Duke Energy Corporation (DUK)

AGM 2016

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May 5, 2016

Good morning, everyone. We'll try that again. Good morning. Good morning. All right. This is a participatory event. Really appreciate everybody being here today. I am Bill Curranz, Vice President of Investor Relations for Duke Energy and welcome to the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. For those in the back, if you need a seat, we've is a lot like church, we've got some seats in the front here. We are broadcasting this annual meeting by teleconference and also welcome everyone online and on the phone with us today. We always begin meetings at Duke Energy with a safety message because safety is our top priority. So please pay attention to how we will evacuate this room in the unlikely event of an emergency. The primary emergency exits from this auditorium are the doors behind this stage to your right. In the event of an emergency, those both here in the auditorium as well as anyone in the atrium should remain seated until directed by security personnel to the appropriate exits. If anyone needs any special assistance during an evacuation, security and safety personnel will be available to assist you. If we do have to evacuate, please do not reenter the building until you are told it is safe to do so. As you entered the auditorium this morning, you should have received a copy of our meeting program. If you did not, please raise your hand and we will get one to you. In order to provide for a safe and informative meeting, please take a moment to read the conduct of meeting procedures contained in the inside of the meeting agenda. Also, please be sure that all electronic devices are turned off at this time. Let me quickly review the items on this morning's agenda. In a moment, I will introduce our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Good, who will call the meeting to order. After taking care of certain procedural matters, Lynn will introduce Duke Energy's Board of Directors and senior management team. We will then move to the business portion of the agenda, which includes the election of directors, 2 management proposals and 2 shareholder proposals. Lynn will then provide a report on the company and we'll have time for your question and answers. As we begin, let me inform you that today's discussion may include forward looking information and the use of non GAAP financial measures. You should refer to information contained in our SEC filings concerning those factors that could differ from any forward looking information. A reconciliation of any non GAAP financial measures can be found on the Investor Relations website at www.dukeenergy.com. So now, it is my pleasure to introduce our Chairman, President and CEO, Lynn Good. Thank you, pal. Thank you, Bill, and I will please at this point call the meeting to order. So good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 20 16 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. In accordance with Delaware General Corporate Law, I appoint Nancy Wright, Associate General Counsel here at Duke Energy and Sid Roderick, a Broadridge Investor Communications Solutions, our proxy tabulator, to act as inspectors of election for this meeting. Nancy and Sid, could you please stand and be recognized? Our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer So we'll take just a moment and continue the business meeting. I'm looking forward to an opportunity to talk with all of you about where Duke Energy is going and what our plans are for the future, and we'll have a good opportunity for question and answer as well. So let me continue with introductions on the business meeting. I'd like to, at this point, acknowledge Julie Janssen, our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. She will be acting as the secretary of this meeting Elna will report on the number of shares entitled to vote and the number of shares and votes represented in person or by proxy at this meeting. Thank you, Lynn. As of the close of business on March 7, outstanding and entitled to vote 688,000,000 792,009 shares of common stock, each of which is entitled to one vote. There are here represented by proxy 579,000,000 370,000 79 shares of the corporation's common stock, which constitute 84.11 percent of the total shares entitled to vote at this meeting. The final reports of the inspectors of election will The environmental track record of Duke Energy is something I'm extraordinarily proud of. I'll be delighted to talk about that in just a moment. I'm going to move forward 28% reduction. So legal notice of this meeting has been duly given, a quorum is present, and the meeting is now lawfully convened for the transaction of business. If I could take a moment and introduce your Board of Directors. And as I introduce each of them, I'll ask them to stand and be recognized. Michael Browning, Chairman of Browning Consolidated Harris DeLoach, Executive Chairman of Sunoco Products Company Dan D'Amico, Chairman Emeritus, Retired President and CEO of Nucor Corporation John Forsgren, retired Vice Chairman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northeast Utilities Ann Maynard Gray, Retired Vice President of ABC and President of Diversified Publishing Group, ABC Jim Hanns, Retired Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Bank of America Corporation John Herron, Retired President, CEO and Chief Nuclear Officer of Entergy Nuclear Jim Heiler, Retired Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer at First Citizens Bank Bill Kennard, Non Executive Chairman of Velocitas Partners Maureen McKee, Retired Senior Vice President of Corning Incorporated Richard Meserve, President Emeritus of Carnegie Institution For Science Wick Morman, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive of Norfolk Southern Corporation Jim Rhodes, retired Chairman, President and CEO of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and Carlos Saladregas, Chairman of Regis HR Group and Chairman of Concordia Healthcare Holdings. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, Michael Angelakis, also an important member of our Board, is unable to be here with us today, and Michael is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Atayros Management. Mr. Deloatch, Mr. Hanz, Doctor. Rhodes and Doctor. Meserve are retiring as Directors of our company at the end of today's meeting per our normal Director Retirement Policy and Corporate Governance Principles. And I would like to thank them for their extraordinary service to Duke Energy. We have been blessed by your wisdom and leadership over many years. So also seated in the first few rows behind the board are members of management, and I'd like to acknowledge the senior management team as well. Melissa Anderson, Executive Vice President, Administration and Chief Human Resources Officer Doug Essiman, Executive Vice President and President of Midwest and Florida Regions Ted Jamille, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Julie Janssen, who you've already met, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Lloyd Yates, Executive Vice President, Market Solutions and President of the Carolinas Region and Steve Young, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I want to express my personal appreciation for the great work of our directors and our management and their commitment to the customers and communities that we serve. I'd also like to introduce Darren Myers from our Corporate Security Department, who is serving as Sergeant at Arms today. And finally, I'd like for you to meet Tom Eichelberger and Sean Byrd of Deloitte and Touche, the company's independent public accounts. So we will now proceed with the matters to be voted on. We have a declassified Board of Directors, which means that all of the directors stand for election every year at the annual meeting. Our elections also require nominees to receive a majority vote rather than a plurality to be elected. The Board of Directors has nominated Directors Angelakis, Browning, D'Amico, Forsgren, Gray, Heron, Heiler, Kennard, McKee, Mormon, Saladregas and myself. They've been nominated for election as directors for 1 year terms expiring in 2017. These nominees, whose biographies begin on Page 13 of the proxy statement, are presented for the purpose of voting for their election as directors. The selection of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent public accountant for 2016, as stated on Page 34 of the proxy statement, is also hereby presented for the purpose of ratification. A vote on an advisory basis of our named executive officer compensation, as disclosed on Page 30 6 of the proxy statement, is hereby presented for approval. Also to be presented are 2 proposals we've received from our shareholders. The first, regarding elimination of super majority voting provisions in Duke Energy Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation and secondly, regarding lobby expense disclosure. I'd like to ask Julie Janssen to introduce these two