The growth of methane gas infrastructure in North Carolina is in a risky overdrive mode right now. Just since 2022, state regulators (NC Department of Environmental Quality and the NC Utilities Commission) have approved the following large methane gas projects:
- Williams Transco Southside Reliability Enhancement Project – Gas Pipeline
- Williams Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project – Gas Pipeline.
- Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate Project – Gas Pipeline.
- PSNC Enbridge T15 Reliability Project – Gas Pipeline.
- PSNC Enbridge Moriah Energy Center – Gas LNG Facility.
- Duke Energy Person County Combined Cycle Plant 1 – 1,365 MW Gas Power Plant
- Duke Energy Person County Combined Cycle Plant 2 – 1,365 MW Gas Power Plant
On the horizon, there is still:
- Duke Energy Davidson/Davie County Combined Cycle Plant 4 (CC4) – 1,365 MW Gas Power Plant
- Duke Energy Davidson/Davie County Combined Cycle Plant 5 (CC5) – 1,365 MW Gas Power Plant
- Duke Energy Enhanced Liquefied Natural Gas (ELNG) Facilities – Gas LNG Facilities
- PSNC Enbridge Chatham County System Expansion Project – Gas Pipeline
- Potential Piedmont Natural Gas pipeline under the Yadkin River – Gas Pipeline
SIX gas pipeline projects, FOUR massive gas plants, TWO LNG facilities — all in ONE state, submitted for regulatory approval (certificates and permits), all in four and a half years. And now a new bill in the Senate (SB 730) would direct DEQ to fast-track permitting for these polluting facilities.
When is it enough? Where does it stop? Most of these projects have not even hit our bills yet. Our bills are bad now. Can you imagine how much higher they could still go? Where does a state that claims to care about the health and well-being of its citizens finally draw the line and say ENOUGH? When will the state finally stand up to the fossil fuel industry and utilities and say, “I’m not going to take it anymore.”
Now would be a good time
The North Carolina Public Staff submitted testimony stating that they do not see a reason to rush to build Duke’s latest proposed new gas plants in Davidson and/or Davie County, CC4 and CC5, and they found Duke’s ELNG proposal to be a significant financial risk to ratepayers. And the proposed PSNC Enbridge Chatham County gas pipeline? It’s essentially a new greenfield pipeline to nowhere. Enbridge acknowledges that it is for speculative demand growth. If approved, PSNC Enbridge will be plowing through acres and acres of forest to fuel growth in a region that doesn’t want it. All of this could now happen under expedited permitting.
Meanwhile, Duke Energy shareholders are enjoying the company’s $4.9 billion in 2025 profits, and Canadian company Enbridge’s shareholders are enjoying $7.1 billion in 2025 profits. PSNC Enbridge recently foisted a rate increase on its customers (which we are not enjoying), and Duke Energy’s bill increases are starting to come more and more frequently, thanks to the passage of Act 266 by the NC General Assembly in 2025 (and thanks to Duke being the top spender on lobbying). We, the ratepayers, are not enjoying that either. In addition, Duke can use its unregulated subsidiary to provide air permit services for behind-the-meter generators to attract data centers to North Carolina. This has the dual impact of data center generators polluting the air in the surrounding communities while also helping Duke and PSNC Enbridge justify more gas plants and pipelines by increasing load growth.
So, to the regulators, the policymakers, the elected officials: when does it stop?
Now is the perfect time to hit the pause button on all of these regulatory approvals that are in the State of North Carolina’s hands. We are between a spate of past and future approvals, as listed above. It is time to stop North Carolina’s imprudent commitment to gas, a commodity that will only increase in price as competition for molecules and infrastructure reaches a fever pitch as utilities, data centers, and LNG export facilities all compete for the same things. Prices will rise regardless of what happens in other parts of the world because we have created a demand frenzy right in our own backyard. We are doing this to ourselves. We are making life more expensive, more polluting, and more dangerous — and we are exacerbating the climate change that brings us floods and fires and droughts.
North Carolina agencies have the power to draw a line in the sand on this. Duke and PSNC Enbridge want them to keep approving more gas infrastructure. It makes them giddy when they report expansions — and more and more revenue — on their shareholder calls. But North Carolina citizens, forced to choose between medicine, the light bill, and gas in the car, have nothing to be giddy about.
When and where will North Carolina draw the line?
