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FACT SHEET
SOURCE: SIERRA CLUB
Dominion Energy has proposed a 25-million-gallon Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) storage facility with future expansion capabilities in Person County, NC. The expansion planned is another 25-million- gallon LNG storage facility on the same property.
Source: Dominion Energy
Once in operation, this facility would support up to 12 specialized full-time LNG operator jobs. None of the 12 jobs are guaranteed to go to Person County residents.
Source: Dominion Energy
From 2012 to 2023, there have been 37 reportable accidents/incidents at LNG facilities in the US. Of the 37 accidents/incidents, 15 were human error, 19 were equipment failure, and 3 were weather-related.
Source: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Facility-wide, the Moriah Energy Center could emit 65,579 tons of greenhouse gases each year, according to Dominion’s air permit application to the state. In addition, annual potential emissions include 35 tons of nitrogen oxide, 95 tons of carbon monoxide, 52.4 tons of volatile organic compounds, four tons of hazardous air pollutants and another four tons of fine particulate matter.
Sources: NC Newsline, Dominion Energy
In 2008, contaminated soil was discovered at the LNG plant (Piedmont Natural Gas) built in Huntersville, NC. The state of NC required them to remove 7,140 tons of soil containing benzene and trichloroethylene. Following up on this incident the ground water was tested and was deemed contaminated also. They were to design and implement a program to monitor contamination in and around the site and to develop a Remediation program to implement the approved remedial strategy. As of July, 2017 the data from the samples still showed detectable above NC 2L standards.
Source: NC Department of Environmental Quality
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
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General and EconomicI understand this project has been in the works for three years. Why have we not heard anything before this? What is the process of this facility from original gas retrieval to distribution of LNG? The Courier Times article (August 31, 2023) states that during the estimated two years of construction, $43 million in economic activity will be generated. What does that economic activity look like for Person County? What of that amount stays in Person County? What donations to Person County and North Carolina election campaigns and other donations to organizations in the area were given by Dominion Energy? The projected $20 million in local tax revenue over 25 years is $800,000 per year, representing 1.1% increase in tax revenue, using the numbers from the County's adopted budget for 2023-24. The significant contributor to the tax base is Duke Energy, 20% of the tax base. If MEC does not go forward in Person County, how would this affect Duke Energy's presence in Person County? What is the analysis and breakdown of economic impact to Person County? How is this facility going to be profitable to the government entities and individuals of Person County? Are you receiving any favorable tax terms, from the county or the state, for this facility? Who will make money on this project? Is there a performance bond for this project? How much is the performance bond? Where is it going to be put in escrow? Why is this proposed facility being considered when renewals are a cheaper resource? What legal and enforceable agreements will you sign and commit to regarding explosions, water, and soil pollution, well pollution, that will apply in case of accidents or mismanagement that results in such impacts on the county and community? The process flow diagram shows not one but two 25 million LNG storage tanks and equipment. By doubling the capacity, will the revenue also double? If not, what is the projected revenue with a 50-million-gallon storage facility, not a 25 million as originally reported?
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Regulations and ZoningWhat agencies are involved with permits and approvals to build the facility? What regulations and regulatory agencies are you required to answer if the facility is built? And how will your impending sale change this? What regulations govern proximity of LNG facilities to school? What regulations govern proximity of LNG facilities to watersheds? Will this zoning change open our community to more industrial uses? Is there a precedent for rezoning from Rural/Conservation to Industrial? What Federal and NC State regulations is Dominion Energy complying with for this project? What Federal and State agencies are overseeing this project? Residents are upset because they did not know that Person County could just change from Rural/Conservation zoning to Industrial. Residents bought here because it is a rural zoning area. Is this same area open to more industrial growth because of this site?
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Need for the FacilityIn general, what needs are you serving with this new facility? What new energy needs are in Person County that justify this project? Does anyone in the local radius currently have natural gas? If not, what are the plans for this? What energy needs are you serving in Person County, and is the infrastructure already in place? Please be specific about business/commercial/private usage. Why, at a time when most of the world is desperately trying to cope with climate change and a polluted planet, would a facility be built that has the potential for worsening both when there are cleaner alternatives? How does this line up with the governor’s plan for clean energy?