proposals. Julie? Thank you, Lynn. This year we received 2 proposals from shareholders to be submitted for vote at the meeting. Because the vast majority of shareholders have already voted on these matters, we ask that you hold any questions you may have on these proposals until the question and answer portion of the meeting. This will allow us to get to the Q and A session sooner and allow more time to take more questions during that period. The 2 shareholder proponents will now be given an opportunity to present his or her proposal and a brief supporting statement. I'd like to remind those presenting that your remarks should be limited to your proposal. The first shareholder proposal relates to elimination of super majority voting provision in Duke Energy Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation as stated beginning on Page 68 of the proxy statement. The Board of Directors has recommended a vote against this proposal in part because they believe that it is not in the best interest of Duke Energy or its shareholders as it would allow certain fundamental issues to the company to be decided without requiring a broad consensus among shareholders. Here to present this proposal on behalf of proponent John Chvedden is Scott Adams. Mr. Adams, would you please meet a volunteer with a microphone in the aisle to present this proposal? Hi, I'm Scott Adams. I'm here on behalf of John Shevigen to move proposal for simple majority vote. Be it resolved, shareholders request that our Board take the steps necessary so that each voting requirement in our charter and bylaws that calls for a greater than simple majority vote be eliminated and replaced by a requirement for a majority of the votes cast for and against applicable proposals or a simple majority in compliance with applicable laws. If necessary, this means the closest standard to a majority of the votes cast for and against such proposals consistent with applicable laws. This proposal includes that our Board fully supports this proposal topic and spend up to $10,000 or more to solicit the necessary support to obtain the exceedingly high super majority vote needed for passage. This proposal topic won from 74% to 88% support at Weyerhaeuser, Alcoa, Waste Management, Goldman Sachs, FirstEnergy, McGraw Hill and Macy's. Please vote to enhance shareholder value. Simple majority vote, proposal number 4. Thank you. The second shareholder proposal relates to lobbying expenses disclosure as stated beginning on Page 70 of the proxy statement. The Board of Directors has recommended a vote against this proposal because the company has recently adopted new disclosure procedures regarding lobbying expenses, which were recommended by a significant portion of our shareholders and are responsive to this proposal. Here to present this proposal on behalf of the proponent, Mercy Investment Services and the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia is Susan Makos. Ms. Makos, would you please a microphone at the aisle to present the proposal? Good morning. I'm Susan Makos, Vice President of Mercy Investment Services, which is the investment program of the Sisters of Mercy. On behalf of Mercy Investment Services and other filers, I hereby move proposal number 5, a proposal recommending that Duke provide a detailed report on its state and federal lobbying expenditures, including those expenditures which indirectly fund lobbying through trade and other associations, which actively lobby on issues which can affect our company's long term interest. Transparency and accountability in corporate spending to influence public policy are in the best interest of Duke's shareholders. Without a clear system, which includes detailed public reporting, shareholders are unable to assure if corporate assets are being used to promote public policy objectives, which may pose risks to our company. While Duke has made some recent improvements, which were just alluded to, to company policies and procedures related to internal review of lobbying expenditures, Its new public disclosure issued in late March 2016 disclosed only payments in the aggregate and still remains inadequate for shareholders to understand the public policy objectives being funded by lobbying payments. In addition, the report does not detail trade association memberships nor those payments made to trade and other associations that are used for lobbying. The amount of corporate funds used by trade associations to lobby are quite large. For example, Duke belongs to the Business Roundtable and the Edison Electric Institute, which together spent over $27,000,000 of lobbying in 2015. We also understand that Duke remains a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, which has attracted negative attention for its bills on voter ID, renewable energy standards and blocking EPA regulations. While Duke remains more than 100 companies, including peers such as American Electric Power, Amarin and Entergy have publicly announced leaving ALEC. This proposal is not asking that Duke Energy discontinue participation in lobbying activities. Rather, it requests transparency in public reporting and accountability and the use of company money. We believe transparency is a safety mechanism for our company. There's a simple saying, what gets disclosed gets managed. In the opposition statement, our company states that it is committed to adhering to the highest standards of ethics and engaging in any lobbying activities. Despite this commitment to disclosure around lobbying, our company opposes this proposal and is only providing minimal disclosure. Yet Duke's new disclosure does not meet the leading practices of others in the sector such as American Electric Power and Entergy, which provide detailed reporting. Both independent proxy voting services, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommend a yes for this proposal. In closing, we urge all shareholders to vote in support. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Makos. That concludes our presentation of the proposals before us at the Annual Meeting. If you have not previously voted your shares or if you would like to change your vote, a vote by ballot will now be taken for each of these items. Shareholders, the polls are now open. If you want to vote and need a ballot, please raise your hand. The polls will close in just a few minutes. After you have received your ballot, please complete it and raise your hand again, so we can collect it. Does anyone else need a ballot? The polls are now closed. If you've not yet returned your ballot, please raise your hand so we can collect it. I will now ask Julie Janssen for the Inspectors of Election Report. Thank you, Lynn. Based on the proxies received, 1st, each nominee for director has been elected by over 95 percent of the shares voted. 2nd, the ratification of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent public accountant for 20 16 has been approved with over 97% of the vote. 3rd, the advisory vote on our named executive shareholder proposal relating to elimination of super majority voting provisions and Duke Energy Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation has received the support of 53% of the vote. Finally, the shareholder proposal relating to political contribution disclosure has failed receiving only 29% of the vote. So thank you, Julie. The final reports of the inspectors of election are ordered to be filed with the minutes of this meeting, and the meeting is now adjourned. And I will take a few moments to provide a business report, and then we will move into question and answer. So I'd like to thank all of you for being here. It's always good to welcome retirees back to this meeting and long time shareholders. And it's really an honor to represent Duke Energy, a company building on a century of service and innovation and excellence. Our purpose at Duke Energy is to power the lives of our customers and the vitality of our communities. And when you think about the importance of power and what it means to all of us, it's convenience, it's comfort, it enables our entertainment, our education, our health care facilities and the industries that we count on for our communities and for our employment. And about 24,000,000 people around the U. S. Count on Duke Energy every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every season to provide perfect power. And it's a responsibility we take very seriously. And we work hard to do it right here and now in this moment everywhere that we serve, but we also work hard on making the right long term strategic choices so that we're doing it right in 2020 2025 2030. And so on behalf of the 28,000 people who work hard every day to deliver this incredibly important service, I'd like to share with you a few highlights of what we've accomplished at Duke Energy. I want to talk for just a moment on financial highlights. This is a shareholder meeting. So having a little bit of discussion about finances, I think, would be a good place to start. I'd like to talk about where we're going. The