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Forsyth County urges FERC and NCDEQ to address safety, environmental risks before approving Transco SSEP
Summary
Following extensive public comment, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution asking FERC and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to require additional environmental review and safety assurances for the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project.
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 28 adopted a resolution urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to require additional environmental and safety analysis before approving the Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SSEP) and, if those steps are not satisfied, to deny permits and approvals.
Commissioner Bessie read the resolution and moved its adoption; Commissioner McDaniel seconded. The board voted unanimously to send the resolution to FERC and NCDEQ.
The resolution asks federal and state regulators to: fully consider health, safety, environmental and economic impacts raised by residents; require a comprehensive environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act that includes a no-action alternative; ensure meaningful consultation with impacted communities; require Transco to submit prompt emergency-notification plans for affected residents and local emergency management agencies; and withhold air- or water-quality permits until regulators are satisfied the project will not cause water quality degradation, irreversible impacts to wetlands or unacceptable air-quality impacts.
The SSEP proposal described in the resolution would add about 24 miles of 42-inch pipeline through parts of Guilford, Rockingham, Forsyth and Davidson counties and increase capacity by about 1,600,000 decatherms per day, the resolution states. The resolution also cites a Pipeline Safety Trust analysis characterizing Transco facilities as having among the poorer safety records in categories such as fatalities, cost per incident and releases per incident.
More than a dozen residents and environmental organizers urged the board to act during public comment, citing safety, health and limited local economic benefits. Jessica Rowe of the Piedmont Environmental Alliance told commissioners that the project would bring “almost no more permanent jobs across the entire state,” could reduce property values along the right of way, and would cross major roadways and several schools as well as Novant Kernersville Medical Center and the Kernersville VA clinic. She asked the board to support the resolution asking regulators to deny permits or approvals until concerns are addressed.
Calls and speakers from residents echoed safety worries about co-locating new pipeline segments adjacent to aging lines, potential impacts on emergency response capacity near hospitals and schools, and questions about who would bear cleanup and remediation costs in the event of a failure. Anne Heller, who called in from 1125 Edgebrook Drive, said disturbing the ground near existing pipelines “is asking for problems” and cited a recent pipeline rupture in Roanoke County, Va. Resident Rosalynn Sloan noted an asserted impact radius of about 0.7 miles for the project and said people would have “30 seconds to evacuate” in a worst-case failure—an evacuation window she characterized as unrealistic for hospitals and schools.
Commissioners’ discussion referenced limits to local regulatory authority. Planning Director Chris Murphy and others said some community concerns—such as regulating homeownership versus rental or permitting short-term rentals—are constrained by state law and not addressable directly by county planning. The resolution therefore focuses on asking FERC and NCDEQ to apply rigorous review and specific regulatory conditions.
Commissioner Bessie said county attorney edits had been incorporated to better match statutory language governing permit findings and water-quality standards. The board’s motion conditions denial of project permits on regulators’ failure to require measures that, among other things, minimize surface-water and wetland impacts, prevent groundwater or downstream water-quality violations, and require mitigation for permanent impacts.
The resolution record and public comments will be forwarded to FERC and NCDEQ along with the county’s request for additional study and meaningful community consultation.
