State regulators will hold a hearing June 17 to help determine whether environmentalists should have to pay a multimillion dollar appeal bond before they challenge approval of a Duke Energy power plant in Asheville.
The N.C. Utilities Commission announced the hearing Wednesday, after a ruling by the N.C. Court of Appeals. The court ordered the commission to justify its decision to require environmentalists to put up a $10 million bond before allowing an appeal.
In February, the commission approved the $1.1 billion gas-fired plant, over the objections of the groups NC WARN and The Climate Times. The groups later announced plans to appeal.
But regulators ordered the groups to put up a $10 million bond to compensate Duke for any delays the appeal might cause. The groups say that amount prevents them from appealing.
This week, the state Court of Appeals threw out the order, and said regulators must set a bond amount based on "competent evidence."
The June 17 meeting will hear testimony from Duke about why it thinks a bond is justified, including how much it expects a delay in the plant will cost. The two environmental groups also will make their case for no bond.
The utilities commission rejected Duke's request that the appeal bond be set at $50 million. But regulators set the bond at $10 million.
Jim Warren of NC WARN says there's no evidence that either of the figures were supported by evidence.
"Duke pulled the $50 million initial bond request out of its hat, without any supporting evidence," Warren said. "The commission says we don't have any information to support an amount, so we'll pick $10 million.
"We're saying you can't just block access to the courthouse," Warren added.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
June 8, 2016, Appeals Court order on the N.C. Utilities Commission website, NCUC.gov
June 7, 2016, Statement from NC WARN about the court ruling