Situational Analysis: Enbridge's Chatham County Expansion Project

This was sent to me as a PDF by a dear friend. I wanted to publish it, but to do so it needed to be a web link. I'm making this link now to reference back at the Tree Museum Blog:

Preface

My background is in economic modelling and software architecture. What attracted me to both of those disciplines was the fundamental need to develop a systems view. That’s what I’ve attempted to do here - to scope boundaries; identify key elements and actors; determine relationships, interactions, and operating constraints; and in the case of achieving a satisfactory resolution, identifying points of leverage and areas of potential compromise.

I’m working to understand and resolve a problem that threatens my community, not to seek attention, make a statement, or advance an ideology. My analysis and recommendations will likely irritate and anger some readers. I can only reiterate that I’m working to understand and resolve a problem, and to do so within the current economic, technical, and political reality.

At least, that’s the case to a point. I fundamentally draw a line at the infringement of individual sovereignty and the associated violation of property rights.

I’m working alone with my curiosity, limited expertise in some areas, and a compressed time horizon. Consequently, I have relied on technology to enable discovery - specifically the leading LLMs. I have utilized these models as if they are research collaborators, engaging in interview-style conversations across a considerable number of topics. I alone determined the areas of investigation and the lines of questioning to pursue.

I have fact-checked by reviewing source-linked material and for advanced technical subjects, have applied the practice of corroboration across multiple LLMs, refining framing and questioning to reach concurrence in order to establish the credibility of a claim. That is, to establish that a claim makes logical sense, fits known facts, and is technically feasible and justifies asking questions.

I see no way to avoid this when working in a space where information is intentionally withheld and where access to experts is constrained by budget, prior commitments, and existing conflicts of interest. Consider what follows as an informed narrative, perhaps flawed but not intentionally so. I believe the analysis is directionally accurate.

I encourage journalists to investigate and subject matter experts to review.

Steve Jenisch

July 29, 2026 The Framing

Enbridge’s Chatham County System Expansion project, a 28 mile lateral pipeline, begins at the Siler City Advanced Manufacturing industrial park (CAM) and terminates at its sister site, the Moncure Triangle Innovation Point industrial park (TIP).

This project should not be considered in isolation. Rather, it’s necessary to examine the project in the context of the emerging energy architecture of the region, the collaboration between Enbridge Gas North Carolina and Duke Energy, the investments that are being committed to realize this architecture, and the forces of energy demand that are motivating these investments.

Once the regional energy infrastructure and the demand motivating its development are established, it’s then necessary to consider the legal and administrative mechanisms controlling project reviews and approvals, as well as the political and economic forces that influence decisionmaking.

Finally, it’s important to examine the disadvantages private landowners must overcome in order to effectively protect individual property rights, and question why the State of North Carolina has structured administrative and legislative mechanisms that effectively shift the infrastructure costs of private economic development onto individual landowners through the statutory exercise of eminent domain.

The Emerging Regional Energy Architecture

The newly integrated Enbridge Gas North Carolina network (rebranded from the legacy Public Service Company of North Carolina, or PSNC, following its acquisition from Dominion Energy) is undergoing a major, multi-billion-dollar modernization. The system’s architecture is shifting from a standard downstream utility network into a heavily reinforced, highly strategic energy corridor designed to feed massive new industrial hubs, technology megaprojects, and transitionary power generation growth.

The entire regional pipeline layout functions as an integrated macro-system stretching across central North Carolina:

Upstream Sourcing & Core Pipeline Infrastructure

The network’s high-pressure architecture starts on its western edge, forming a synchronized system designed to capture interstate gas supply and move it securely across the state:

The Inlet Node (Eden Interconnect): Located in Rockingham County, this critical gateway taps directly into high-volume interstate pipelines—specifically the Williams Transco pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate extension. The Ruffin Compressor Station sits at this junction to heavily pressurize incoming Appalachian supply.