future is bright. A lot of change going on in our industry, and Duke is intending to lead in that future. And then I'd like to acknowledge a few operational highlights because the work required to make this all happen in a way that is so simple to flip the switch is something that I acknowledge and respect greatly and wanted to share a few of those operational successes. So financials, 2015 was a great year, certainly challenges and opportunities, but our core utility businesses continue to demonstrate growth and provide stable earnings and cash flows for our shareholders. We increased our dividend in 2015 to a 4% increase, and this is our 90th consecutive year of paying a dividend. And one of the things that I think is often overlooked is the importance of shareholders. And I hope all of you understand how important you are to Duke Energy. This is a business that spends so much capital in order to maintain this infrastructure that provides power all over our service territories that we are dependent on investors to make our pricing and our capital investments as affordable as they can possibly be for our customers. And so I am delighted to have a roomful of investors that we value so greatly for your contribution. We can't do what we do for customers without our investors. And as I think about the future, we're continuing to find ways to grow our business in a stable way that produces cash flows that attracts capital into our company, but also puts us in a position to to that we're thinking about for the future. The first is continuing the transformation of our business. We have, over the last several years, been moving toward a more regulated, infrastructure domestic business and exited our merchant generation in the Midwest in 2015. We have also made a decision to exit our international business, which is a process that will continue over 'sixteen into early 'seventeen. And we've acquired Piedmont Natural Gas with an expectation that we can close that transaction sometime in 'sixteen. As we look at the industry that we're in and the transformation that is ongoing, we believe our approach and our investment should be focused on domestic infrastructure, and we are proud to be moving through that transition in a way that will continue to provide stable earnings and cash flows for our investors and growth for our customers and communities. I want to thank the extraordinary work of our international team and the team that operated the merchant assets. They've been an important part of our company for a long time and have served our customers well. And we really look forward to success for them and for our business as we move through 2016. But the rest of the story, where are the investments going and how do we think about the future? Well, it do. Customers are at the center of everything we do. Because if we don't deliver value to customers, the success of this business will not continue in the way that all of you hope and certainly we hope. And as we look at all the change that's going on, changing customer expectations, new technologies, new regulations, there's so much going on in our space. And we think about investments in 3 ways: investments to support customers investments to continue to support the delivery system that we're responsible for and then investments for generation in cleaner ways to continue to support what our customers value. And customers have changing expectations. I look around this room, many of you are our customers. Convenience, information, energy efficiency ideas, all of these are things that our customers value. And I'm so pleased with the progress that we've made. Adjoining of energy efficiency and need for information, some of you may receive the home energy management report that we send where you can compare your usage to your neighbor. Sometimes, that's good news, sometimes not so much if you've been using too much power. But since we started that report, we have saved our customers have saved 1 terawatt hour of electricity, which is a big word that means enough to power the light of 1,000,000 homes for a year. We're very pleased with the energy efficiency success that we've had. We also see customers wanting proactive information from us. And so outage alerts and proactive communication around energy usage and outages is something we've been working very hard on. And we're recognized nationally just a few weeks ago for the work that we've done on proactive communications. Over 1,000,000 of our customers are signed up for this information, and we intend to continue to work in the direction that our customers value. We're also investing in our delivery system, safety, reliability, resiliency and new technologies. Duke is an industry leader on battery storage and battery technologies. We have more on our delivery system than any utility in the U. S. Because we're trying to learn about how this technology will benefit our customers in the future. And those investments we see as being incredibly valuable as we face a period of increasing change, more distributed energy resources and modernizing a delivery system that frankly wasn't built for all the things we see coming in the future. And then finally, modernization and moving to cleaner energy. And I'm very proud of the track record of Duke Energy. Our carbon emissions are down 28% from 2,005. We have invested $4,000,000,000 in renewables. We intend to invest another $3,000,000,000 over the next 5 years. And although this is not a headline that is often shared, I'll share it with you. North Carolina is 4th in the U. S. In installed solar capacity. And in 2015, we were 2nd in the U. S. In installed solar capacity. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens as a result of the investments of Duke Energy to both build and buy solar generation. Natural gas, also an important part of modernization. As we see the need to move away from coal, closing our coal plants and continuing to have a thriving portfolio of assets that do this 20 fourseven electricity, natural gas is a complementary form of generation to complement renewables. We are investing in gas generation and also infrastructure for this region in a way that will position us for the future. And as I travel in Eastern North Carolina and the cities and towns and counties that will be impacted by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, I hear nothing but enthusiasm about what the future holds for an investment in that region that will be several $1,000,000,000 driving $680,000,000 of economic benefit during construction and bringing $400,000,000 of energy savings to both Virginia and North Carolina as a result of that important infrastructure. So I hope you can see from investments in customers and delivery and clear energy that Duke is adapting and changing to the environment that we're in and moving forward in a way that will position us for future growth. Let me talk just for a moment on operational highlights. I'm joined today by many of my operating leaders. And at Duke, the conversation on operations starts with safety. And I'd like to share with you that in 2015, Duke Energy had the best safety record of anyone in the utility industry. And you think about the work that we do. We're restoring outages. We're out on the lines. I had an opportunity to spend time with our linemen on Lineman Appreciation Day. We operate nuclear power facilities. And that also doesn't just happen. It means commitment, commitment on the part of our employees to every day do their very best, not only for their own safety, but the safety of the teammates, the safety of the communities and the safety of the environment. We also have been working diligently on efficiency, running our assets well. The capacity factor of our nuclear plants was 95% in 2015. And as a result of the Duke Progress merger, we have saved our customers $650,000,000 from jointly dispatching our units and driving fuel savings through the operations of Duke Energy. And on the environment, I talked a moment ago about reductions in carbon emissions. 