Pipelines & Fracking – Clean Water for North Carolina

Say no to Duke Energy’s plans for a methane gas power plant near the Triangle!

Join us! Public Hearing on a SECOND Duke Energy Gas Powerplant in Person County The NC Utilities Commission is holding a public meeting on whether to approve a second methane gas powerplant in Person County. Join us at the hearing May 5, Roxboro NC (40 min. north of Durham)! 6pm social hour, 7pm- hearing. RSVP to let us know you’re coming: steph@cwfnc.org Duke Energy has approved plans for one methane gas power plant in Person County, NC. (north of Durham) Now they want a second. Studies & Duke’s own estimates show the increase in demand in electricity is from industrial customers, especially data centers. A gas lobbyist told NC legislators to make gas pipeline permitting faster, citing a new Microsoft data center nearby as a reason why. Duke customers should not have to pay for powerplants that serve big tech companies like MICROSOFT. Microsoft can generate their own CLEAN electricity with solar plus storage. Not a sound investment of everyday people’s money, since the plant may not get fully used with the NC law to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Join us at the Public Hearing- Monday, May 5 Join us at the NCUC public meeting!- Monday, May 5 Food + social hour at 6pm, hearing at 7 p.m. Person County Courthouse, 105 South Main Street, Roxboro, NC (40 minutes north of Durham) Need a ride? Want to carpool? Email us: steph@cwfnc.org. We will reimburse mileage for anyone who takes 2 or more people in their car! RSVP, so we know how many to expect! Email steph@cwfnc.org Can’t make it in-person? Go to the Virtual Hearing May 6 Sign up to comment at the virtual hearing! Tuesday, May 6 – 6:30pm – Online via WebEx. How to sign up: Click here to sign up to comment by 5pm April 29. Only the first 20 people who sign up will get to comment at the hearing. Email Steph@cwfnc.org if you plan to comment! We can share detailed info to help you write a strong comment & recruit others to do the same. Email me! Map of Proposed Gas Projects & Microsoft Mega-SiteComment to the NCUC- talking points & how to comment online Tell the NC Utilities Commission: No new gas plant! How to comment: Visit: ncuc.gov/contactus.html Put your name, email address, and for the docket number, use: E-2 Sub 1349 Write your comment (check out talking points below). Tell them why you as a Duke Energy customer or local resident don’t want this new gas plant! Click submit Some points to consider: Share your personal reasons you’re opposed. Mention if you are from an impacted community or a Duke customer (Share how higher billls have already affected you!) Reports show that North Carolina’s residential & industrial need for electricity can be met with efficiency and clean, renewable energy. Solar & wind are more cost-effective alternatives to gas. Person County is burdened by pollution. This community is already impacted by the coal plant’s air pollution and coal ash leaching into groundwater. Duke Energy admitted the gas plants could increase the risk of cancer for nearby residents. The area near the proposed site has significantly higher rates of infant and child mortality and babies born with a low birthweight, compared to the national avereage (97th percentile, 95th, and 90th, respectively). The area has higher rates of stroke, cancer, chronic heart disease, and COPD than 70% of adults in the U.S. Local residents & Duke customers refuse to pay (with money & with our health) for powerplants that serve big tech companies like Microsoft. Microsoft can generate their own CLEAN electricity with solar + storage. Methane is as bad for our climate as coal. Over a 20 year period, Methane is 80x as powerful as carbon dioxide. It leaks from fracking, pipelines, and at powerplants. Continuing to use it will make climate change worse. Learn more- Take further action This gas plant would need a massive pipeline to fuel it. Right now, NC DEQ is considering whether to approve this pipeline. Its called T-15 pipeline. Take action: cwfnc.org/no-t15 Fact sheet about all proposed methane gas projects in Person County (including T-15). Fact sheet about all pipeline projects in Rockingham County (including T-15, Southeast Supply Enhancement Project SSEP, and MVP Southgate). For more visit nossep.org Take the next step! Write a letter-to-the-editor and submit it to your local paper. This lets your neighbors know about the pipeline, and what they can do to oppose it. Check out this letter-to-the-editor guide from Appalachian Voices.

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T-15 Pipeline to fuel unneeded gas power plants. Comment Today!