The T15 Reliability Project: To transport this pressurized gas eastward, Enbridge is advancing a 45-mile high-pressure pipeline corridor. Running parallel to a legacy 63-year-old PSNC line, this loop uses 30- and 36-inch steel piping to exponentially multiply regional capacity, targeted for full commercial service by the end of 2027. Because it lies entirely inside North Carolina state lines, it circumvents federal FERC licensing, operating under the sole purview of the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

The Chatham County System Expansion: Further south, Enbridge is building a 28-mile greenfield pipeline extending from Siler City southeast to Moncure. This appears to be designed as a critical county-wide lateral to connect and loop isolated segments, providing hydraulic stabilization and service extension for legacy PSNC infrastructure, firm supply for growing industrial manufacturing demand, as well as providing a strategic peak demand buffer to protect critical T15 supply commitments. Construction is slated to start in late 2027, opening a firm downstream service window by spring 2028.

Relationships to Duke Energy Power Generation

The pipeline architecture maintains a tight, codependent relationship with Duke Energy to facilitate the utility’s massive pivot away from coal-fired electricity:

● Roxboro Generation Hub: Enbridge's 45-mile T15 pipeline terminates directly at Duke’s massive power generation complex at Hyco Lake near Roxboro. Duke is retiring its legacy coal units here, replacing them with state-of-the-art 2,720-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle plants fueled directly by Enbridge's newly multiplied capacity.

● Grid Transmission & Electrification Backstop: Downstream at the Moncure hub, Duke Energy's historic Cape Fear coal plant has been retired and turned into a grid transmission station. While Duke performs no generation at this location, they are expected to sign massive electrical power contracts with nearby advanced manufacturing and digital technology customers. With the Enbridge gas line operating right next to advanced manufacturers that are also reliant on high volumes of natural gas, local factory demand is served from its own isolated loop, allowing the main interstate transmission line to remain highly pressurized and completely unburdened. This enables the T15 line to reliably supply the massive volumes required by Duke Energy's multi-gigawatt power plants.

Connections to Major Industrial Sites & Data Centers

Driven by an unprecedented advanced manufacturing and power generation boom, industrial load is the absolute fastest-growing vertical in the network, experiencing high single-digit to double-digit structural growth expectations. The Semiconductor Anchor: Located at the western terminus of the Chatham County expansion, Wolfspeed's $5 billion silicon carbide semiconductor plant in Siler City is the primary customer driving immediate capacity. Chip fabrication demands intense, 24/7 high-heat furnace operations and absolute grid reliability that renewable energy alone cannot guarantee.

The Moncure Megasite: The eastern end of the expansion terminates near the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) in Moncure. A portion of the design capacity would have been allocated to fuel critical processes at VinFast's proposed electric vehicle plant. Given that the State of North Carolina is suing VinFast for default, this likely sits as "reserved growth" capacity for alternative heavy industrial tenants.

The Piedmont Natural Gas Interconnect: Piedmont Natural Gas (PNC), a subsidiary of Duke Energy, provides natural gas service to Lee County. An existing Enbridge/PNC interconnect gateway in the TIP vicinity enables gas to flow between the two pipeline networks and would allow the Chatham County System Expansion pipeline to supplement and stabilize the PNC network in support of industrial customers. Since both utilities source their gas from the same Transco transmission hub, they presumably coordinate their loads to further ensure stable supply.

Industrial Data Centers: The massive power grid built out around the Roxboro pipeline and Duke Energy plants is directly supplying digital technology infrastructure, most notably a 1,300-acre Microsoft Data Center campus currently expanding in Person County as well as the Eco TIP West Data Center at Triangle Innovation Point when it eventually ramps up operations.

Dispersed Residential, Commercial, and Storage Consumers

The balance of the network serves a strong "volumetric baseload" of traditional consumers stabilized by innovative infrastructure.

Residential Baseload: Representing the largest overall share of active customer connections, the residential segment covers the network's foundational fixed operating costs. It is seeing steady low-to-mid single-digit growth fueled by suburban expansion surrounding growing metropolitan centers like Raleigh and Durham.

The Legacy Storage Grid & Cary LNG: Historically, area service reliability during winter freeze spikes has been managed via interstate Transco taps and the Cary LNG peak shaving facility. Additionally, Interruptible Service Agreements legally allow Enbridge to temporarily cut gas flow to heavy commercial users to keep residential lines pressurized during sub-freezing emergency anomalies.

