Through regulatory capture, big donations, and officeholders’ fears of looking “anti-business,” corporations have gotten away with murder for decades. I say enough. It’s time to make big business serve society, not the other way around, and coal-ash cleanup is the place to start.

Duke Energy exemplifies the parasitic corporation. The company isn’t any kind of market success story. It owes its billion-dollar profits–and $6.5 million CEO salary–to government-given monopoly. If legislation enables Duke’s income, we have every right to legislate some of that income away.

And why shouldn’t we? In return for their monopoly, Duke devastated a large, important river. North Carolinians (and Virginians, and our environment…) are the victims of this betrayal. Its costs should be borne solely by the culprits.

The people’s representatives ought to determine how Duke pays. Passing the buck to the Utilities Commission is a recipe for unfairness. That’s because Duke’s marquee political investment stacked the body with industry hacks. We simply can’t trust them to give citizens a fair shake. In theory, anyway, legislators are accountable to the voters, who aren’t exactly enthusiastic about paying the bill.

Of course, inequity may be a fait accompli. The coal-ash proposals circulating through the GA are corporate ”person”-friendly and actual person-unfriendly. But that doesn’t mean we can’t  fight for a fairer solution, and it definitely doesn’t spell the end of our cause.

Alexander H. Jones

Alexander Jones is an original contributor to PoliticsNC.