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Construction of the FacilityWho is the contractor? How many LNG facilities has this contractor completed? Name 3 recent sites this contractor has completed. How long will construction take before the facility is operational? What hours of the day and days of the week will construction take place? What roads will the construction equipment use to get to the site? Is this a two-year construction project and what roads will be used? What is the maximum weight allowed for trucks using the current roads? Who is going to repair these roads when they are damaged by the large construction equipment and trucks? Who is going to pay for these repairs? What regulations and regulatory agencies are you required to follow in the construction of this facility? Do you anticipate building additional pipelines to supply this storage facility, beyond the 25 million gallons? The process flow diagram shows a second 25-million-gallon storage facility on the property. It is listed on the Dominion Energy document as Phase I and Phase II, each with a 25-million-gallon storage tank and accompanying compressors and equipment. Please explain the timeline for both Phase I and Phase II. When the construction blasting causes damage to neighbors’ property, who is responsible? Is there an insurance rider for the blasting company? Who will make sure any blasting damages are paid for? (Dominion Energy, Enbridge, Matrix or Person County) Will you provide a copy of the blasting permit from Person County for this project? Is Person County setting seismographs at all nearby residents’ houses? Where are the seismographs planned to be set? Is there a written contract for this with Person County? How deep will blasting go? Do you have a map of aquifers nearby?
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Companies Involved: Dominion Energy, Enbridge, and MatrixWhat power plant will use this fracked gas? The Wall Street Journal on September 5, 2023 reports that Dominion Energy has sold its NC gas business to a Canadian company called Enbridge. What guarantees that they will honor any promises you make? Has anyone from Person County worked with Enbridge on this transition and their plans for this proposed facility? Have they, and if so when did the huge Canadian company Enbridge become part of the planning process? When Dominion Energy’s sale is complete to Enbridge, what obligations does this new company have regarding the promises made by Dominion Energy to Person County? Who are the commissioners working with Dominion Energy or the company buying it? Won’t it be harder to address future issues since it will soon not be a US company? How will Person County address issues with Enbridge? Has anyone from Person County considered the number of incidents and accidents from other Enbridge facilities? What safeguards will be put in place now that we will be dealing with a Canadian company based out of Calgary?
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LocationWhat role have fire marshals and fire chiefs played in the siting decision? Where exactly on the site will the plant be located and what will be the footprint of the disturbed area? What land management plan will you have for the remainder of the site? Why this particular location? It is 25.5 miles from Duke Energy Roxboro Plant. Where exactly is the facility being sited on the 468 acres? Where are the gas lines on the property? Are the gas lines one or two directional? What size are the gas lines? Where do the gas lines go? Who owns the gas lines at the proposed site? Who owns the land now? If leased, what is the plan for land ownership? What buffers are planned for this facility? What was the process for choosing the site and analysis of this site that led to choosing it? Why did they pick this location? Were other locations closer to the Hyco Lake power plant considered? Why would you build so close to Camp Butner? Was this considered in making this location choice? Will a 50-million-gallon LNG storage facility so close to Camp Butner make this a prime target for terrorist attacks? How will this be protected from a possible attack? Why was this site chosen versus the other proposed sites in the county? What are the parcel numbers? Where are these parcels located?
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ProcessWhat are the processes to be followed for LNG, from receiving, refining, cooling, storing, and transporting? Please address the physical form/attributes of the natural gas at each step. Please state how the gas will be “cleaned” before chilling and every hazardous material that will be used in this or other processes. Will there be chimneys with fire flares coming out of them? How often will the flares go off? Is this a refinery? If not, explain the differences. What will you actually be doing at this site? What is the process? What fuel will you be using for what purposes? What will be coming into the plant? What will be removed from the gas if being processed? What will you do with the hydrogen sulfate/sulfide, benzene, etc, if you are processing? How will you store the waste gasses? What quantity of waste gasses will you have on site? How long will these waste materials remain on site? Dominion Energy says they will not be storing any of the materials removed from the gas before chilling, like water, CO2, hydrogen sulfide, benzene—these will immediately go back into the gas in the distribution pipes. But they may be using hazardous materials/substances to do the removal of these materials from the gas—they have not said anything about how this removal will be done or what is used. I would like to know every kind of material that they will be using or having on the site.