System Equilibrium: The Moriah Energy Center (MEC) Because the old infrastructure of Transco taps and the Cary facility has reached its physical capacity limits, Enbridge is completing a regional "pressure battery" north of Durham in Person County:

The Moriah Energy Center (MEC) is a massive greenfield Liquefied Natural Gas facility whose primary tank holds 25 million gallons of LNG (approx. 2 billion cubic feet of gas). The steel dome roof was hydraulically raised in September 2025, and cryogenic equipment is actively being installed for a 2027 full in-service target.

By storing cheap gas in the summer and releasing it directly into the region's pipeline arteries during peak winter events, the MEC provides a local, independent backup and pressure stabilizer.

The Drivers of Energy Demand

The Chatham County System Expansion project announcement states:

Enbridge Gas is developing a 28‑mile natural gas pipeline to meet growing residential,

commercial and industrial energy needs in Chatham and Lee counties. With strong

economic and population growth in the region, additional natural gas capacity is

essential to support expanding communities and major industrial users, but also to help

ensure continued reliable service for existing Enbridge Gas customers.

Across Enbridge’s regional residential service area, electricity significantly outpaces natural gas as the dominant household energy source. The primary indicator for regional utility demand is household space heating, which has traditionally served as the baseline for whether a home is connected to the gas grid. The county-by-county breakdown across urban, suburban, and rural residences illustrates demand patterns and trends.

Core Urban Counties (Wake & Durham): In the high-density, rapidly growing urban centers, utility natural gas infrastructure is robust but still trails electricity due to the massive influx of modern multi-family apartments and all-electric suburban developments.

Electricity: ~50% to 55% of households.

Utility Natural Gas: ~40% to 42% of households.

In Wake County, for example, utility gas hovers around 41–42%, while electricity claims over half the market. Durham shares a very similar tight split, though electricity remains the clear leader.

Suburban & Mid-Size Counties (Orange & Johnston): As you move into counties with a mix of established municipal centers and expanding suburban tract housing, the reliance on the piped gas grid drops noticeably. Electricity: ~60% to 65% of households.

Utility Natural Gas: ~20% to 30% of households.

Orange County exhibits a strong push toward residential electrification, with natural gas infrastructure heavily concentrated around Chapel Hill and Carrboro, leaving a larger share of the county dependent on the electric grid. Johnston County's massive recent housing boom features a heavy mix of all-electric heat pump systems.

Rural & Exurban Peripheries (Chatham & Lee): In the more rural areas of the Triangle, underground utility gas lines are historically limited to major industrial corridors or dense municipal pockets, shifting the reliance heavily toward the electric grid or delivered fuels.

Electricity: ~45% to 55% of households.

Utility Natural Gas: ~15% to 20% of households.

Propane / LP Tank Gas: ~25% to 30% of households.

Chatham County presents a distinct profile: only about 15% of homes utilize piped utility natural gas. Because large swaths of the county lack access to main lines, residents rely heavily on electricity or delivered bottled/LP propane gas (which accounts for nearly 30% of homes—one of the highest ratios in the region) to bridge the gap.

Statistics gathered from MLS data on recently closed homes within Chatham Park indicate that 70-80% of homes utilize electric heat pumps for primary heat; 20-30% utilize natural gas for auxiliary backup heat; 60-70% utilize natural gas tankless on-demand water heaters; 75-85% utilize natural gas for cooking; where fireplaces exist, 90% utilize natural gas logs; and 40-50% of premium lots utilize natural gas for outdoor kitchens and fire pits.

The utilization of natural gas for peak winter heating (auxiliary backup and fireplaces) is an interesting trend. Historically, PSNC employed a curtailment strategy (carried forward by Enbridge/Dominion) to manage peak energy use spikes, contractually requiring industrial customers on low rate interruptible tariff plans to suspend natural gas consumption until the spike subsides.

The reasons for this are mandated residential priority and safety. In a standard radial or single-feed pipeline network (like segments of the legacy PSNC system), gas flows from a high-pressure transmission line down to lower-pressure distribution laterals.

