Dive Summary:
- Duke Energy will be closing both the Riverbend and Buck plants this April; both plants were opened in the 1920s.
- The plants, which were some of the first two bring electricity to the state, had been set to be shutdown in 2015, but Duke officials said access to newer Progress Energy plants made these plants less important.
- Falling natural gas prices also led to the earlier closings; environmentalists are happy to see the coal plants close, but will still monitor what the company does with the excess coal ash.
From the article:
Both plants had been set to be shut down in 2015, but Duke Energy officials said access to newer Progress Energy plants after the utilities merged and a shift to gas power plants because of falling natural gas prices led to the earlier closings.
Environmentalists are happy to see the coal plants close, but said they will monitor what the company does with the leftover coal ash to make sure it doesn't seep into drinking water. ...