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Dominion Energy's Experience with Similar FacilitiesHow many LNG facilities does Dominion Energy currently operate? How many of these facilities have they sold in the last year? To what companies? Where are the closest three facilities? What incidents/accidents has Dominion Energy had at its facilities? What was the damage from these accidents/ incidents? What financial impact from these accidents/incidents? What regulations and regulatory agencies are Dominion Energy required to answer once the facility is built? How have property values of neighbors been affected by other LNG facilities? What has been the impact on residential property values where similar facilities have been built?
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Resources RequiredHow much water is needed at the facility when it is operational? If both Phase I and Phase II are up and running, will this require two 350,000 gallons of water tanks for fire suppression? I’d be interested to know how much water the plant will use, what type of testing they plan to do regarding water quality, how often will they share that info with the community? Approximately 350 K gallons of water will be removed by operations at this site. What impact does this have on our aquifer? Where are you going to get the water needed for this facility? What cell service and high-speed internet infrastructure will be used at this facility? What is the power source(s) of the facility? Electric/natural gas/propane? What impact will the water needs of this facility be on our aquifer? How will a drought affect the needs of the community and this facility?
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Quality of LifeWhat is being done to protect the surrounding farms and farmland? How can we have food with no farms? What about the impact on our homes? How will this impact the population of Bald Eagles in this area? What are the benefits for the people living in this immediate area? What are the benefits to Person County? Will there be sources of money to test our wells for safety going forward? If not, who will provide this for the surrounding neighbors? What are the typical impacts to property values that are located close to these sites? Do you intend to maintain a screen that will obscure the facility from public roads and residences? What will be the minimum safety buffer (distance from the source of such a potential event and the nearest residence) in case of a leak or catastrophic event? What is the impact zone in the case of a catastrophic event? How many people are in this impact zone? How did you arrive at that answer? How many people live within a 2 mile radius? What rights do I have as an American citizen/taxpayer/property owner to ensure that Dominion Energy does not pollute my air space and land and have an overall negative impact on my property values? Is Dominion Energy liable for health effects of landowners located within a certain proximity to the site for years to come? Who will cover the damages to foundations, wells, and other structures when blasting is done?
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Environmental ConcernsHave you done an environmental assessment of the site, looked for rare species, what information do you have about what is of natural or historic value on the site. How will you protect the headwaters of the 3 branches that arise on the site? What about the Atlantic pigtoe freshwater mussel that is threatened under the Endangered Species Act and lives in the waterways on the proposed site for this facility? What specific equipment and methods, rather than engineering estimates, will be used to regularly measure methane emissions using strict science-based standards? Would you explain the pros and cons of carbon emissions vs. methane emissions regarding their impact on climate change/global warming? What environmental studies have been done? What will be the levels of air, light, and noise pollution? How much? What well testing will be done now and in the future? Will the emissions data be available to the public? Where can this information be found? If not, why? What are the potential hazards of having this facility so close to my property? What are the typical contaminants that are introduced into the ground water and air? What hazardous materials will be onsite? What building ordinances and codes, regulations, and regulatory agencies are required to be followed? What regulations in any form are from Person County, and when were they or will be put in place? We seek demonstrations to ensure that this project will produce and transport LNG according to best-in-class standards of methane monitoring, reporting and verification to achieve a near-zero methane emissions intensity. In 2008, a similar site in Huntersville, NC is now very polluted. How will this be avoided? Are there other environmental studies not mentioned above that have been done? Will well testing be done? What kind and how often? What precautions will be taken to safeguard the residents that live in the immediate area from visible and invisible risks? What environmental impact studies have been performed and will be performed before and after the site is operational? Will there be any active test wells to monitor the drinking water to ensure its safety for the life of my property? If so, where will these wells be located and how often will they be monitored?