Woodland Elementary School is located close to the pipeline route, raising local concerns that any leaks or accidents could endanger children. Today: Send a comment to NC Dept. of Environmental Quality with: Your concerns (in your own words!) about the T-15 project. Ask for public hearings in each of the 3 counties. Ask to be notified about any public hearings Detailed info on the concerns with the T-15 pipeline below. Use this info to fill out the comment form, at this link! ID number: 20250069 Version: 1 Name of project: EGNC T-015 Reliability Project Water Quality Certificate WON’T Protect Streams Along 45 Mile Pipeline! Enbridge is proposing a massive gas pipeline through Rockingham, Caswell, and Person Counties. The T-15 Reliability Project would deliver methane to two gas-powered Duke plants in Person County. The plants & T-15 pipeline are part of Duke’s plans to meet inflated demands for more electricity from big tech companies & other industrial customers. Now, NC DEQ is reviewing Enbridge’s application for a “Water Quality Certification”. Enbridge is a Canadian corporation with a history of violations. The T-15 pipeline would have many stream crossings in its 45 mile path. Enbridge plans it to be 30-36 inches wide, a huge diameter for a pipeline. Concerns with the T-15 Pipeline The T-15 project would supply one or more gas-powered Duke plants. These plants received approval based on exaggerated projections of electrical demand. The pipeline, compressor station, and power plants would leak methane. This would undermine NC’s ability to reach emission reduction goals for climate stabilization. The T-15 project would impact over 100 stream crossings, over 7 miles of streams, and wetlands. Enbridge is only seeking a National Permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. This type of permit is less strict, and not enough to account for the pollution caused by this large project. It would be impossible to draft a 401 permit (or enforce it) to ensure water quality is protected in the impacted tributaries to the Roanoke River. The T-15 pipeline is a financial risk to Duke customers. Rate payers will pay the cost of building it, plus the profits to Enbridge. In the future, non-emitting electric generation will be required to meet climate goals. This pipeline will become a stranded asset, paid for by ratepayers and then abandoned. This pipeline will not fit within the corridor for the existing smaller pipeline that runs along most of the pipeline route. To build the T-15, Enbridge is seeking much larger easements and additional work space. Impacted landowners in all three counties are expressing concerns. Due to the 45 mile length of the pipeline, one public hearing in one location is not enough to allow all three counties a chance to comment. Each county should have its own public hearing. Learn More Fact sheet about all proposed methane gas projects in Person County (including T-15). Fact sheet about all pipeline projects in Rockingham County (including T-15, Southeast Supply Enhancement Project SSEP, and MVP Southgate). For more visit nossep.org Take the next step! Write a letter-to-the-editor and submit it to your local paper. This lets your neighbors know about the pipeline, and what they can do to oppose it. Check out this letter-to-the-editor guide from Appalachian Voices.

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Press Release: Person Co. Commission Puts Gas Plant Rezoning Back on Agenda, Without Public Comment or Response to Concerns

February 13, 2025 CONTACT Steph Gans, Communications Manager, Clean Water for NC, (609) 802-4126, steph@cwfnc.org ROXBORO, N.C. — On Feb. 3, The Person County Board of Commissioners voted to table Duke Energy’s application to rezone 297 acres of land near Hyco Lake to industrial use for proposed methane gas power plants. One reason the board cited was that the public did not have a chance to review the application. That night, public speakers raised impacts of the gas plants on farms, health, and the economy. However, undermining its stated rationale for postponing the decision, the board now plans to take up the rezoning during their Feb. 18 “retreat,” when there will be no opportunity for public input. A large crowd attended the Feb. 3 meeting, mainly to discuss tax re-evaluations. However, the hearing on rezoning of the land near Hyco Lake to industrial use proved quite controversial. All of the commenters at the hearing were concerned about the lack of transparency. Duke’s full rezoning application was submitted after the planning board had already approved sending Duke’s request to the county commissioners. Commenters testified that on the day of the hearing, they could not access the application through the County’s website. The top concerns were about farms, health, and other damaging industries coming to Person County as a result of the rezoning for a gas plant. The plants’ gas would be supplied by the 45-mile, 36-inch diameter T-15 pipeline, proposed to run through nearby land. Pipeline construction or leaks can harm soil quality, drinking water, air quality and destroy more profitable opportunities for landowners. The pipeline is set to run about three-quarters of a mile from Woodland Elementary School, prompting concerns that any leak or accident could be dangerous to children. Microsoft recently bought an industrial mega-site nearby. No information has been shared with the public by the county commissioners or by Microsoft about their plans for the site but residents and advocates are concerned that Microsoft’s plans mirror the corporation’s plans for data centers in Catawba County, close to proposed gas plants. At the Feb. 3 hearing, Juhi Modi, NC Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices, stated, “We know that Microsoft would be an industrial customer, but we don’t know what the site would be used for. I request that the vote to rezone is delayed until the community actually has transparency, and we know what the site would be used for.” After the comments, the crowd loudly objected to a motion to close the public hearing on the topic. In response, Commissioner Puryear said, “Given tonight you’ve heard some concerns regarding that, and I understand there were some technical issues accessing the information, and we want to be as transparent as completely possible, I would entertain a motion of tabling it until our next meeting for further discussion.” When the motion passed 4-1, the crowd applauded. Tracy Sexton, a resident who originally commented at the Feb. 3 meeting, responded to the decision to hold the next vote without public comment. “The commissioners are in a position of power,” Sexton said. “They have the power to help those of us with less power: the citizens of Person County. This is about our health. My comments about not using coal ash in construction, giving us real-time 3rd party readings of what’s going on with the emissions, and making Duke name how many days we’ll be polluted by both the gas and coal plants, the commissioners should take responsibility to use their power wisely for the benefit of the citizens.” Hope Taylor, executive director of Clean for North Carolina, an organization that worked for years with the community around the coal plant for treatment systems and coal ash clean-up, stated, “By scheduling the vote on rezoning at a meeting where the public cannot weigh in, the Person County Commission shows that it never intended to allow public input after review of the zoning application. The commissioners must honor their own Feb. 3 decision, and delay the rezoning vote until the March 3 meeting or later, providing adequate time for public comments, and show that they will be responsive to questions about impacts to health, farms, and by industrial customers like Microsoft.”

