Duke Energy's push to build more natural-gas-burning power plants is moving forward.
North Carolina environmental regulators recently approved air pollution permits for new Duke plants in Person and Catawba counties. It's part of the state's push to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
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A law requiring the reduction, House Bill 951, was passed with bipartisan support in 2021. Among other things, it required energy utilities to reduce carbon emissions from their power plants. Duke agreed to wind down its remaining coal plants as part of that deal.
Duke Energy says its new gas-fueled plants will be cleaner than the coal-fired plants they’re replacing, because they’ll emit less carbon dioxide, particulates, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The utility is also adding capacity to meet what it says is a rapidly increasing demand for power, including a second generating facility at the site in Roxboro.
Some Person County residents say it's coming at the cost of their community's health.
Natural gas plants emit much more methane than coal plants, and methane is a key greenhouse gas that’s blamed for climate change.
Person County will be the location for not just new power plants, but a new natural gas storage facility and a new gas pipeline. All three have been approved by county commissioners in recent years.
That’s why HollyAnn Rogers moved away.
A year ago, Rogers was starting work on her dream home on 21 acres in Person County. The land was a gift from her late husband, journalist Dennis Rogers, years ago.
She planned to live the rest of her life there, she told WRAL last year.
Reached again Monday, she told WRAL News that she sold the land and left the county.
Rogers said Person County is a gorgeous place, and she was devastated to leave. But she said she’s not willing to live between two natural-gas facilities.
“Person County gets the gunk and the toxicity so that Raleigh, Durham, the Chapel Hill area can have natural gas and have more energy,” Rogers said. “So Person County people suffer.”
Duke Energy says it's moving in the direction of expanding renewables, but it needs natural gas for reliable power around the clock.
“As we did at the existing coal plants, we will use the best available technology to reduce emissions, which will be significantly lower than the coal units that are retiring,” Duke Energy spokesman Bill Norton said. “We will meet all state and federal regulations to ensure surrounding neighbors and the environment remain protected.”
Rogers said she and hundreds of other residents voiced their concerns about the expansion of natural gas facilities, but she felt county commissioners ignored them. She said her “heart breaks” for her friends in Person County who want to leave but can’t.
“This was their dream home, and they were retired and planning to live the rest of their lives there. How are you going to sell your house when there's this huge facility being built directly across the street?” Rogers said. “They're stuck. I was at least far enough away from it that I wasn't stuck.”
Person County commission chairman Kyle Puryear did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
State regulators who approved the air pollution permits for the Person County facilities said the increases in methane and some other pollutants, like carbon monoxide, lead and volatile organic compounds, will still be below levels considered harmful.
The state says it's a net improvement overall. But environmentalists say that’s not good enough.
Munashe Magarira is a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. He said the new natural-gas plants are still dirty.
“Natural gas is not a clean source of generation. It has methane in addition to carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants that will cause damage to surrounding communities,” Magarira said. “These are communities that already are subjected to a lot of pollution.”
He wishes Duke had spent the hundreds of millions of dollars it’s spending on the new fossil fuel plants on expanding solar, wind and battery resources instead.
Power plants “are investments that typically last for 20 to 30 years,” Magarira said, ”so you're really locking the community, you're locking yourself into investments.”
Magarira said the state should have held Duke to more stringent pollution standards for the new plants, but chose not to, a decision he described as “disappointing.”
Duke’s new plants are expected to open by 2029.
Meanwhile, Rogers has moved to Blue Ridge, Georgia, just over the state line, where she's planning her new home now.
“The folks in this region understand and appreciate the beauty that they have and the clean air that they have,” Rogers said of her new community. “They are not selling it off to the highest bidder.”
“Person County didn't realize what they had,” she added. “I think it’s just sad.”