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Analysis and Breakdown of Environmental ImpactWhat waterways and drinking water will be affected by this facility? Flat River, Neuse River? What is the impact of your facility on the local underground water system? If there is contamination to the local water supply, what is your response plan? What safeguards are you putting in place to protect the water supply? In the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster, what safeguards are you putting in place? What is the Air Shed? What is the cumulative air impact with the MEC? What light pollution will be emitted by this facility? How will the air pollution be mitigated? What is the plan for waste removal? What chemicals are released when LNG is refined/processed at the facility? How are the released chemicals contained? What happens to the released chemicals once they are contained? What steps will be taken to limit light pollution? What steps will be taken to limit noise pollution? What is your plan for disposing of benzene, methane, etc? What kind of dispersion modeling is being done for each toxic substance and its behavior upon release? What safety measures are being incorporated into the design and operation of the facility? Describe the gas release plan. What is Dominion Energy’s and Enbridge’s plan for renewables and phasing out fossil fuels? Are innovative stormwater controls being used? How many acres will be mass graded for this project? How big are the buffers around tributaries that feed into the Flat River? Will the runoff be captured and remain on site? Will there be stormwater ponds? How many years are they being covered? 50 year, 100 year stormwater ponds?
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Emergency Response and SafetyAlthough the chance may be small, materials received and stored at the LNG plant could generate overpressures from a vapor cloud explosion. What is the minimum distance allowable between residences and the LNG facility at maximum capacity? How is that distance determined? Also, we seek demonstrations that state of the art plans are in place to mitigate explosion risk and prepare and respond to the occurrence of explosions and fires. How does Dominion Energy/Enbridge plan to contact nearby residents if there is some type of emergency, especially since we have unreliable phone service? Who is your emergency response team? What communities are involved and trained for such emergencies? How will this affect air space around Life Flights? Who will train the emergency responders? Who will pay for emergency responder training? Who will pay for any additional equipment needed to deal with an emergency? What is the disaster plan in case of an accident? What is the evacuation plan? What about the potential for attacks on this facility? How will you reach the local neighbors when we have no cell service and spotty internet? What is the blast zone? Is this site going to make us a strategic target? What about explosions? How will they be controlled, and the community kept updated? What is the evacuation zone? Is there a siren when an accident occurs? How often will you test this siren? Gas fires can’t be extinguished with water. Are they going to train our firefighters? How will you inform the neighbors when you are testing this siren? What is the accident prevention plan? What is the accident response plan?
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TransportationDescribe the transportation process for incoming and outgoing fracked gas. What precautions will be put in place for school buses near the facility? What circumstances will require fracked gas to be transported by truck? How often do you forecast the need for truck transportation of fracked gas? How many trucks per day/week/month do you expect to use in transporting fracked gas both incoming and outgoing?
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Other Facilities RecordsSimilar plants - e.g. Robeson: Provide accident records, lawsuits, impacts on economy and environment
These are questions from the surrounding neighbors of the proposed Dominion Energy/Enbridge LNG facility. Over the past several months, we have found answers to some of these questions, on our own, but many remain unanswered. We have yet to hear from Dominion Energy, with respect to this list of questions. We continue to ask that these be addressed and answered even though zoning and permit decisions have been and are being made by the Person County Planning Board and Board of County Commissioners. We acknowledge that some questions are similar, but we want everyone’s voice heard. (last updated 4/12/2024)
NOMEC IN THE NEWS
Pre-construction muddied waters already an issue at proposed energy center site
Ignoring residents concerns, county approves LNG facility in Neuse Watershed
'Shame! Shame! Shame!' Opponents of LNG plant outraged after Person County approval | NC Newsline
Person County commissioners vote to approve 600-acre Dominion natural gas facility despite community's protest (wral.com)
Dominion gas storage tank plan draws Person County concerns | Raleigh News & Observer (newsobserver.com)
Person County Planning Board Recommends Rezoning for LNG Facility Amid Public Outrage | Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (bredl.org)
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