REPORTER MEMO: Southeast Supply Enhancement Project

December 20, 2024

CONTACT
Jessica Sims I Appalachian Voices I jessica@appvoices.org I 804-356-1228

Background

On Oct. 29, 2024, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Williams Companies, Inc., which operates a network of national methane gas pipelines, applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to build the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project. The proposed project is a massive expansion of Transco’s pipeline network of over 1.5 million dekatherms per day of additional gas, and requires approximately 54.9 miles of additional pipe in Virginia and North Carolina in two separate “loops.” Transco’s proposal would also expand two gas compressor stations which release harmful air pollution to nearby communities. Transco wants to begin construction in fall of 2026 and begin service by the end of 2027. The majority of the gas, or approximately 1 million of the total proposed 1.5 million dth/day, would go to a monopoly utility, based in the Carolinas, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC. If FERC authorizes the project, Transco will have eminent domain authority, or the authority to forcibly take property to construct and operate the project. 

What are the concerns about the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project?

The SSEP could negatively impact local air and water quality, residents’ health, and property values. The increase in emissions of harmful air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and fine particulate matter from expansion of two gas compressor stations in Iredell and Davidson Counties, North Carolina, would burden the nearby community with additional pollution. The SSEP would create few, if any, permanent jobs and could result in disruptive local construction traffic. Community members are also concerned about the project’s impacts to local water resources including the Banister, Sandy and Dan rivers. The Dan River is still recovering from a 2014 toxic coal ash spill by Duke Energy, and this project includes one major crossing of the Dan River in North Carolina that would span 230 feet. The large-diameter pipe would also make more than 100 individual waterbody crossings across 16 watersheds. Compounding these concerns, Transco has one of the worst safety records of national pipeline companies, including  in fatalities, cost per incident, and releases per incident, as detailed by the watchdog group the Pipeline Safety Trust.

Additionally, those along the route from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to Rockingham County, North Carolina, also face potential impacts from another proposed pipeline, called Southgate, a co-located extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

How has the public reacted to this proposed pipeline?

Since the pre-filing docket of related filings was initiated on Feb. 1, 2024 with FERC, public opposition to the SSEP has been robust. Within that pre-filing docket, No. PF24-2, over 7,000 members of the public expressed opposition. In their application docket CP25-10 submitted Oct. 29, 2024, Transco states that the project “will not have a significant impact on human health or the environment,” suggesting that the Commission need not prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for this Project as part of its NEPA review.  Again over 7,000 members of the public expressed opposition to the project and asked for a full EIS, rather than an Environmental Assessment, a less intensive study. More than a dozen North Carolina legislators also asked FERC for an EIS, noting “If approved, this project would cause tens of millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year for decades, even as the costs of renewable energy continue to drop.” Other notable submissions in the docket include comments of concern from the mayor of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, a Forsyth County, North Carolina, commissioner and a sign on letter from over 90 organizations asking for a full Environmental Impact Statement.

The recent intervention period included over 50 requests to intervene, including from the Pittsylvania County Branch of the NAACP, Haw River Assembly, North Carolina Black Alliance, Sierra Club, 7 Directions of Service, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Appalachian Voices. 

The robust public participation in the FERC docket has been coupled with a year of educational outreach and programming from organizations and community members working to oppose this harmful and unnecessary buildout of natural gas capacity. Updates from the coalition working to oppose the SSEP can be found at nossep.org.

Which permits will the Southeast Supply Enhancement project need?

The federal permits required are:

• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity 
• U.S. Army Corps permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act

The state permits required are:

• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permit under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act
• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Virginia Water Protection Permit and Upland Certification
• North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality permit under section 401 of the Clean Water Act
• Jordan Lake Riparian Protection Buffer and Randleman Lake Riparian Protection Buffer
• North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality air permits for gas-run compressor units

These permits will be under review in 2025 and have corresponding public comment periods and public hearings.

Why is the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project so significant?

The SSEP is indicative of the overbuilding of fossil fuel infrastructure across the Southeast that would put an overwhelming burden on nearby communities and push urgent greenhouse gas reduction targets firmly out of reach. Gas pipelines mean methane leaks, sedimentation from construction and ongoing safety concerns. They put communities at increased risk from pollution and explosion dangers, and gas transmission pipelines in Virginia and North Carolina are not required to add an odorant, meaning a leaking transmission line would not give off any smell to warn of a problem. The SSEP would transport nearly 1.6 million dekatherms per day, making it the largest gas expansion project on the East Coast in a decade.

What happens next?

Once FERC releases its environmental impacts report, the public will be able to scrutinize the agency’s opinion of the project’s potential harms through written comments on the record. FERC will also likely host public hearings during the public comment opportunity. This review may occur preceding or concurrently with the state permit processes and continued public opposition to the new methane gas pipeline.