28% is an industry leading percentage, and we have also made substantial progress in 2015 on the science, the engineering, collection around developing safe closure methods for our ash basins. We are in the process of closing 6 of them, and we are moving forward in 2016 and forward on safe methods, safe for the environment, minimizing community impact and managing our costs. And I am very proud of the way Duke Energy is responding and really leading the industry in safe closure of our ash basins. And for our communities, we continue to partner with our communities on economic development and on finding projects that we can work together on, whether it's a volunteer project or whether it's a foundation initiative that will be important to our communities. We worked side by side on $3,500,000,000 of investments in our region and attracted 12,000 jobs to the communities that we serve. And between our foundation giving and the volunteer work of Duke in Action, you may have seen T shirts around your community, we have benefited our areas by $50,000,000 in 2015, contributing to pauses and events and environment, workforce development, education and the arts to enliven the communities that we serve. And so I want to thank, the employees at Duke Energy for extraordinary work and for our commitment to customers, our commitment to safety, our commitment to service and innovation that I believe will underpin our company for many, many years. And so as you leave here today, you'll see many of our colleagues in the atrium. We have key maybe take a look at our sustainability report. It's a great report that captures so much around our environmental stewardship and also our illumination site that gives a lot of special entry stories and really focus on the way the company is innovating. So I'll close my report at this point, and we'll turn it over to question and answer. I see Tim Pettit and Paige Sheehan, members of my team, that will facilitate the Q and A. Again, this year, in order to get to as many shareholders as we can, we're going to be limiting your questions or comments to 2 minutes. To assist you in making sure you get your question asked or comment made, a countdown clock will appear on the screen behind me. As each of you arrive today during your registration process, you are given the opportunity to obtain a number or asking a question during today's meeting. Is there anyone here that does not have a number but would like that opportunity? If so, if you would raise your hand, one of our attendants will bring a number to you. Anyone? All right. When we call your number, if you would please proceed to the nearest aisle, my colleague, Paige Sheehan or I will meet you with the microphone. At that time, if you would introduce yourself for the record and if you're serving as the proxy for some other shareholder, if you would state their name for the record as well, that would be appreciated. And also, if your question has already been asked, we'd ask that you please consider deferring your time to other shareholders here. So with that, who has question number 1? Hello. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes. My name is Richard Fireman. I'm a shareholder and co founder of an organization called the Alliance for Energy Democracy. I retired from emergency medicine to devote my time to the greatest public health emergency we face, which is the climate crisis. If planet Earth were a human being, imagine a close friend or someone in your family, you would be very worried because planet Earth would be in the intensive care unit with heat illness. Its systems are failing. The oceans are more acid to end them out to kidney failure. The forest and oceans can cleanse the atmosphere by absorbing more CO2 to end them out to liver failure. Cleanse 2016 was the hottest month on record by the largest margin yet seen in any month since 18/91 according to the Japan Meteorological Society when they started measuring. What's more pointed out, NOAA Climate Sciences' Dieck Arndt, If you were alive during March 2016, you witnessed U. S. History, the warmest month ever. One stunning feature from 2016 was just how universally warm the month was. Every one of the 357 climate divisions across the Continental United States and Alaska ended up in warmer than normal category. And globally, temperatures over the land increased by 4.19 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing monthly records of last year. Can you imagine what it will be like if such increases continue? And temperatures will increase if we don't stop burning natural gas for electricity because of the massive leakage rates and because its short term greenhouses effect is 100 times more potent than CO2, 100 times. The courts have determined that corporations are people and can behave in the political arena as persons. You and your leadership team are corporate persons. That's not 2 minutes. Go ahead, Laura. The clock has been starting for quite a while. This is the question. As a knowledgeable person, are you going to stop your mad dash for profit over the health of the people and plan it and step up and claim real personhood with empathy and compassion and a sense of responsibility to the citizens and help lead us to a fossil fuel free democratic energy system? Or are you going to remain as corporate persons and continue to kill the planet for the short term benefit of yourself, your colleagues, the Board and so called shareholder value. No, I'm very proud of Duke's record on this matter. And I think it's important for all of you to understand that my influence on this matter is the decisions we're making at Duke Energy. And I shared with you a moment ago that our carbon emissions are down 28%. That doesn't happen without an intentional approach to modernize our fleet. We have done so by retiring 40 coal units. We have done so by introducing natural gas and we have done so by introducing renewables. And I think it's very important to understand the practical application of keeping an electric system running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If I had renewable technologies today that could accomplish this, we would be having a different The technologies do not exist to go completely to variable resources. And I'd like to share a specific example with you. I know there are skeptics in the room. But let's go to February of any given year because that's our peak period here in the Carolinas. We actually peak in the winter. And the peak usage of electricity occurs between 7 in the morning and 7:30. It's winter time. So picture where we are at 7 to 7:30. You're getting up. You're making your coffee. You're getting lunches ready for your kids. It is dark outside. And in the month of February or the month of January actually in 2016, we only had solar on our system at full capacity for 3 days, even though we have a very significant investment in solar. This is a practical application that we're faced with today. And so we are introducing the renewables. It basically works in the when the sun is shining in the middle part of the day. The peak occurs again when you get home from work, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, television and dinner. It's dark again. And so we are using renewables as part of a portfolio. The other thing I would point to here in the Carolinas, we are blessed with carbon free generation in the Carolinas. 40% of the energy that is being used to light these lights here in the Carolinas is from nuclear. Carbon free runs 95% of the time. And we will continue to maintain and operate these nuclear plants in a way that's not only safe for the environment, safe for the planet, but providing low cost energy for our customers. So thank you for your passion on this issue. Dew continues to work actively on environmental stewardship. Question number 2. Good morning. My name is Amy Brown and I live in Belmont. Over the last few weeks, I've tried to do as much research as possible on the shareholder meetings and also on Land Good. The one thing that stuck out to me was when I read that Ms. Goode wants you to bring her all of the facts, she also wants for you to bring a solution. She calls it a POV for point of view. If you just bring the problem, the meeting doesn't go well. And I admire what you expect from others. So, Ms. Gah, here are the facts. I am a mother just like you. I am a neighbor. I am not an activist group. I have no alternative motive. I don't wish to cause harm to anyone in any way. My family is liminal bottled water for over a year now. You have provided this bottled water and I greatly appreciate that. Your ash basins are unlined, they're leaking and they sit in the groundwater at Allen. My children brush their teeth every day with bottled water. I cook every single meal using bottled water. My family must take quick showers. My 3 year old does not get to enjoy the bubble bath with the toys because of his mother's concerns. The parents of my oldest son, their friends, the parents of my son's friends have told me that they do not want their children eating or drinking anything from my home. We have an in ground pool and those same parents don't want their children coming over to swim because of the water contamination issue. We've lost property value and I cannot sell my home. This solution is, please, completely cleaning up your ash basins would ensure that you did everything possible to protect your neighbors and the environment. When you remove the threat, you have nothing left to fear. And I know I need to wrap up. Thank you. Thank you. It's a hard to tell question and I can feel your concern and I appreciate it deeply. I know, as a mother, concern about your children and your home and water and other things would be something that would touch you deeply and I can see that. There's been a lot of information and a lot of misinformation about what's going on at our ash basins. And I too have looked and challenged our team to develop the information, the data, the science, the engineering for us to make the very best