WASHINGTON - June 29 - In response to Duke Energy and Progress Energy finalizing their long awaited merger agreement to become the largest utility company in the country, Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Robert Gardner said:

With great power comes great responsibility to act. The world is watching Duke Energy’s actions to see if it will be a leader in innovating the energy marketplace – or if they will continue to rely overwhelmingly on coal, gas and nuclear energy.

We look forward to Duke becoming the clean energy leader it’s long imagined itself. As all signs point to continued use of fossil fuel and nuclear power as the primary means of generating electricity, we have doubts about the sincerity of their rhetoric. Especially problematic are Duke’s plans to continue to demand the costs of new fossil fuel generation – specifically Edwardsport IGCC and Cliffside 6 – from their ratepayers in Indiana and North Carolina. In effect, citizens are paying Duke Energy to degrade the quality of their own health and environment.

As this chapter closes for Duke Energy, we look forward to the next chapter being about sustainable environmental policy and a renewable energy mandate to generate electricity without the use of fossil fuels by 2030.