Note: Tomorrow, Friday, December 4, I will be the guest on Charlotte Talks, With Mike Collins on WFAE 90.7, Charlotte’s NPR station. The show airs from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. and is repeated at 9 p.m.
You’ve probably read Rhi Bowman’s blog items about the three environmental groups that filed a federal lawsuit to get Duke Energy and other utilities to publicly release information about their coal ash basins. It’s a completely reasonable request; that is, if you think the public should have the right to know where huge dumps of poisonous material are located. Some of the utilities don’t have a problem with the request, but Duke Energy wants the Environmental Protection Agency to keep their coal ash information “private.” Duke’s reason for refusing to release the info is a revelation: the company says the information could help competitors garner insights into Duke’s operations. Competitors? Wow! Who knew? Did you know you had a choice of electric utility companies? I didn’t either, but it must be so if Duke is talking about its “competitors,” right? I looked into it, and they’re right! Let’s see, there’s Bob’s Electric Company, and Sparky’s ‘Lectric Service, and then there’s Jody’s Juice-a-rama Inc., all offering electricity in this area, and just waiting for your call.
Competitors, huh? Right. My dear old grandfather had a witty, urbane comeback for situations like this, and I’d like to share it with you. Grandfather would uncrook his pinky, put down his cup of tea, look over his glasses, and delicately say, “Thatsa buncha shit.” OK, not so urbane, maybe, but in this case, right on the money.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2009.