decisions about safe storage of ash and safety of the environment, the communities, the water, the entire thing. And we have spent the year doing that. We have engaged with outside experts on every manner of environmental science. And we do not have an indication that our ash basins are impacting the wells. And I would encourage, this is science and information. We have information in the atrium. I also have a number of subject matter experts here. And the federal drinking water standards that all of us enjoy in our municipalities in Mecklenburg County and Wake County and around the U. S. Are consistent with what the wells are indicating at this point. We will continue to study. Of course, the state has an involvement here as well. And I know it has been a confusing and difficult time, but we will continue to work on this issue and we care deeply about the communities that we serve. We care deeply about the environment we live in these communities as well. And as I look at the science and engineering, excavation is not the only method. There are ways to safely close basins. North Carolina is not the only state with basins. There are 600 of them around the U. S. And there is science that is underscored by the Environmental Protection Agency for a variety of options to safely store ash for a very long period of time. There will be ongoing monitoring. We will be here to ongoing monitor in an ongoing way as well as the regulatory bodies because the ultimate objective is safety for our communities, for our environment and for our customers. And so I would encourage, we would love to spend time and talk more with you. I have experts here. Harry Sedaris is here, who's worked actively, George Hamrick, who spends full time, and there's also a booth outside. We would love to engage and talk further with you about it. This is an issue we care deeply about. Thank you, Lynn. Would the shareholder with number 3 please identify yourself? Hi, I'm Tracy Edwards. I am from the Blues Creek area. I live in Walnut Cove. I'm a mother of 2. I came down with health issues. I've lived there all my life. I've had 3 strokes. I've had a heart attack. And I have lost the best thing that ever happened to me, my mother, because of health issues and drinking that water, eating food off of that land, and it's just terrible. I have people that have cancer. I mean, it's clusters of it. I live in 3 minutes from that plant in Blues Creek. I mean, I've had representatives from Duke Energy to say that the tall smokestacks there were supposed to spread the pollution out further. So they're admitting the wrongdoing by saying that. They have smaller stacks of scrubbers, but it's still you still have the mounds over there covered with grass trying to deceive everybody in the community. You have ash basins that are leaking and it is getting into the well water. People are afraid. In my area, it is predominantly African American. It's rare that African American families will have something to leave their children or their grandchildren. Nobody up there is rich. We only want this cleaned up, so we will have a legacy to leave our families and provide good healthy drinking water for everybody. And so that we're tired of going to funerals. Okay? We're tired of it. It's not fair. It's criminal, what Duke has been doing all these years, and the community is none the wiser because they didn't know. When they bought these Black families out on their property to build that lake, to build that facility, they had no idea what they were facing health wise and living in that close proximity to that plant. Please fix it. Thank you. I appreciate that and I have great sympathy for anyone who's dealing with health issues. Everyone has been touched with a health issue in their family and I know how deeply that can affect you. We are committed to safe storage of ash for a long period of time. We understand the importance of safety for environment. We understand the importance of safety for communities and our commitment is to store it safely. We believe the science exists to store it safely. And as I look at the industry and I look at the operations that I have in states other than North Carolina, ash is being stored safely. It will be monitored to ensure that if there is any issue that develops that requires immediate attention, it will be addressed. But the facts, the facts do not support that we have impacted drinking water. And I again would love to direct you to the specifics of that study. We've been very transparent. We have shared all the information. We will continue to monitor and share. And if at any point, there's an indication, we'll take action. We have supplied the bottle of water to give peace of mind to customers until the science can be completed. And so I would encourage you to learn more. We have people here today who would be delighted to talk with you and it is my commitment we will store the ash safely for the environment and for our customers. Thank you. Shareholder number 4, please. Good morning. Good morning. How are you, my friends and co people made in God's image, protectors of our planet. I'm Reverend Doctor. Rodney Stadler with the Justice Action Mobilization Network, and I just want to ask a few questions about why. Why is it that you only project that 4% of Duke's energy will come from renewable sources in the next 15 years and are comfortable with that? Why is it that the shift to God given solar is taking a backseat to gas power plants that contribute to increased methane emissions? Why is it that we are blocking 3rd party energy sales and standing in the way of tax credits for those who want to add to their solar energy to our collective power? Why is it that we continue to be reliant on coal burning plants that poison our air and cause asthma and our waters and cause cancer? Why is it that we are relying on energy sources that expose Duke Energy to the risk of legal actions from those who've been harmed by dirty carbon based production means? And we've heard from some of these people today, why is it that we don't take more advantage of solar energy, invest more in solar production and encourage more people to own panels and supplement our collective power production capabilities? And why don't decision makers make moral choices that will save us all money, protect our people and our planet and prepare us for the solar based grid of the future. If I were to ask one other question is, can I have a meeting with you and your renewable energy people, Mike McIntyre and others, because I think there's much that we can do that's yet not being done? Thank you. No, I appreciate that question. There were a lot of them. I feel as if I've answered some of them. The 4% statistic on solar is the result of the fact that solar only works about 15% to 20% of the time. And so I can build a lot of it, but it's only going to work 15% to 20% of the time. That percentage will increase over time. But until we find a technology that's going to move renewable between hours and seasons, and I heard batteries, and I'd love to engage with you on a discussion of batteries because we are a national leader in battery investment. And when I share with you that only 3 days in January did the solar produce enough power for what it is rated to produce? So if it's 50 megawatts, it only produced 20% of that for 3 days in January. That means I have to have a battery that can move solar power from September or October all the way to January. That technology doesn't exist today. We have a great battery called pumped hydro at Duke. We move a lake at night and bring it down. It's about 1500 megawatts. We need more of them if we're going to be able to use solar today. That doesn't mean that solar isn't great and we're not investing in it. I shared with you that North Carolina is 4th in the nation. They were 2nd in installed capacity in 2015. I believe Duke's track record on renewable energy is unambiguous, and we have moved rapidly in that direction. But we also have the responsibility to keep the life on 20 fourseven. I shared with you an example about winter. So that portfolio of generation that makes it possible for us to do our job is really where we're focused. So we'd love for you to learn more about renewables. Here's the kiosk, Greg Wolf is here and others who can have a good discussion about how we're moving forward. And I believe our track record on renewables is quite good. Thank you. Shareholder number 5, please. Would you hold it? Yes. Thank you. Hi, Ms. Goode, Board of Directors. My name is David Harmon. I've lived in the North Carolina mountains all my life. I'm a mostly retired businessman of 45 years, held a North Carolina CPA certificate for 29 years. I understand business and capitalism and the profit motive of job creation, wealth creation. I've had the advantage of looking at hundreds of disparate businesses and understanding their business models. I generally understand your business model, I think. No one could argue that today your business model has been an outstanding success if the