Blue Ridge Public Radio

Duke Energy is preparing for the second hurricane season since Helene, and the utility says new upgrades have readied the grid for future storms.

Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic outages in Western North Carolina, with over 1.5 million customers out of power after the storm in 2024. The storm was costly for Duke Energy. Combined with Hurricanes Debby and Milton, extreme weather racked up a $1.1 billion tab for the utility in 2024. Now, Duke hopes a new investment will make disaster recovery less costly.

Duke has been rolling out improvements to power lines with something called “self-healing technology."

However, to some environmental advocates, even though a smart grid is important, it distracts from another issue at hand: Duke’s renewed commitments to fossil fuel-burning power.

FULL STORY IN THE COMMENTS 👇

Democratic Senate nominee Roy Cooper is taking aim at his Republican opponent, Michael Whatley, for not pushing Washington to send more Hurricane Helene aid to western North Carolina.

Cooper addressed the issue Friday during a campaign stop at the Buncombe County Democratic Party headquarters in Asheville, arguing that the region “desperately needs more federal funding.”

Hurricane Helene funding was noticeably absent from a recent supplemental spending request to Congress in which the White House asked for nearly $88 billion to pay for the Iran war, aid for farmers and a host of other priorities.

FULL STORY IN THE COMMENTS 👇

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is celebrating ten years of its ash tree conservation program. The program gives these trees a chance to survive a parasite infestation that would otherwise wipe them out.

Across the U.S., tens of millions of ash trees have fallen prey to a parasitic beetle called the emerald ash borer. Since 2002, when the beetle was first found in Michigan, it’s eaten its way through the white ash population in 38 states, including the majority of the trees in North Carolina. It burrows into the tree’s bark, effectively starving it.

If the ash tree were to disappear, so would the other species that depend on them.

FULL STORY IN THE COMMENTS 👇