Duke Energy CEO talks about Dan River on NPR's 'All Things Considered'

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Duke CEO Lynn Good spoke with NPR correspondent Yuki Noguchi as part of the network's "The Changing Lives of Women" series.

John Downey

Senior Staff Writer- Charlotte Business Journal

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In an interview with National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good said it has been difficult to see Duke Energy reputation suffer in the wake of the Dan River coal ash spill and subsequent investigations.

But she said she is not focusing on Duke's image, or her own, in responding to the issue.

"My focus has been ensuring that Duke is doing the right thing, we have the right resources, we're making the right adjustments, we're addressing the issue," Good told Yuki Noguchi, an NPR business correspondent based in Washington.

Good's interview, which the show broadcast Tuesday evening, was part of the network's The Changing Lives of Women series. It focused on Good's position in the vanguard of women rising to top positions in their industry and in Fortune 500 companies, though Good said, "I don't think of myself as a powerful woman."

The full radio report is available below.

'Face of the company'

It identifies the Feb. 2 accident at the shuttered Dan River Steam Station that spewed up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the river as the severest test Good has faced since taking over as CEO of Charlotte-based Duke (NYSE:DUK) 16 months ago.

It quotes Frank Holleman, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is suing Duke over coal ash issues, as saying he doesn't "think Duke has ever had its reputation in North Carolina so damaged" as it has been in the Dan River case. He says he would like to see Good "get out front of the issue," but that has not happened yet, in his opinion.

Good said she is aware of the public scrutiny, and that it largely falls on her as CEO.

"I become the face of the company, and that's a responsibility," Good told Noguchi.

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.