‘We’ve got to win this battle’

The North Carolina Utilities Commission issued an order Dec. 30 adopting an initial Carbon Plan to meet the requirements of House Bill 951 – a 70-percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from Duke Energy electric-generating facilities in North Carolina from 2005 levels by 2030 and carbon dioxide neutrality by the year 2050 while maintaining or improving the reliability of the electric system.

Those goals would impact the two coal-fired plants in Person County.

Under the plan, the generation unit at the Mayo Plant will be retired in 2029 alongside units 1 and 2 at the Roxboro Plant on Hyco Lake.

The retirement date for units 3 and 4 at the Roxboro Plant vary and may be retired as early as 2029 or as late as 2034.

The Person County Board of Commissioners retained outside legal counsel and an energy consulting firm in its efforts to extend the life of Duke Energy’s Roxboro and Mayo generating stations and intervened in the Utilities Commission proceedings with requests to extend the proposed closure dates for the Mayo and Roxboro coal plants, require replacement generation assets to be located in Person County and provide community support for those affected by the pending closures.

Those requests were not met in the order.

In response, the commissioners voted at their Jan. 17 meeting to retain legislative lobbyist EQV Strategic.

County Attorney Ellis Hankins said House Bill 951 will not likely come back in full for discussion, but it would be beneficial to ask the legislature to consider financial transition assistance to the county, incentives for Duke Energy to replace generation assets in Person County and continue to make use of its current transmission infrastructure.

At last Thursday’s Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet, Duke Energy District Manager Tanya Evans highlighted the company’s presence in Person County with employees involved in several important local institutions including the Piedmont Community College Board of Trustees, the Chamber of Commerce board and moments of everyday life.

“Our employees are little league coaches,” Evans said. “They’re dance moms. They serve on church committees. Our Mayo employees sold hot dogs and auctioned parking spots to raise an endowment for a Piedmont Community College scholarship. Our linemen collected Toys for Tots and have been reading buddies. Our Roxboro teammates organized a golf tournament that benefits the Partnership for Children and My Life Matters. We are volunteer firefighters and Boy Scout leaders and we are Kiwanians and Rotarians. The point is: we live here, we work here, we play here, we pray here, we raise our families here and we retire here. Person County is as much a part of Duke Energy as Duke Energy is Person County. I know we are all keenly interested in what our future looks like over the next decade and while I don’t have any specifics right now of what that looks like, I can tell you this: Duke Energy is aligned with Person County’s interests in siting replacement generation at Roxboro and Mayo.” 

Evans noted that the plants will continue to operate until reliable replacement generation assets are operational.

“In the recent Carbon Plan order, the North Carolina Utilities Commission reiterated reliability as a non-negotiable,” Evans said. “It emphasized support for an orderly energy transition out of coal to maintain reliability, approving our plan to continue utilizing our coal-fired generation assets until replacement generation units and our transmission lines are in service. Furthermore, we are deeply committed to our employees –ensuring that we support them now in their roles at these critical plants and in supporting their transition to other roles and furthering their careers at Duke Energy as we retire the plants. We appreciate the positive and collaborative and ongoing conversations throughout this process and we are committed to continuing that dialogue and collaboration. I am optimistic about our next chapter here in Person County.”

In her update Tuesday, Cathey said county representatives previously met with Duke Energy leadership and would be meeting again Friday with the Duke’s state leadership.

County Commission chair Gordon Powell said the county worked with Duke before getting involved in the Utilities Commission proceeding.

“We went through several meetings with Duke Energy reps and others to try to get the best possible person to lead this from the legal standpoint beyond our county attorney and we ended up with Patrick [Buffkin] because of his expertise and it has been a good move,” Powell said. “He knows the inner workings [of the Utilities Commission] and he knows beyond that. We wanted to get the best we could and he has been our lead person there. But he has gotten to a point that his expertise is at a stopping point and he doesn’t mind saying so and that’s why we’ve gone the lobbyist route.”

EDC member Scott McKinney noted the board’s support of Duke Energy.

“As a member of the EDC, we’re 100 percent supportive of doing whatever we can to help Duke flourish here and continue to do so,” McKinney said. “I appreciate the sensitivity that public officials in our county have had in dealing with this issue and coming across as a public citizen not throwing Duke under the bus or anything. We love them – they’re our neighbors and our colleagues and want to do anything we can to keep them here.”

McKinney said he would like to be sure the lobbyists understand Duke’s history in the county to be able to clearly tell the story at hand.

“I would almost say I have a righteous anger about this entire situation,” McKinney said. “I don’t think we need to get Duke angry, but, as a citizen, I’m angry at how this is impacting our community and I appreciate everything everybody is doing to move forward. At some point along the line if we aren’t careful – and I say this to remind myself more than anybody else – there’s a reason why Highway 158 is not four lanes and the same thing might happen in this situation where other people are able to have strategic discussions with the appropriate parties that shifts things in their direction instead of our direction. This is one of those hills that the people of Person County can not die on – we’ve got to win this battle one way or the other.”

Board Chair Phillip Allen said the county would not be competing against Duke Energy.

“We are partnering with them because what happens good for them in Person County will be good for us in Person County,” Allen said. “We are prepared to do what we need to do. Like I said, Duke Energy has been the best corporate citizen here in my lifetime and this may be the most critical issue we face in our lifetime.”

EDC ex-officio member Claudia Beryhill echoed McKinney.

“As a Person County Citizen, I would say to keep pedal to the metal,” Berryhill said. “This is not a time to wimp out. We’ve got to do whatever it takes.”

The Utilities Commission order requires Duke to remodel resource additions to achieve the carbon dioxide emissions reduction mandates — including impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act, and other future legislative changes and changing conditions — and file a new proposal with the Commission by Sept. 1, 2023.

By law, the plan will be updated every two years.