primary measures were growth and profits. And I understand that that's what you're about in a shareholders' meeting, I would argue there's other factors. You've also done a superb job of keeping the lights on, and we're grateful for that. I admire the employees of Duke. I admire all the electric co op employees. We're part of Blue Ridge Electric. I have great admiration for those folks who come out during the storms, the ice storms, the wind storms in the dead of night to get the power back into our homes. I have a couple of comments that will follow that are not directed at those honorable folks, but directed at top management and the Board of Directors. The North Carolina general statutes as written place a lot of obligations on a Board, but it generally boils down to increased shareholder value. It doesn't require you to do it in a moral sense or promoting social justice, doesn't require you to do it while you're protecting the ecosystems of the planet, doesn't require you to do it and limit carbon pollution. One reason there's no requirement for these things or very little requirement for these things is that you have a lot of influence over the North Carolina legislature, the Utilities Commission, and for that matter, Congress. That influence to resist the requirements may have seemed rational 60 years ago, but it's not rational now. When the climate so here's my question. When the climate chaos is beyond control, I suspect that you have children, I don't know. I suspect that some of the Board members have children and grandchildren. I see some gray hair, I have grandchildren. What are you going to tell them when they ask you why you didn't do more when you could have done more when the climate chaos is in a terrible situation? Your influence is so large and you could have become this beacon of hope, you could be the change leader that we need. What will you tell them? Okay. I appreciate that question. I appreciate that question. For your response in regard to the children and the grandchildren, including mine. No, I feel my conscience is clear on doing everything that I can do as the leader of Duke Energy. We have accomplished, I've accomplished North Carolina being 2nd in the nation in 20 15 in solar. When? That has nothing to do with laws in North Carolina. It has to do with the investment dollars of Duke Energy and the purchases that we've made. And we have a responsibility to balance reliability, reliable service to our customers, price and environment. And I would love to tell you that I can run-in one direction perfectly and never think about the other 2. But even at a shareholder meeting like this, I will have customers who will say to me, Lynn, I cannot afford 1 more dollar for my electric bill. I'm on a fixed income. I can't afford more. And at the same time, I have someone who says turn off everything you own and build something new. I want you to build solar. And I want you to figure out battery technology that doesn't exist today so that we can close plants. And then I want you to close all your plants. And I want you to stop paying the property taxes and lay off thousands of people in order for that to accomplish. And I'm not suggesting that you're in any one of those specific things, but I'm just illustrating the intersection that I sit at. I sit at an intersection of affordability. I sit at an intersection of reliability, and I sit at an intersection of environment. And I work hard every day to make sure that intersection is occurring in a way that builds infrastructure for the states that we serve that we are proud of for Lynn, I Lynn, I am here with Mrs. Graham, who is one of our neighbors at Buck, who we've enjoyed some good conversations with over the last year. Welcome. So I'm good. Welcome. She does. She does. Thank you all for allowing me to be here today. I want to start off by reading the Duke Energy Ethics statement. Acting with honesty and integrity is a core value of Duke Energy. It applies to the behavior of everyone in our organization as well as the Board of Directors. It applies to our relationship with everyone, including customers, suppliers and public officials. We recognize the essential nature of our service and our special accountability to conduct our business at high standards of performance and transparency. In the long run, our company's business success depends on our ability to earn trust and confidence daily with our many stakeholders. I understand that the information referenced by Lisa Bradley in 2012 states, risk depends on exposure and the level of toxicity. If there is no exposure, then there is no risk. So when you remove the coal ash, not just cover it up, but remove the coal ash, you remove the risk for everyone. I said that to say this. My name is Deborah Graham and I live in the Dukeville community and know the power of the word contamination as my family and I live this each and every day. Buck Steam Station is my neighbor with over 170 acres with 3 coal ash pits that continue to leak as cited again in March of 2016, approximately 60 days ago. Okay. The very word contamination changes everything that we do. Do the right and honest thing and follow core values of this company and protect our families from the contaminated toxic unlined leaking coal ash bit that has been left for trash for over 60 years at Buck. All 14 sites are contaminated. The ground is contaminated, and this we know. My family is as precious to me as your family is to you, Ms. Good. Do the right thing and clean up the trash. Thank you. Thank you for your question. And I appreciate the passion in that question. And our commitment is to close the basins safely for the environment and for the communities that we serve. And if I could describe for you the exhaustive work that our team has completed over the last 18 months, it is the most extensive scientific review of this issue of anyone in North Carolina and anyone in the industry. We have 14 sites. There are a total of 600 around the U. S. And the Environmental Protection Agency actually issued rules around the storage of ash about a year ago, and they identified a number of that can be used to safely store ash. And storing it in place with a protective cap after dewatering and monitoring the site is a safe method as approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Those are options that exist. And we will continue to work through this with science, with monitoring, with an eye on maintaining safety in a way I sounds like there's a question there. But we are addressing safety of our sites and we'll continue to do so. I believe it can be stored safely and that is our commitment to do so. Thank you. And again, I would offer, if there's specific questions that you have, we have, experts here and Tim Boss is here, Harry is here. So we have a number of people who'd love to engage with you more specifically on your yes. And for others who have questions. I'm sorry, would the shareholder with placard number 7 please identify yourself? Good morning, Ms. Gooker. You're welcome. My name is And I affirm I'm a share owner. Yes. I will compliment and thank you. I thank you for the Duke Medal, the Heritage Medal, 100% for the future. Thank you very much. I noticed the share on our letter, the back page of the annual report, hours mentioned, ologistat. Very good. Thank you. I thank the shareowners' attention who have attended and spoken. I also compliment the technician making it possible for telephone and Internet participation from a distance. I participated at Mr. Rogers' invitation at the environmental issue meeting at the airport Sheridan. And the openness there, reception to discussion, I attended the meeting Flat Rock, Henderson County, Western North Carolina, the power and the transmission line, Mr. Sipes and his group. And the openness, I believe there's not agreement, but there was consensus reached and discussion occurred. I have attended the Line Run Rodeo twice at Bonnish Springs, and I know with the roster, there are no women attending as participants from you and the other senior executive women that put the word out, you want to participate in the linemen. We might be in a bit of a shape if I kind of pull. And finally, the coal there's over 800 people last year attended the World of Coal Ash Association in Nashville, over 9. I've got the 9 names of Duke employees who participated. I wanted to inform myself, so I got the names because I was there as well. So I appreciate the interest in the call brought up here in the discussion. Thank you. We have a lot of our teammates and senior leaders who are very engaged with stakeholders having conversations about this complicated business and the work we're trying to do to get it right. Certainly, the Western Carolina project was an opportunity to do that. All the public process around ASH has been another opportunity to do that. And we even look at opportunity to do that. And we even look at today as an opportunity for our senior leaders to engage. So appreciate that feedback and thanks for being here. Good