Protesters rally against Duke Energy’s coal plant

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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The Charlotte Observer has the story. Avram Friedman, the head of the Canary Coalition, was one of those arrested:

Charlotte became a focus of the nation’s energy debate Monday as 250 demonstrators protested Duke Energy coal policies that critics say are wrecking Appalachia and overheating the planet.

Police charged 42 protesters with trespassing at Duke’s uptown headquarters after a well-orchestrated rally and march that was almost polite. No injuries or violence were reported.

The immediate focus of the event was Duke’s coal-fired Cliffside power plant, now undergoing a $2.4 billion expansion 60 miles west of Charlotte. But the nation’s third-largest investor-owned utility offers a big target to people worried about air pollution and the 105 million tons of carbon dioxide that billowed out of Duke’s plants last year.