1998 Year in Review
Corporate Citizenship: Delivering a Quality-of-Life Dividend.

More than 4,700 Duke Energy employees served communities to mark Duke Energy's first anniversary. Active and retired employees volunteered their services to help people in 75 cities where Duke Energy is a corporate citizen. The homeless and the hungry, the young and the old, the sick and the shut-in all benefitted from thousands of acts of community service that were a fitting reminder of Duke Energy's commitment to serving people.

Environmental awards spotlighted Duke Energy's environmental stewardship, citizenship. Duke Energy and its business units continued the corporation's long-standing commitment to the environment in 1998, and in the process earned recognition from several important conservation organizations:

  • The South Carolina Wildlife Federation's Conservationist of the Year for Duke Energy's key role in public acquisition of the Jocassee Gorges - what S.C. Governor David Beasley called "the most significant conservation project in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the latter half of the 20th century;"
  • Edison Electric Institute's National Land Management Award for Duke Power's partnerships with community and environmental groups; right-of-way management; environmental education and outreach; wildlife and fisheries habitat development; and its fish, wildlife and recreational resource management;
  • The National Wild Turkey Federation's Outstanding JAKES Event Award to Oconee Nuclear Station, for a youth event that taught biology, hunting skills and ethics, and other outdoors skills;
  • The National Wildlife Federation's Certificate of Exceptional Merit for Oconee's Backyard Wildlife Habitat program - the nation's first industrial site to win the award;
  • The South Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society's Fishery Conservation Award for Duke Power's "cumulative contribution" to fisheries research, reservoir management, fisheries restoration and environmental education; and
  • Water Quality Coalition's Blue Thumb Award to Crescent Resources for The Overlook on Mountain Island Lake residential development, described as " . . . a model development in terms of environmental protection" for Charlotte, N.C.'s watershed. Crescent also sold a 1,231-acre tract to The Trust for Public Land to protect the watershed and Charlotte's drinking water supply.

Duke Energy provided warmth in winter, relief from heat. Duke Power customers and Duke Energy shareholders combined to give more than $1.2 million to the company's Share the Warmth Fund, which provides money for winter fuel bills to low-income families in Duke Power's service area. In Houston, Duke Energy contributed to the Channel 11 Spirit of Texas Heat Relief Drive to provide window air-conditioners to people suffering during the searing Texas heat wave of '98.

Duke Energy delivered strong philanthropic support. More than $10 million was provided to charitable causes as diverse as community volunteer development, early childhood intervention, environmental initiatives and the arts.

Duke Energy, Crescent Resources added 32,000 acres to U.S. wilderness legacy. Through sales totaling more than $24 million and donations worth more than $46 million, Duke Energy and Crescent Resources helped move some of the most environmentally important lands in the eastern U.S. into public ownership. The State of South Carolina closed on 24,000 acres of spectacular Jocassee Gorges property in 1998, with ownership of 8,000 additional acres to transfer in 1999. In North Carolina, Duke Energy, Crescent Resources and the state moved toward closing on 9,600 acres.