morning, Ms. Good. Good morning. My name is Deborah Baker, and I live in Belmont, immediately adjacent to the G. G. Allen steam plant and its 100 acres of coal ash. First of all, I'd like to thank you for allowing me to speak this morning. I'd like to know why Duke Energy will not take responsibility for contaminating our well water. We all know this has been going on for many years. We've been living in fear and having to use bottled water for over a year now. Just try walking in this journey with us. There are many things that Duke could do, for example, connecting us to city water or supplying us with a filtration system that will take out the vanadium and the hexavalent chromium. Do you see any of these ideas as being a possible solution? The past year, my property value has also decreased. I would like to sell my property, but cannot do so due to the current condition of my well water. How can Duke say this is not affecting our water with all the many illnesses and the deaths we have had in my immediate family and in our neighborhood. Is the risk of leaving online coal ash next to hundreds of people pumping groundwater worth it to Duke? Have the risk calculations been made? Maybe my biggest question, how can Duke calculate the risk associated with leaving the ash in place? Ongoing contamination of neighbors, additional cleanup, possibilities or other factors that might arise as a consequence of leaving the ash in place. And on a personal note, I lost my husband in June 9, 2008. We moved to the Belmont area. We were told that Duke Power at that time was a very good neighbor, that the plant was safe. I lost my husband June 9, 2008. 6 years after we moved there, he started getting sick. I had a heart attack 2 years ago. My son has ongoing problem. He still has ongoing problems to this day. He's 19 years old. Thank you for your time this morning. I'm very sorry on the loss of your husband and health issues. I think any of us who've been touched by health issues understand what that feels like. We've talked about this issue. I think there are opportunities for you to engage with others. I'd like to just comment for a moment on the well water, one more moment on the well water. There has been extensive work on well water. And there have been wells drilled miles, our ash basins, and they have the very same constituents as your wells. Because naturally occurring in the state of North Carolina, there are substances that naturally occur. And the well waters have been found to meet federal standards, The same water I drink at Mecklenburg County and that others drink in Wake County. These are the facts that exist today after extensive review. And so I would ask you to learn more. We'd love to talk with you about this and share with you what we're seeing. We will continue to monitor. The state will continue to monitor. And my job is to closely save or safely close ash basins, and that's what we're committed to do. We believe there are a variety of ways to do it, and we will monitor and be here for a long time ensuring that the safety remains. And that's where my focus is. So thank you for your questions. I would love to have an opportunity for you to talk with others more specifically about your certainty. Thank you. Thank you. Could I ask the shareholder with oh, Susan, with number 9? We'd be delighted to talk. Thank you. Hello again, Ms. Goode. Good morning. I would like to ask a follow-up question, if I could, about our company's trade association disclosure and trade association involvement. Again, I believe Duke Energy shareholders should be able to verify these memberships and the payments that are being made and the positions that these trade associations are advocating and whether they are consistent with our organization's mission, values and strategies. The opposition statement says that 25% of shareholders were consulted in developing the trade association and mostly political contributions, I think revisions to your policies, yet 29% of your shareholders voted in favor of the resolution before you on Trade Association involvement. So more of your shareholders say this disclosure is not enough. So my question to you is will Duke Energy commit to disclose its trade association membership specifically in detail, the portions used for lobbying and meet the disclosure standard of your peers. And I could give you a list of 7 of them if you'd like me to, here today. So thank you. So we have had a great deal of outreach. I'm not familiar with the 25% or whatever that you're quoting, but we have had a great deal of outreach. And as we understand feedback from our shareholders, the interest has been in what degree of oversight do we provide to, our political contributions. And we do have a committee that works actively on those local contributions. It is overseen by independent Board of Directors, and it is reported on our website. So we'll continue to have the appropriate governance around our expenses. We are active in the political process. I know a number of you are and I'd encourage you to be. I think it's important for us to be involved in the political process. So thank you for your feedback. May I ask the shareholder with number 10 to identify yourself, please? I'm Johnny Gurley. I'm from H. F. Lee plant in Goldsboro, North Carolina. And I want to make you said you wanted facts, but I got facts. Very good. There's 99 people right here within a mile of my house that's got cancer, all of which now is 135, of which 14 has died. 3 of them are my uncles and one aunt. I've had 3 heart attacks. I've got sugar diabetes from your Colash stuff. And I got a little statement here that says Judge Loretta Biggs says that DEQ has been our dinner, whichever one they want to change, like they changed standards for the water. They upped them to where that now supposedly these do not drink letters, they've come back with a can drink them. Well, why can't you drink them? Because they upped them up, we don't have no standards. It's funny to me that Flint has got lead in its water and they're up there in Washington, D. C, we not only got lead, we got chromatium, we got arsenic, we got all kinds of chemicals in the water. And because these people died, you think, oh, man, we are so safe. How are you safe when people are dying and getting sick every day? We can't even get clear water anywhere around us. Even the community water that's down there, they got 2 wells, only one of them has been tested. And the second one hadn't been tested. We don't even they don't even know, oh, by the way, DEQ has only got one registered, a licensed toxicologist and the other one is OBGYN. What in the world is he up there for? Give me a clue where you're getting across that these people are safe. Why South Carolina already took care of this mess and North Carolina can't? Thank you. I appreciate the question. My commitment is to operate my operations as safely as I can and to store ASH safely. I am not aware of any evidence that links our operations to health issues. And I appreciate it's going to be difficult for you to hear me say that right now because it's an emotional time when you have health issues and I completely appreciate that. We have completed extensive study around our basins. We have sampled wells. The wells meet federal standards. And I would encourage you to work with the state. I don't establish the drinking water standards. Duke Energy does not. It's the responsibility of the state of North Carolina. We'd love to have an opportunity to talk with you about your specific circumstance. I'm not familiar with your specific circumstance, so we'd love to learn more. We've pointed out a few folks. I know Tim is here. Tim Galtz is here. Barry Sideris is here. And we have a lot of information we'd love to share with you and talk further. And my focus, as I said a number of times, is to safely close the basins around North Carolina. A comment was made about South Carolina. We are also safely closing basins in South Carolina. There are a number of options that can be used and our commitment is to close safely in North Carolina as well. Thank you for your question. Shareholder number 11. Number 11? All right. How about shareholder number 12? I certainly do. Hi. I'm Scott Adams with the SEIU General Fund. Quickly on the super majority vote, I assume there's going to be dialogue with the company on this. Other companies, including peers like FirstEnergy that have had similar strong votes, majority vote, have supported a change in super majority and that is actually going to be for shareholders in a couple of weeks. It's good to hear the company is a leader on renewables and efficiency, but unfortunately, it's also a leader on political spending and climate related risk. It is essential for carbon intensive companies to ensure that they're involved in the political process serves the interest of long term shareholders. The recent Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute's report notes Duke's high level of political spending as the 2nd highest political spender among its