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Man led away in handcuffs after protest outside Duke Energy CEO's home

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One person was arrested after a handful of protesters set up a makeshift fracking tower outside the south Charlotte home of Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good Wednesday morning.

About eight protesters with the group Beyond Extreme Energy set up in front of Good’s house around 7 a.m., claiming Duke Energy is putting profits before the safety and well-being of its customers.

They are trying to stop the Atlantic Coast pipeline that will go through counties in eastern North Carolina, arguing that the project will wreck the environment.

Police were called to the home and spoke with the protesters for a while before issuing an ultimatum to leave or be arrested.

Channel 9 watched as one man was led away in handcuffs. Police said Steve Norris was arrested after sitting in his homemade fracking tower for more than an hour.

“I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren and I want to make sure they have a planet to live on,” Norris said.

Police loaded the fracking tower onto a truck and hauled it away.

Duke released this statement on the incident:

We respect everyone’s right to protest and provide their perspective on issues that are important to them, however this extreme group’s behavior this morning to harass Lynn and her family at a private residence was completely inappropriate. They were not only breaking the law by trespassing, but also did so in a manner that jeopardized the safety of the other residents of the neighborhood. This fringe group is far out of the mainstream in North Carolina in working to undermine a project that will produce clean, low-cost energy and thousands of jobs.

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