When a severe winter freeze hits, residential heating demand spikes across the region. Because natural gas is compressible, this sudden, massive withdrawal of volume causes a sharp drop in pressure localized at the tail ends of the system. As velocity increases to meet demand, frictional resistance along the pipe interior walls grows exponentially, causing impurities scoured from the pipe interior to enter the gas flow and risks damaging downstream equipment. This localized pressure drop, known as pressure sag, also risks dropping the line below the minimum operating pressure required to keep downstream pilot lights lit and regulators functioning.

The Chatham and Lee County areas of North Carolina have recently transformed into a major hub for advanced manufacturing. The mega-sites in this region have attracted specific, ultra-high-investment facilities that perfectly fit the profile of curtailment-averse consumers. Because of the precise physics, chemistry, and environmental controls required by these industries, even minor disruptions in utility baseloads can trigger catastrophic financial or material losses.

Prominent local examples include:

Semiconductor Crystal Growth: Wolfspeed (Siler City, Chatham County)

Located at the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) Site, Wolfspeed’s massive multi-billion dollar facility is dedicated to manufacturing silicon carbide wafers.

Why it is curtailment-averse: Semiconductor manufacturing and wafer fabrication require highly precise, continuous thermal profiles. The crystal growth phase operates at temperatures exceeding 2,000°C for days or weeks at a time to form uniform crystalline structures.

The Impact: A sudden drop in natural gas pressure or supply that affects the thermal stability of the furnaces doesn't just pause the assembly line—it ruins the entire batch of silicon carbide crystals. Furthermore, the cooling of specialized fabrication equipment must be precisely managed to prevent physical cracking or structural warping of multi-million dollar machinery.

Advanced Biopharmaceuticals & Gene Therapy: Pfizer & Astellas (Sanford, Lee County)

The Central Carolina Enterprise Park in Sanford houses massive investments in advanced biotechnology, notably Pfizer's gene therapy manufacturing campus and Astellas Gene Therapies.

Why they are curtailment-averse: Biopharmaceutical manufacturing relies on living systems (like custom viral vectors or cell cultures) grown inside large bioreactors. These bioreactors require absolute, uninterrupted temperature regulation, agitation, and precise climate baseloads. Additionally, the facilities must maintain heavily pressurized, ultra-sterile cleanrooms to satisfy strict FDA regulations.

The Impact: A loss of energy infrastructure or process heat can lead to a drop in cleanroom pressure or a temperature swing in a bioreactor. This can instantly compromise or kill a living batch of therapies. Because these are highly regulated, rare-disease therapeutics, a single ruined batch can represent millions of dollars in lost product and months of regulatory re-certification delays. Large-Scale Automotive & Heavy Industry Assembly: VinFast & Caterpillar (Moncure & Sanford)

While vehicle and heavy machinery assembly lines can theoretically pause shifts more easily than a semiconductor fab or a biopharma cleanroom, they still feature critical sub-processes that are highly sensitive to sudden energy drops.

VinFast (Triangle Innovation Point, Moncure): An electric vehicle facility requires massive, continuous thermal inputs for its paint-shop curing ovens and advanced structural welding/stamping. If gas-fired curing ovens drop temperature mid-cycle, the finish on a massive volume of vehicle bodies can be ruined, forcing extensive scrap and structural cleaning.

Caterpillar (Sanford): Heavy manufacturing and assembly facilities utilize natural gas for metal pre-heating and finishing processes where temperature consistency dictates the structural integrity of the components.

The presence of these types of industries explains why utility providers are often forced to propose high-capacity infrastructure upgrades in these specific corridors. To attract and retain advanced manufacturing like semiconductor fabs and gene-therapy plants, local utilities must be able to guarantee "firm" service contracts with virtually zero risk of seasonal peak-day curtailment.

Absent the contractual demand management solution of curtailment, Enbridge must build hydraulic stabilization into its pipeline network. In some areas this is accomplished by injecting natural gas into the system from LNG sites like the legacy Cary system or the new Moriah Energy Center.

In the Chatham/Lee service area, a likely design feature of the Chatham County System Expansion pipeline is to provide this stabilization function by connecting various PSNC legacy pipeline branches to the high capacity lateral as it traverses Chatham County (Enbridge has confirmed these interconnects). Further, at the Moncure/TIP terminus, the lateral will likely be connected to the existing Piedmont Gas interconnect to carry service to Lee County industrial consumers.

