Community speaks out after Moriah Energy Center issued air quality permit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2024
CONTACT
Juhi Modi, North Carolina Field Coordinator, (919) 307-7925, juhi@appvoices.org
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org
ROUGEMONT, N.C. — On Thursday, Oct. 10, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality approved an air quality permit for the Moriah Energy Center, a proposed liquefied methane gas facility in Rougemont, N.C., that would consist of two 25-million gallon storage tanks. The DAQ received 606 public comments regarding the permit via email, voicemail and postal mail, and 39 individuals gave oral comments at the public hearing on Aug. 1 — 38 of whom expressed opposition to the facility and issuance of the air permit.
In response to the air permit issuance, community members expressed profound disappointment.
“It is just heartbreaking to see this permit approved — knowing the discrepancies in air pollution reporting, knowing that Dominion, the builder of the plant, is now being sold to Enbridge (a huge Canadian corporation with a long track record of bad environmental accidents) and knowing that the residents of Person County came out in record numbers to beg our leadership to not approve it,” said George O’Neal, a farmer in southeastern Person County.
“Despite over 500 comments and months of residents speaking out with legitimate concerns, NC DEQ made no changes to make the project safer for residents nearby,” said Katie Moore, a member of Neighbors Opposed to Moriah Energy Center, or NoMEC, a group of concerned residents and allied advocates that has continuously expressed concerns about the facility for over a year now. “Methane gas infrastructure, like the MEC, is going to worsen climate change and we are simply out of time. At a time when our neighbors in the mountains, and those in Florida, are dealing with catastrophic storms worsened by climate change, this kind of facility is wrong for North Carolina. We stand with our western communities impacted by Helene, and call for Gov. Roy Cooper to make good on Executive Orders 246 and 80 and rescind the air permit for the MEC and other methane gas polluting infrastructure in communities across the state.”
The primary change in the air permit is a requirement for the facility to report emissions and operational data quarterly rather than annually. The facility can request to change the reporting frequency back to annual once DAQ receives “sufficient evidence” that certain emissions criteria are reached.
Community members continue to express distrust in the ability of PSNC Energy, MEC’s developer, to adhere to emissions limits in the air quality permit given their ongoing violations of sediment and erosion control protocol throughout the pre-construction process. For about six months now, PSNC has been causing sediment pollution and alarmingly elevated turbidity levels in nearby creeks due to land and clearing activities at the site. In August, employees with the Division of Water Resources verified that activities at the facility site are responsible for sediment pollution in nearby creeks but they said there is little they can do because of loose regulations.
“The approval of PSNC’s application for a synthetic minor air permit from NC DAQ is a big disappointment,” said Andrea Childers, who lives less than half of a mile away from the proposed Moriah Energy Center site. “Consultants who reviewed the permit both agreed that numbers PSNC were using were conservative. The consultants showed that a Title V air permit should be required for this facility. North Carolina citizens, who live in the Moriah community, lives’ and health will be endangered by this bad decision.”
The DAQ hearing officer for the Moriah Energy Center put together a report responding to concerns from the public comments. Paul Childers, who lives close to the proposed site, said that he did not see DAQ address his concerns regarding emissions limits and safety protocols much as the Division of Water Resources and Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources did not take action about the sediment runoff into his creek.
“My state government agency tasked with protecting citizens and the environment from corporate polluters is in fact protecting corporate polluters from the valid complaints of state residents,” he said.
Residents will continue pushing back against the Moriah Energy Center and working towards improved protections for the community.
“We are very disappointed in DEQ’s decision, but the facility is not yet built and the community’s fight against it will continue on various fronts,” said Kathy Andrews, Executive Director of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. “It is well within the DEQ’s power to place additional restrictions on a facility of this kind, and they have refused to do so. Not only will approval of this permit move us farther away from the state of North Carolina’s own climate goals, but we also believe the people of Person, Durham and Granville counties were not given an adequate opportunity to contribute to this process. It is time for Gov. Cooper’s office to review this decision and the entire process by which this facility came to be.”
