CARRBORO, N.C.— Duke Energy Corporation is sidestepping detailed allegations about its role in a decades-long campaign to deceive the public about the dangers of fossil fuels, worsening the climate crisis and costing a North Carolina town millions of dollars in damages, according to a legal filing today from the town of Carrboro.
Today’s brief, filed in Orange County Superior Court in Hillsborough, responds to Duke Energy’s motion to dismiss the town’s December lawsuit, which is the first to challenge an electric power provider for climate deception. The lawsuit seeks to hold Duke Energy accountable for the damages inflicted on Carrboro and its residents by the corporation’s decades of deception campaigns to delay the transition to renewable energy.
“Duke Energy’s deceptions about fossil fuel-driven climate change have cost the town dearly. Our utility bills are rising, our roadways will need repair, and extreme weather is creating havoc in our community,” said Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee. “Carrboro has been and will continue to work hard to invest all available resources into building a stronger, more climate-resilient community and to hold Duke Energy accountable.”