peers. This raises concerns that the company may be using its political influence to prevent effective regulatory responses to climate change. Such corporate activity would be both at odds with the public interest and with the interest of long term investors. Shareholders are concerned with the ability of corporate leadership teams in the utility sector to navigate the transition to a lower carbon economy. According to the same ICCRI report, Duke is among the U. S. Utilities most exposed to climate related risk due to its high absolute level of carbon emission. The science and climate related risk is clear. A key aspect of climate governance is the presence of directors with expertise in client science and climate related policy solutions specific to a company's industry. Unfortunately, Duke has shown declining climate competence in recent years following the 2014 departure from the Board of Phil Sharp, who had a strong background in research and policy making related to climate change and the retirement of Richard Reserve. The new Director nominees named in the proxy do not appear to have climate expertise leaving the Board entirely without this capacity. My question, how does Duke plan to improve its governance of climate issues to account for climate risk? And does the governance committee plan to institutionalize climate knowledge on its Board? Thank you. There were a lot of questions in there, I think. Something about governance and of course, following every annual meeting, our Nominating and Governance Committee will look at shareholder results and move forward in ways that make sense. I think our record on governance is clear, proxy access, action by written consent, special meetings. We have been very proactive working with our investors and shareholders in a way to demonstrate strong commitment to governance. And our commitment around climate, I think we've talked about our commitment to renewables. I think the thing that's interesting on statistics like lobbying expense or on carbon is to first recognize that we are the largest company in the industry. So would it not be logical that the size of our operations is bigger than someone who is 10% our size? And I think it's important for you to consider that as you think about Duke's statistics. As I look at our carbon free carbon free nuclear. So I think our track record on climate is very good. We constantly look at the qualifications of our directors. I'm pleased with the depth of qualification. We'll continue to add directors as it makes sense for the company. And of course, appropriate qualifications that meet the needs of the business are always considered. So thank you and thanks for being here. Lynn, I believe we have time for 2 more questions. Would the shareholder was number 13 please identify yourself? Hello. Good morning. My name is John Wagner. I'm from Chatham County, North Carolina. And I want to talk about Duke Energy's current energy plans. They're a disaster. Last Friday in Salem Township in Pennsylvania, a methane pipeline exploded. The blast required the evacuation of 12 homes, scorched 3 of them, burned 1 of the homes to the ground and severely burned 1 man as he ran away from his home, which was burned to the ground. The toxic plume of smoke was 40 miles long and 4,000 feet high. Yes, I know know explosions happen and sometimes injuries and death are sometimes just the cost of doing business, but it doesn't have to be part of Duke's business. As you make the shift away from dirty coal, the solution is not to switch to burning another dirty dangerous fossil fuel. You call it natural gas, but just because you extract it from the ground like natural arsenic or natural plutonium, it isn't safe, it isn't green and it isn't clean. In replacing coal, you want your shareholders and customers to support 9 new methane powered plants. I've seen fracking. I've talked with families in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Personally, I've looked at their homes. I've seen their wells. I've seen the destruction. And I've also been to Dodge Ridge County, West Virginia and talked to families there who have been had their lives destroyed by fracking. It isn't a solution. Explosions, pipelines, climate disruptions, seizing land through eminent domain, destroying groundwater and ruining wells, doesn't have to happen. It doesn't have to be part of your plan. You talked about things you've done for solar. You're suing a church in Greensboro $1,000 a day because they're not doing it your way. Duke owes its customers and its shareholders something better. Renewable energy is possible now. You haven't talked about the incredible offshore wind that we have that would provide huge amounts of electricity 20 fourseven. So our commitment on natural gas and the safety of natural gas, I appreciate you raising that. I haven't talked about it. We are not in the exploration business. We're not in the production of natural gas. We operate gas distribution. We have a very thorough maintenance program. We were a founding member of the Natural Gas Star Methane Challenge, which is to reduce methane emissions, and we've done so by replacing 1500 miles of pipe to eliminate reductions or reduce any potential for methane emissions. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be built in accordance with new standards, which are specifically directed to continuing the reduction of methane emissions. So our commitment on that is unchanged. We were a founding member as is Piedmont Natural Gas. So we look forward to that. And I believe I've spoken about renewables and I've spoken about our commitment. We did connect the solar panels to the Greensboro Church and we're delighted to do that. So thank you for being here. Shareholder number 14. You've been saying that there are wells that no wells are exceeding federal standards. That's not true. There are hundreds of wells in North Carolina next to your Colash Ponds that are exceeding federal standards. In Blues Creek, there is a well that is 108 parts per 1000000000 of arsenic right next to your ponds. It's actually at the intersection of the landfill, which is unlined. It's a captain placed landfill on Pine Hall Road, which is leaking. We know it's leaking. Now you have a very nice landfill on Craig Road, which is lined, it's not leaking. So I would appreciate it if you would stop saying that capping in place is a safe measure because we know that it does not prevent groundwater contamination. And at your own facility, you have an example of that in Blues Creek. Also, I know it's okay to say we experience death in all these families. We all experience pain and suffering. That's true. But I have never been in the community where I could walk down both sides of the street and every single person in every house has cancer. That's not normal. It's not normal. And Ms. Baker's husband, he died spatial lung disease, which is something you acquire environmentally. He didn't smoke cigarettes, okay? G. G. Allen Power Plant just got fined for violating the Clean Air Act for decades, okay? So you keep on saying we should trust you as a company, but we know that you break the rules. What's the point of monitoring if when there's violations nothing is done? There's been violations going on the entire time that you've had operations and nothing is done. So I don't know how I'm supposed to feel safe. And a note on climate change because it affects me personally. I don't feel like I can have kids the way things are going right now because I've been exposed to science and I know what's happening. And you can stand up there and say that we don't have the technology, but I don't believe it because I know that if we were to invest the kind of money that you've invested into your PR, into those nice billboards you've got outside talking about your energy use. Another thing, 4%, you keep on bragging about North Carolina being the biggest solar producer in the country 4th in the nation. That's because of rooftop solar. That's not because of your solar panels, okay? And you've been blocking it with your political lobbying, which we've heard a lot about here today. Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way. Our job is to my job is to earn your trust and we have some work to do. I'd love to have someone talk with you about the specifics of Blues Creek. I'll just close on renewables. The renewable generation in North Carolina is primarily ground mount. We have about 3,000 customers with rooftop solar, which we're delighted to have as part of our system. And our commitment is to continue to operate safely. So we had a lot of discussion today. There's a lot of emotion in the room, which I respect and fully appreciate. At Duke Energy, we do take our responsibility seriously. We're accountable for our operations. We're accountable for safety. So I think we're at a point of adjournment. We've adjourned the meeting. I appreciate everyone being here today. I appreciate your passion about the issues in our industry and thank you for your investment in Duke. Thank you.