Lack of natural gas infrastructure hurts NC

Higher electricity prices for a North Carolina suffering massive unemployment. I fear that’s what’s ahead in light of the decision by the Cooper administration to deny the Mountain View Pipeline (MVP) project a key water permit. That move stopped the natural gas pipeline in its tracks.

Coupled with the recent decision by Duke Energy and Dominion Energy to pull the plug on their Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project, North Carolinians are stuck without the infrastructure necessary to access cheap, clean-burning natural gas. That has consequences since the price of fuel is a direct pass-through to customers.

Simply put, expect your energy bill to go up.

I had hoped the Cooper administration would heed the lessons of 2014 and 2018. North Carolina suffered severe natural gas shortages both years when insufficient pipeline capacity into our state prevented some gas customers from having access to natural gas. That raised energy prices for everyone. As a Duke spokesperson pointed out in 2018, the shortage wasn’t because natural gas wasn’t available. “Prices dramatically increased during the past week because of a transportation shortage,” said Tammie McGee.

The resulting price spikes led to increases for both electricity ratepayers and customers of manufactured goods. In other words, everyone paid more because we didn’t have the necessary pipeline to move the product.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain View Pipeline were meant to solve that problem. They would have competed to bring natural gas from the Marcellus/Utica gas fields into North Carolina, resulting in more gas overall, as well as downward pressure on the price of gas. This is key since Duke is telling us we need more natural gas in North Carolina to meet our growing state’s future needs.

The Cooper administration doesn’t agree, rejecting Duke’s analysis as “business as usual.”

The Cooper Clean Energy Plan opposes increases in the use of natural gas for electricity generation because natural gas emits greenhouse gases (GHG). The administration wants a 70 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030.

The federal agency that oversees electricity generation agreed North Carolina needs more gas and issued permits to both ACP and MVP. When it approved the critical water permit for ACP, it looked like the Cooper administration was ready to embrace clean natural gas. The administration then argued against the need for the other project – the MVP — because the ACP was going to be built. But after ACP partners withdrew their project, the administration still rejected MVP’s water permit, completely shutting out additional natural gas, and hurting North Carolina in the process.

Look to California to see the havoc wreaked by the failure of a governor to recognize the consequences of sharply cutting fossil fuels. This week rolling blackouts were imposed on California residents because the state’s electricity generation could not keep up with demand. Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted his state’s aggressive transition away from fossil fuels led to “gaps” in his state’s electricity reliability.

Here at home, we’re left to wonder if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s $57.8 million mitigation fund – originally offered under the sole control of Gov. Cooper and which raised the specter of paying-to-play — made the ACP too sweet a deal for the administration to pass up. There was no such deal connected to the MVP project.

Whatever the reason, the impact of the Cooper administration’s unreasonable energy policy is staring us in the face: higher prices for natural gas and electricity, with the most vulnerable North Carolinians destined to bear the brunt.