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Elves and Polar Bears try to stop Duke coal plant

Some kids from a Western Carolina college ran some familiar stunts from the activist playbook. Unfortunately for them, their amateurism was exposed: too many metaphors, weak messaging ("Coal is bad.") and no organization behind the effort.

No excuse, however, for Duke CEO Jim Rogers, who, instead of defending the importance of the plan, its environmental soundness and benefits to the community, asked for sympathy (I have struggled with the same issues. I would ask them to step back and put themselves in my shoes and think about my responsibility).

No. No. No.

#1 - You are not an empathetic figure. You’re the CEO of a large energy company. Those kids and like-minded people don’t give a flip about your responsibilities. They would say your responsibilities are to protect North Carolina (as opposed to shareholders and energy customers)
#2 - You legitimize the stunt and the claims behind it. By saying you’ve struggled with those issues, you sound as if you dismissed your concerns and plowed ahead any way. Message: To heck with the environment. I have a job to do.

Coal-project foes arrested
Students chained themselves to doors of utility headquarters
CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com

Two college students upset about Duke Energy Corp.’s plans to build a new coal-fired project in the Blue Ridge foothills were arrested Thursday after chaining themselves to the utility’s uptown front doors.

The two, wearing polar bear outfits, also chained the front door closed. Nina Otter, 21, and Meagan Goodman, 18, were charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer. As of early evening, they were still waiting to see a magistrate.

The students attend Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa near Asheville, said friend Sarah Murphy, a resident hall director at the school and one of the organizers of the lunchtime protest.

"There are plenty of other entrances. We didn’t feel like it was a safety issue," Murphy said of chaining the door. "We’re trying to say, coal is bad. We’re trying to promote clean, renewable energy."

The students were part of a group of 15 that drove in Thursday to protest outside Duke’s uptown headquarters on Church Street. Participants wore Santa Claus hats, wore T-shirts that read "Elves for Clean Energy" and held signs critical of the utility’s plans to build the $2.4 billion coal-fired power unit at its Cliffside facility, about 55 miles west of Charlotte.

Opponents of the project say carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants, a major source of the gas, are a cause of global warming. Rising temperatures are melting polar ice and threatening polar-bear habitat. Scientists fear greater environmental repercussions, including coastal flooding and super hurricanes.

Duke and other utilities say they must use the cheap and plentiful fossil fuel to ramp up power production to meet growing demand in the Charlotte region and around the country.

Chief executive Jim Rogers, who was traveling Thursday, pointed out Duke’s plans to shut down older coal-fired units at Cliffside and to initiate energy efficiency programs. The utility also plans to buy more power from renewable sources in the future, he said.

He said the students are focused on the environmental aspect of providing power but that "it’s also about affordability and reliability."

"I appreciate what they’re doing," said Rogers, who is 60 and pointed out he grew up during the ’60s protest era. "I have struggled with the same issues. I would ask them to step back and put themselves in my shoes and think about my responsibility."

Police spokesman Robert Fey said that one of the arrested students was given a ticket by the Charlotte Fire Department for locking an exit door to an occupied structure, but he didn’t say which one.