Opinion Roundup: Who will pay for Duke Energy's coal ash cleanup?

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017 -- A roundup of opinion, commentary and analysis on Duke Energy's push to charge consumers for its coal ash cleanup, a spike in Christmas tree prices amid scarcity, a management takeover at an embattled N.C. mental health agency and more.

​EMERY DALESIO: Will Duke Energy customers pay to clean coal ash? (AP analysis) – Charging North Carolina consumers the full, multibillion-dollar cost of cleaning up coal ash dumps is comparable to tire stores charging customers an extra fee to dispose of an old set of wheels, a Duke Energy Corp. executive said. Duke Energy Progress, the corporation's eastern North Carolina operating subsidiary, is simply passing along clean-up costs that regulators have dictated, and shouldn't have to ding shareholders for a chunk of the $2.6 billion bill as consumer advocates want, executive David Fountain said.

​TRAVIS FAIN: Seeking rate increase, Duke Energy questions link between coal ash spill, coal ash bill (WRAL-TV analysis) -- According to one of Duke Energy's top leaders, North Carolina's 2014 coal ash legislation didn't necessarily result from a company ash spill in the Dan River.

​JOHN DOWNEY: Filings confirm deal would cut $120M from Duke Energy rate case — and now the fight begins (Charlotte Business Journal column) -- A deal between Duke Energy Progress and the state's utility customer advocate would cut a 14.9% increase to no more than 9.6%. The advocate still calls for much deeper cuts.​

​STEVE DEVANE: GenX in 34 more wells near Chemours raises contaminated number to 85 (Fayetteville Observer analysis) -- State officials said tests have detected elevated levels of a potentially harmful compound at 34 more private wells near a Bladen County chemical manufacturing facility, bringing the total number of contaminated wells to 85. The state has been investigating GenX since June.

​JENNIFER ALLEN: Harkers Island To Celebrate Heritage, Decoys (Coastal Review column) -- An exciting and busy weekend is ahead for Harkers Island with the 30th annual Core Sound Decoy Festival at the elementary school and 25th annual Waterfowl Weekend at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center both taking place Dec. 2 and Dec. 3.

​THE RECESSION THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS: Tree prices rise amid scarcity (AP analysis) -- Nearly a decade after the recession began, Christmas tree aficionados are feeling the pinch.

​State owes more to prison workers (Greensboro News & Record) -- The state owed Meggan Callahan much better.

​JIM MORRILL & TIM FUNK: How did Jesus Christ become an issue in this NC primary? (Charlotte Observer analysis) -- Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, who faces a Baptist minister in next year’s primary, is airing a new TV ad urging people to put “Christ back in Christmas.”

​D.G. MARTIN: Charlie Rose, once-respected teacher’s downfall teaches hard lesson (Durham Herald-Sun column) -- North Carolina lost another monument. It came like a flash. And I am still reeling. Charlie Rose was one of North Carolina’s nationally best-known and most admired people. He was right up there with Michael Jordan, Billy Graham and the late Andy Griffith, as someone that people in the rest of the country know and admire.

​SHAWN BOBURG, AARON DAVIS & ALICE CRITES: A woman approached The Post with dramatic, false tale about Roy Moore. She appears to be part of a sting. (Washington Post analysis) -- Jaime Phillips, who claimed to The Post that the Republican Senate nominee impregnated her as a teenager, was seen on Monday walking into the headquarters of Project Veritas, a group that uses false cover stories and covert video recordings to expose what it says is media bias. The Post did not publish a story based on her account.

​PETER SALOVEY: Free Speech, Personified (New York Times column) – In 1963, the Yale Political Union invited the defiant segregationist governor of Alabama, George Wallace, to Yale. Just a few weeks before his scheduled visit, Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., killing four African-American schoolgirls and wounding 22 others. … Pauli Murray was an unlikely advocate for Wallace. The granddaughter of an enslaved woman and the descendant of a prominent slaveholder in North Carolina, she had recently helped organize the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and she was serving on President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women at the behest of Eleanor Roosevelt, her friend and mentor. “The right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable."

​Duke Faculty Assist in Public Hearings on North Carolina Connection to Torture Flights (Duke U. News) -- an expert panel involving several members of the Duke community is attempting to bring public accountability for these acts of torture tied to Aero Contractors, a company headquartered in Johnston County, North Carolina. Evidence in the declassified executive summary of the 2014 US Senate report on CIA torture connected the Johnston County airport has been connected to more than 40 such flights known as “torture taxis.” The panel, known at the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture, will hold public hearings Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Raleigh Convention Center. Both sessions begin at 9 a.m.

​An unacceptable action (Winston-Salem Journal) -- If found guilty, two teens charged in connection with firing a gun at Winston-Salem police officers should be punished to the full extent of the law. Using firepower against police is unacceptable.

​RICK SMITH: Back story: Why SAS is naming a big thinker as No. 2 to Jim Goodnight (WRAL-TV/TechWire analysis) -- As SAS surges beyond $3 billion in revenue and technology continues its rapid evolution toward am Internet of Things dominated world in which artificial intelligence and data analytics will likely become more important, Jim Goodnight is turning to his chief technology officer to become his designated No. 2. Oliver Schabenberger already has proved to be a big thinker and an innovator in a SAS career dating back to 2002 even as he rides a Segway and takes guitar lessons.

​RICHARD CRAVER: NC health secretary orders management takeover at Cardinal Innovations (Winston-Salem Journal analysis) -- The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said Monday it has temporarily taken over daily operations of Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions and removed Cardinal’s board of directors. Cardinal Executive Director Richard Topping‘s last day was Monday, Health Secretary Mandy Cohen said. Topping had been terminated as executive director after 26 months on Nov. 17, but Cardinal’s board would have allowed him to stay on until Friday.

​ROSE HOBAN: ACA Made it Possible for More with Mental Health Problems to Get Care (N.C. Health News analysis) -- New research shows that people with a range of mental health problems were able to get insurance, and so were able to access care.

​TAYLOR KNOPF: CDC Report Details Health Disparities Between Rural Minorities (N.C. Health News analysis) -- Health disparities exist between all types of demographic groups, with many contributing factors such as ethnicity, income, education and where you live.

​STEPHANIE CARSON: #GivingTuesday: Strength in Numbers in NC (Public News Service column) -- Today, nonprofits in North Carolina are hoping you have a little left in your wallet for #GivingTuesday. The celebration of generosity was created five years ago and this year alone has already raised almost $200 million. While individual nonprofits are hoping to raise funds today, increasingly more of them are working together to create awareness. SHARE Charlotte began in 2014 as an effort to help nonprofits in their area take advantage of the #GivingTuesday platform.