”

Keatts said the program doesn’t count moral victories, but it can still take positives away from losses. That’s what N.C. State will do with this one.

“If I didn’t tell you the score of the game and you just picked up the stat sheet, you wouldn’t know who won the game,” Keatts said. “I thought we did really do some good things. I thought our defense was really good. I thought we answered some runs that Texas had. I thought it was a back and forth game. It literally came down to who had the last possession.”

This story was originally published December 4, 2024, 11:38 PM.

Several movie theaters across the state are bringing the holiday spirit to the big screen with discounted prices this season.

As part of Cinemark Holdings, Inc.’s Holiday Movie Clubhouse, you can tune in to catch some classic Christmas movies on Saturdays and Wednesdays now through Wednesday, Dec. 18:

Movie tickets are $5, and as an “extra stocking stuffer” with the discount, all kids’ snack packs and any size popcorn and drink combos will be $1 off.

250 Cinemark theaters around the U.S. will be showing the festive films, including the following in North Carolina:

Location: 400 Randolph Mall, Asheboro, NC 27203

Location: 1640 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803

Location: 9630 Monroe Road, Charlotte, NC 28270

Location: 4840 Grove Barton Road, Raleigh, NC 27613

Location: 305 Faith Road, E. Innes St. Market, Salisbury, NC 28146

Tickets can be purchased online at cinemark.com/hmc or on the Cinemark mobile app.

The post-pandemic academic gains being made in North Carolina’s elementary schools are largely not making their way into middle schools, according to a new state report presented Thursday.

The state Department of Public Instruction report shows post-pandemic gains in achievement trends in elementary schools in reading and math. But the results are mixed in middle schools, with the trends being negative in some grade levels.

“Something has been working since the pandemic in early grades,” said Jeni Corn, who worked on the report at DPI before becoming director of Impact Evaluation and Strategy for the UNC Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill.

“The work that’s been done, whether it’s LETRS training, whether it’s the focus on foundational math skills, and that is not translating and tracking into middle schools.”

State Board of Education members and researchers said more work needs to be done to improve and support instruction in middle schools.

Academic performance dropped sharply statewide and nationally after schools switched to online instruction during the end of the 2019-20 school year and most of the 2020-21 school year.

DPI worked with SAS Institute to quantify how far behind students have fallen and what it will take to declare that they’ve fully recovered from pandemic learning loss.

DPI compared achievement trends on state reading, math and science exams before the pandemic and since 2022.

The new report shows positive trends since the pandemic in reading in grades 3 and 5 and math in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6. The trend was also positive in high school for the English II and Math 1 exams.

“That is something to be very proud of as a state,” Corn told the state board. “I think we know our teachers and principals and all of our school instructional support personnel have worked so hard, and this is evidence that all of that hard work in our K-12 classrooms is really making a difference for our students.”

Much of the literacy improvement was credited Thursday to the state’s heavy financial investment in teaching elementary school teachers in the use of the “science of reading.”.

Under LETRS, which stands for “Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling,” teachers are taught to stress phonics when teaching students how to read. All of the state’s 44,000 elementary school teachers completed the 160 hours of LETRS training by this fall.

Only 49% of third-grade students passed the state end-of-grade reading exam last year. But State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said the use of the LETRS training will cause performance to continue to rise.

“We are going to see the trends continue in the right direction,” Truitt said Thursday at her final state board meeting before her term ends. “I have no doubt about that. But it is going to take a couple of years for all students to realize the investments of time and money.”

One exception to the literacy gains was 4th-grade reading, where the achievement trend has been negative since the pandemic.

Educators attributed much of the struggles to how those 4th-grade students spent their earliest grades learning online or in classrooms with COVID restrictions.

“I remember those children learning to write on a Chromebook, learning phonics in a mask from a teacher on a mask, often through a Chromebook,” said Beckie Spears, principal of Wilkesboro Elementary School in Wilkes County and an advisor to the state board.

Spears said the impact of those COVID years hasn’t gone away for students.

Corn said the students missed learning some important foundational reading skills because of masking. She recommended continuing to track over time the performance of those students, who are in 5th grade this school year.

The largest source of concern was the performance of middle school students.

The report showed negative post-pandemic achievement trends in reading for grades 7 and 8. The report also showed concerning trends in math for grades 7 and 8.

“North Carolina has got some work to do to figure out how to better support middle school students and middle school teachers,” Corn said.

State board member J. Wendell Hall questioned whether it’s an attitude issue for why middle school students aren’t doing as well as elementary schoolers. He said the data also points to the need to have more mental health support concentrated in middle schools.

“At the middle grades level the children are not taking the learning process too heart as much as the earlier grades,” Hall said.

Ian House, a student at Green Hope High School in Cary and advisor to the state board, said it’s “alarming” that only 28% of students were proficient on the state eighth-grade math exam last school year.

“I think there’s a disconnect in the middle grades between how is this going to help me in the real world compared to elementary and high school,” House told the board. “I think for the students if they don’t feel what they’re learning they can apply in their lives, they’re not going to put in as much effort.”

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T. Keung Hui has covered K-12 education for the News & Observer since 1999, helping parents, students, school employees and the community understand the vital role education plays in North Carolina. His primary focus is Wake County, but he also covers statewide education issues.