Community members and environmental experts warned that their well-being and the environment will be placed at long-running risk by Duke Energy's plan to build the first of two proposed methane gas plants on Hyco Lake.
They spoke at two public hearings held last week by the N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) on Duke's plan to replace its coal-burning Roxboro Plant.
“Moving to gas does not protect our health or safety, and is not right for this community,” Katie Moore, an air quality researcher, said at the public hearing held in Roxboro on Thursday night.
If the NCUC approves the plant, the monopoly-utility will seek to raise customers' bills to cover costs of construction plus its rate of return. In addition, Duke would be able to pass on the fuel price of methane gas to customers, which has been extremely volatile, often skyrocketing when customers have needed it most, such as during devastating winter storms.
Community member Mark Swallow commented, “My grandson turned 1 this past Tuesday, June 11th. We've all heard that each successive year over the past three years has been hotter than the last. What if this continues for the next 17 years? ... Old technology, old solutions, old ideas aren’t going to get us where we need to be.”
Methane, the main component of gas, is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide for the first 20 years it is in the atmosphere. The production, processing, storage, transmission, and distribution of gas leaks immense amounts of unburned methane and other harmful air pollutants, canceling out climate gains made from retiring coal plants.
The fossil fuel industry might want us to believe gas is “natural” or “clean” but gas power plants emit harmful pollutants including formaldehyde and nitrogen oxide (NOx), which cause asthma and other breathing problems, heart attacks and other respiratory and cardiovascular health issues.
Duke has one of the largest proposed build outs of harmful gas generation of any utility in the country. The proposed infrastructure would also rely on a 45-mile-long pipeline across Rockingham, Caswell and Person counties to deliver methane gas to the proposed Hyco Lake plant, undermining North Carolina’s ability to meet its state-mandated climate goals.
Duke's plans for building and running new gas combined cycle plants do not comply with federal rules that significantly limit carbon pollution from new gas plants starting in 2032.
In order to comply with state law and meet climate targets affordably and reliably, Duke must accelerate the development of clean renewable energy resources, including solar power, offshore wind, battery storage, and energy efficiency. Duke’s current planning imposes artificial limits on and assumes inflated costs for clean energy resources.
"Not only is methane bad for the climate and our health, Duke’s failure to consider the long-term implications of federal rules for this proposed gas plant means they are potentially locking in profits for their shareholders while building expensive, polluting infrastructure that North Carolina ratepayers will be be responsible for paying for – it’s insulting,” said Mikaela Curry, Campaign Manager for the Sierra Club. “Prioritizing expensive and polluting energy sources at the expense of clean, renewable ones while passing the costs along to North Carolina communities is unacceptable.”