Local groups urge Forsyth County to oppose Transco 'Southeast Supply Enhancement' expansion; Williams defends safety and benefits

Environmental and community groups told Forsyth County commissioners on Aug. 11 that the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company’s (Transco) Southeast Supply Enhancement Project would run through residential neighborhoods and near schools and medical facilities and urged the board to pass a formal resolution opposing the project.

The groups — Caroline Hansley of the Sierra Club and Jessica Mendez Rowe of the Piedmont Environmental Alliance — told the commissioners that the project would add roughly 1,600,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to Transco’s system by installing two new pipeline segments in Virginia and North Carolina. Mendez Rowe said the pipeline “is not going to bring any benefit to our local economy and, in fact, will only bring risks to our health and to our safety.”

Why it matters: The project is undergoing review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and by North Carolina permitting authorities. Local resolutions and public comments filed now and during agency comment periods can be entered in state and federal review documents, presenters said. The Sierra Club and Piedmont Environmental Alliance asked the board to file an opposition resolution in the FERC docket and to submit the county’s concerns in state permitting processes.

Key claims and local impacts - Speakers said the SSEP design would put a 42‑inch pipeline (described in presentations as roughly the diameter of a hula hoop) in or next to an existing multi‑pipe corridor that already carries high‑pressure natural gas across Forsyth County. Caroline Hansley told commissioners that roughly 93% of the added capacity would go to three large customers for commercial power generation, and that Transco’s application estimates the project cost at about $1.5 billion (2024 dollars). Hansley also noted FERC’s plan to prepare an environmental assessment rather than a full environmental impact statement. - Presenters displayed a map showing the…