text: " Last year Duke sought permission from the North Carolina Utilities Commission to classify two of its coal-fired power plants as renewable facilities, because the company wants to burn a combination of wood chips and coal at the plants. NCUC determined the renewables statute allowed that wood derived from whole trees in primary harvest is a biomass resource and thus a renewable energy resource, and therefore approved Dukes application. Environmental Defense Fund and the NC Sustainable Energy Association with Southern Environmental Law Center providing legal help challenged the ruling, and the Court of Appeals sided with NCUC and Duke"