ICYMI: NC Utilities Commission Wants Closer Look at Crucial Fracked Gas Pipeline Deal

Raleigh, NC -- The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) filed a rehearing request yesterday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to challenge the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s (ACP) guaranteed 14% return on equity. The rehearing request comes as the Sierra Club and watchdog groups have been raising concerns over the lack of necessity for these pipelines, as well as the fact that ratepayers could be on the hook to pay for them. In collaboration with the Sierra Club and Public Citizen, Oil Change International recently released a report called The Art of the Self Deal that breaks down down how companies manufacture demand for new pipelines by entering into contracts with their own subsidiaries for fracked gas shipping capacity on those same pipelines.

The proposed ACP would carry fracked gas over 600 miles from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, though leaked audio recently revealed the pipeline's owners—which include Duke Energy and Dominion Energy and their subsidiaries—plan to run the project into South Carolina, too.

In response, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin released the following statement:

"These dirty, dangerous pipelines are unnecessary relics of the last century’s energy production and have no place in a state where clean, renewable energy sources are abundant and affordable. Duke, Dominion, and their partners have used smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of need for the fracked gas ACP. We’re glad that the NCUC wants FERC to take a closer look at the 14% return these energy companies want to pay themselves by raising bills for hard-working North Carolinians, Virginians, and West Virginians."