New Duke Energy gas plants approved in NC despite environmental concerns

Duke has argued that it must use natural gas during its transition away from coal in order to meet rising demand for energy, but the projects would lead to a significant increase in total greenhouse gas emissions, potentially jeopardizing the company’s legally-mandated duty to reduce carbon emissions.  

Duke Energy plans to replace several coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired stations at two North Carolina sites by 2029 after receiving approval from state regulators.

Two of the four coal-fired units at Person County’s Roxboro plant will specifically be replaced with gas-fired combined cycle units, according to the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Two of the four coal-fired units at Catawba County’s Marshall plant will be replaced by a pair of gas-fired combustion turbines as well. 

These plans come after receiving key approvals from both environmental and utility regulators. In December, the NC Utilities Commission issued orders deeming the gas plants necessary to reduce emissions at both sites and the state Department of Environmental Quality granted the air quality permits for the gas-fired plants shortly after that. 

“We appreciate the support of Person and Catawba counties,” Bill Norton, a Duke Energy spokesman, said in a statement. “We look forward to working together as we transition to cleaner energy in a manner that keeps North Carolina’s economy thriving, while continuing to protect grid reliability and affordability for our customers.”

North Carolina leaders passed a law in 2021 that requires major utilities like Duke to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which means ensuring the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activity is equal to the amount absorbed from the atmosphere. The NC Utilities Commission, notably, recently approved Duke’s bid to extend that 2030 deadline until at least 2032. 

Duke has argued that it must use gas during its transition away from coal in order to meet rising demand for energy, much to the dismay of the environmental community, which has argued for a faster move to clean energy sources like solar and wind power.

The approval for the new gas-fired plants came as part of regulators’ efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and switching to natural gas at the Roxboro plant will result in reductions of sulfur dioxide by 3,676 tons and nitrogen oxide by 4,130 tons per year. 

But the law does not include language about other greenhouse gases, like methane, and both projects would actually lead to a significant overall increase in total greenhouse gas emissions. 

At the Roxboro plant, greenhouse gas emissions will jump from about 7 million to 12.9 million tons per year, an 83.7% increase. The Roxboro plant’s emissions of volatile organic compounds will also climb from 80.6 to 720.1 tons per year. At the Marshall plant, the new gas units will emit 5.6 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, compared to the 2.1 million tons that are released per year from the two units that are set to be replaced. And the volatile organic compounds released from that plant will more than double. 

Munashe Magarira, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, told The News & Observer the group was opposed to the approval of the new plants.

“We are disappointed that the two permits have been granted and we’re hopeful that steps can be taken to address what we see as unfortunately an increasing trend for more and more gas to be built out in our state, which is contrary to what state law requires and is contrary to the state’s overall clean transition objectives,” Magarira said. 

“The permits in their current form and condition still would expose surrounding communities to significant harmful pollution and harm people’s health,” she added.

The Southern Environmental Law Center argued in documents responding to public comments about the projects that Duke Energy could have avoided these emissions increases by launching the natural gas plants as “new projects” instead of “modifications” of the existing power stations, but this would have subjected the company to a more stringent set of pollution control rules.

The approval for Duke’s new plants also comes as the Town of Carrboro sued Duke last month, accusing it of lying about the threats posed by climate change and actively undermining efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

A November report by the Energy and Policy Institute found that Duke Energy was privy to warnings regarding climate change as far back as the 1970s, but chose to join in on disinformation campaigns in the 90s which both denied the science that showed humans were driving climate change and opposed national and international legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.