Advocates, community members call on NC regulators to reject the air permit application for the Hyco Lake gas plants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2024

CONTACT
Juhi Modi, North Carolina Field Coordinator, (919) 307-7925, juhi@appvoices.org 
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org 

ROXBORO, N.C. — On Tuesday, Nov. 12, community members and advocates expressed their opposition to Duke Energy’s plans to build two new methane gas-fired power plants near Hyco Lake in northern Person County. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality held a hearing about the air permit for the proposed power plants on Tuesday evening, where approximately 38 people attended and 20 people gave public comments — 15 of whom spoke in opposition to the plans, while five spoke in favor.

Duke Energy has proposed building these gas plants as part of a plan to retire the coal plants it operates near Hyco Lake, which is the largest coal plant complex in North Carolina and one of the largest in the country. In the initial operation stages, though, Duke plans to run the gas plants and the coal plant at the same time and has not set clear retirement dates for the coal units in the air permit application. This would cause elevated levels of pollution in the surrounding community.

“Duke wants to be held to a lesser standard when it comes to air monitoring and pollution controls because the proposed gas plant would replace existing coal units,” said Thomas Gooding, an associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “But the draft permit does not actually require the coal units to be retired. In fact, the permit application shows that Duke intends to operate the coal plant simultaneously with the new gas plant — not for a few weeks or months but for a number of years. This misleading comparison allows Duke to skirt important permitting requirements that otherwise would apply to a new large gas plant.”

Duke presents its plan for the methane gas plants as a cleaner alternative to coal but does not fully acknowledge the environmental impacts of methane gas. The utility’s own plan states that the methane gas plants would release more dangerous volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide than the existing coal plant. Furthermore, while methane gas plants emit less carbon dioxide than coal plants, the amount would still be substantial, at 12.8 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Building these gas plants instead of cleaner alternatives could lock North Carolina into decades of polluting infrastructure that would accelerate climate change. 

Duke Energy is ignoring the fact that the surrounding community has already endured decades of polluted air and deals with high rates of adverse health effects. The community faces high rates of stroke, cancer, chronic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — respectively in the 76th, 73rd, 74th, and 71st percentiles nationally. 

“The proposed plant poses a serious community health risk, to say nothing of an ongoing environmental justice issue,” said Julie Nye, a Person County resident of 20 years. “Duke Energy’s own environmental justice analysis shows the plant may increase the community’s already high risk of cancer from harmful pollutants. The area near the proposed gas plant already has significantly higher rates of infant and child mortality than the national average. The life expectancy of someone born near the proposed plant is six years shorter than somebody born just several miles south in Durham County. Person County’s cancer incidence rate puts it 17th out of North Carolina’s 100 counties.”

Additionally, the gas plants would be just under a mile from Woodland Elementary School and expose young children to harmful pollution.

“Directly across the street on Semora Road, the children of Woodland Elementary School — ages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 — will spend nine months per year, for six years of their lives, less than 4,000 feet from legal emissions of nitrogen oxides, as well as volatile organic compounds and other pollutants,” said Shelley Robbins, who lives in Durham and is the Senior Decarbonization Manager for Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “NOx is bad by itself but it helps the formation of small particulates, called PM2.5 […] that will wreak havoc throughout their bodies for six years, with impacts that could last their lifetimes. Research from Johns Hopkins University and others has shown that extended exposure to PM2.5 can impact the brain, the nervous system, the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, the renal system, the endocrine system and the reproductive system.”

Furthermore, Duke has failed to address compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act 111 rules. Operation of the gas plants under these rules could lead to worse air pollution than what Duke has proposed and pose public health risks.

“Under the Clean Air Act 111 rules, Duke would have to run the gas plants less than 40% of the time, which would require more startups and shutdowns,” said Juhi Modi, North Carolina Field Coordinator with Appalachian Voices. “Not burning the gas efficiently would create higher levels of pollution, including carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and certain hazardous air pollutants. Also, the emissions control technology that they would be using would be ineffective under these sorts of conditions, potentially leading to higher emissions than estimated. […] The DAQ should add an enforceable carbon dioxide emission limit to ensure compliance with the 111 rule beginning in 2032.”

The five people who spoke in favor of Duke’s plan largely cited the economic benefits that Duke Energy brings to Person County, as the county’s largest taxpayer and a donor to community organizations. But Duke Energy’s plans for this gas plant, along with others across the state, would lead to increases in everyday customers’ electric bills

“Duke’s proposal would bring significant financial burdens, with potential rate hikes of up to 73% for some customers,” said Ameer Haidary, a student at Duke University. “The cost will fall hardest on those who can least afford it, like the seniors I work with who are already balancing medical and essential expenses. This project forces people into impossible choices of heating their homes, filling their prescriptions, or buying groceries. We shouldn’t ask North Carolinians to bear this cost, especially when there are cleaner, more affordable alternatives.”

Several speakers expressed a desire for cleaner energy alternatives in Person County and the economic benefits they could bring. 

“I think calling methane an improvement over coal is completely wrongheaded,” said Vonda Frantz, who’s lived in Person County for around 30 years. “What we should be doing is putting solar on all the rooftops in Person County. We have acres of rooftops, warehouses, retail, parking lots. We have plenty of areas we can turn into solar farms, and Duke could be an actual leader in this field to produce energy in a safer and cleaner manner. This would be worth spending time and money on. It would be good for consumers, it would be good for businesses, and it would be good for the environment.”