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Comment Deadline – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a MVP public comment period ending 2/10/2023 Resources: POWHR How to Comment Guide (USACE) Coalition Talking points

Comment Deadline – U.S. Forest Service

Mountain Valley Pipeline and Equitrans Expansion Project Draft Supplemental EIS #50036 – deadline February 21, 2023 Resources: POWHR How to Comment Guide (USFS) Coalition Talking points Petitions: Appalachian Voices; NRDC

Renewal of Resistance: An Evening with #StopMVP ARTivists

“Renewal of Resistance” is an event to replenish our movement in the New Year. After four victories against Senator Manchin’s Dirty Deal and other wins and losses last year, folks are understandably tired! Jan 31, 2023 07:00 PM EST “Renewal of Resistance” will gather people on Zoom from all over the country to hear the voices, see the dances, and feel the words of amazing artists from Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Hosted by Callie Pruett of acclaimed podcast Appodlachia, this event will feature poetry readings by Crystal Good, Mara Robbins, and Steven Licardi; musical performances…

MVP Comment Writing Party

Wild Virginia, Appalachian Voices, and POWHR welcome you to an online event to help you make effective comments in response to a public notice. Join us on Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. We have another chance to tell the U.S. Forest Service that the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s attempt to cut and blast across our Jefferson National Forest must be rejected. Construction would further pollute our waters in West Virginia And Virginia, destroy vital forest habitats, and harm our communities. The Forest Service was forced to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) after citizens defeated two earlier flawed…

No Dirty Deal Call

Join the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, POWHR and 7 Directions of Service for an update on our fight to stop Sen. Manchin and Schumer’s dirty deal. This call will be led by leaders on the frontlines of campaigns to stop fossil fuel projects, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The intention of this virtual call is to uplift frontline voices in the fight against the dirty deal, share updates on the political landscape we are in right now, and provide organizations and other coalition members with ways to take action as we head into the next phase of…

Mountain Valley Pipeline halts eminent domain actions for Southgate extension

By: Charlie Paullin, Virginia Mercury October 21, 2022 Mountain Valley Pipeline has decided to withdraw eminent domain actions against land in North Carolina the company sought for its Southgate extension, a 75-mile offshoot of the main pipeline that would carry gas from Pittsylvania south to Rockingham and Alamance counties. “As the timing, design, and scope of this project continue to be evaluated, MVP has elected to dismiss this action, believing that to be the appropriate course of action for the time being and a demonstration of its desire to work cooperatively and in good faith with landowners and communities along the pipeline’s route,” said the motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. But the company asked for the dismissal without prejudice, which would allow it to pursue eminent domain actions against the properties again. Mountain Valley “has not abandoned this project,” the pipeline wrote. Shawn Day, a spokesperson for the MVP Southgate project, reiterated the motion’s language, adding, “Mountain Valley remains committed to the MVP Southgate project, which is needed to help North Carolina achieve its lower-carbon energy goals and meet current and future residential and commercial demand for natural gas in the region.” “Proceedings currently remain under way with respect to a small number of tracts” along the proposed Southgate route in Virginia, Day added. A condition of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Southgate project in 2020 was that construction of the extension would not begin until the company received the required federal permits for the mainline system and the Director of the Office of Energy Projects, or its designee, lifted a stop-work order and authorized the project. The pipeline regained life in August after FERC extended its October 2022 completion deadline by four years. Regulators said their decision was an administrative one and that the proceedings were not the proper time to revisit the project’s approval. At that time, a company spokesperson said the company remains committed to securing federal and state permits to bring the project into service in the second half of 2023. Mountain Valley has said the main line is 94% complete, although some opponents dispute the company’s numbers. However, Mountain Valley still lacks necessary permits to complete the pipeline. An effort by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, to force approval and completion of the project through federal legislation on permitting reform stalled this fall. The Southgate extension has also run into problems. In 2021, the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board denied an air permit for a proposed compressor station in Pittsylvania that was crucial to ensure gas could flow from Virginia into North Carolina. The denial triggered General Assembly legislation transferring permitting authority from the citizen air board to the state Department of Environmental Quality. North Carolina had also previously denied Southgate a required water permit, citing “unnecessary and avoidable impacts to surface waters and riparian buffers.” Environmental activists on Friday celebrated Mountain Valley’s voluntary dismissal of its eminent domain actions. “Today we can exhale. We still have a long way to go, but the road gets shorter,” said Crystal Cavalier Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, an indigenous people’s activist group, in a statement. “This decision is more proof that the MVP is destined for defeat.” Read the article at Virginia Mercury

Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline Action Party

The International Energy Agency has concluded that there must be no new oil, gas or coal development if the world is to reach net zero by 2050. On September 6th at 7 pm (ET), Climate Action Now will host a free action party with four extraordinary activists battling the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Senator Manchin’s side deal to accelerate new fossil fuel infrastructure. Register Today! Our featured guests will brief us on what’s at stake…

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