Cinergy

Cinergy Corp. (as a homophone of "synergy") was an energy company based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

History

Cinergy was created on October 24, 1994, from the merger of the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company (CG&E) with Plainfield, Indiana–based PSI Energy (Public Service Indiana) and later included Union Light, Heat & Power (ULH&P) as well.

In 1996, Riverfront Stadium in Downtown Cincinnati was renamed "Cinergy Field" in a sponsorship deal with Cinergy. The stadium was demolished by implosion in December 2002 to make way for Great American Ballpark.

In 2005, Cinergy was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

In 2005, Cinergy announced a friendly acquisition by the larger Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy. The acquisition was completed on April 3, 2006. The combined company retains the Duke Energy name. Until the acquisition, Cinergy still operated under the names of the three local utilities (e.g., Cinergy/CG&E in Cincinnati); since the acquisition, the names of the three former Cinergy utilities and Duke Power, the former Duke Energy utility subsidiary, have been phased out, although signs bearing the former logos still remain at some substations.

Environmental record

In May 2006, Cinergy was fingered as a key contributor to major pollution in the American Midwest, prompting the New York State government to sue the company and forcing the company to install modern pollution control equipment. The Ontario government, across the border in Canada, has followed suit at the request of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Cinergy as the 49th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 29 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air. Major pollutants indicated by the study include sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, chromium compounds, and manganese compounds.