By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director for Government Affairs
After a hectic few weeks leading up to crossover, this was a quiet week at the NC General Assembly. Senate leadership grabbed the opening to use the gasoline shortage stemming from the Colonial Pipeline shutdown to promote fracked gas pipelines.
A reminder that many of the bills we’re working for or against crossed over to the other chamber in the last few weeks. We’ve updated the action alerts below so that your email will go to the right person:
Opportunities for Action:
- Urge the House to vote NO on the Farm Act
- Protect trees, local governments from legislative overreach
- Tell the fracked gas industry to disperse
- Protect first responders from forever chemicals
Senate leadership and utilities promote fracked gas pipelines
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Energy, and Environment met on Tuesday to discuss North Carolina’s energy supply following the Colonial Pipeline shutdown. But instead of recognizing the flaws that the shutdown highlighted in the gasoline pipeline system and taking the opportunity to discuss solutions like diversifying our energy system with renewable sources, industry representatives recommended doubling down on fossil fuel pipelines. The Senate committee invited Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and American Petroleum Institute (a fossil fuel lobbying group) to speak to the committee, and they all recommended adding more pipelines.
A Dominion Energy representative claimed at the meeting that more pipelines would not be out of line with the transition to renewable energy because they could be repurposed later for transporting clean energy sources. However, an International Energy Agency report released the same day asserts that there is “no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply” in order to meet Paris Climate Accord goals. There was discussion about how the cancelled fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline was needed and how the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate extension is needed even though North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) denied the project a state permit since the project doesn’t have the permits it needs to build from VA into NC.
Background on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline money pit
The MVP was proposed in 2015 to span 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia with a 2018 start date. Nowhere near complete, the pipeline is already three years behind schedule and $3 million over budget, with over 350 water quality violations and no end in sight. MVP Southgate is a proposal to extend the MVP mainline 40 miles into North Carolina. On April 29, NC DEQ renewed its denial of a necessary water permit for the project, saying that because the MVP mainline is so uncertain, the state should avoid the risk of an incomplete project “from nowhere to nowhere.”
Energy Policy Council endorses mix of bills
The Energy Policy Council, an advisory body made up of legislative and gubernatorial appointees, on Wednesday discussed grid resiliency, alternative fuels, and hurricane recovery then approved a resolution to support three bills: H 220, “Assuring Choice of Energy Service," H 611, “Study Electric Utilities Resiliency," and S 358, “C-PACE Program." Unfortunately, H 220 is a fracked gas industry bill aimed at limiting local governments’ ability to ban gas hookups, and we oppose it. The other two bills, H 611 and S 358, would be helpful. H 611 would fund a study on deregulation of the state’s energy market, and S 358 would authorize C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) - a way to support building upgrades that reduce utility costs, protect against storms, and promote economic development.