This analysis suggests that demand growth is overwhelmingly originating from industrial and commercial customers. Further, the stabilization provided to residential consumers is not a function of demand growth, but rather, a necessary intervention to enable the transition to firm-contract industrial consumers. As such, the claim of residential demand necessitating the project needs to be evaluated as a pretext rather than an indication of “public need”.

Legal and Administrative Mechanisms The administrative framework required for review and approval of proposed utility projects generally operates across three distinct regulatory tiers: state utility regulation, environmental permitting, and local/county property frameworks.

Because the Enbridge Chatham County System Expansion pipeline is an intrastate infrastructure development project, the primary authority should rest with state agencies rather than federal bodies like FERC. For opposition parties and impacted landowners, each stage of this framework should offer specific legal pathways to intervene, challenge data, and delay or stop progress.

State Utility Authorization: The NCUC Track

Before construction can begin, utilities generally must secure permission from the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC). The process entails filing a formal application proving that the project is "necessary and convenient" to meet public demand (e.g., reinforcing the grid or supplying regional industrial/data center growth) and that its design is technically sound and cost-effective.

The NCUC process is highly formalized, resembling a courtroom setting and making it one of the most powerful arenas for structured opposition:

Petition to Intervene: Impacted landowners, community groups, and conservation organizations can file a formal Motion to Intervene. Once granted "Intervenor Status," you become an official party to the case.

The Power of Discovery: Intervenors have the right to issue data requests (discovery) to the utility. You can force them to disclose internal modeling data, growth projections, alternative route analyses, and cost-benefit breakdowns.

Expert Testimony: Intervenors can submit pre-filed written testimony from independent experts (e.g., civil engineers, utility economists) to challenge the utility’s claims of a "public necessity."

Public Witness Hearings: The NCUC is legally required to hold public hearings where regular citizens can voice opposition on the record without needing a lawyer.

Appellate Options: If the NCUC approves the CPCN despite strong opposition, intervenors can appeal the final order directly to the North Carolina Court of Appeals within 30 days, arguing that the Commission's decision was unsupported by substantial evidence or violated state law.

However, Enbridge is not required to follow this relatively robust process.

North Carolina General Statute 62-190 empowers pipeline companies (and only pipeline

companies) with the statutory right of eminent domain, by virtue of transporting natural gas for

the public for compensation. It's an implied public benefit. It's a law that was first put on the books in 1937 (predecessor version) to promote

industrialization as a post-depression economic development engine to counter agrarian

decline. North Carolina-based gas companies were determined to be a key industrialization

driver, with the law extended in the 1950s to allow the same rights to intrastate pipelines

delivering gas sourced from outside the state. The law remains on the books to this day.

In 1937, granting eminent domain to pipeline companies was viewed as a desperate, vital public necessity to rescue a collapsing economy and build the basic infrastructure required for the state to survive. The economic condition of North Carolina today is much different from the post-depression era, calling into question the statutory carve out for pipeline companies.

This carveout also enables pipeline companies to operate with opacity and administrative action

protections. No NCUC review and approval, so no opportunity to intervene, execute discovery,

and make an argument of "private benefit".

Regarding opacity, this is on full display with the PSNC/Enbridge annual cost review docket

(G-5, Sub 699) scheduled at NCUC now. In prefiled testimony, the company asserts that there

is no significant change expected over the next 10 years in their customer mix (residential,

commercial, industrial) or customer market profiles, and consequently no necessity to explain

how changes will impact gas supply, transportation, or storage requirements.

Further, a submitted exhibit listing 39 planned pipeline projects (new and maintenance) detailing

location, year, description, length, pipe size, pressure, and estimated cost is completely

redacted from public disclosure as confidential for competition and security reasons. It’s difficult

to accept the redaction of many of these data items on those grounds. For a regulated

monopoly receiving a guaranteed rate of return on capital, it seems that the volumetric projected

demand information for each of these projects across customer segments should be available

as public information.

Enbridge attorneys were asked to relax the confidentiality claim for projected cross-segment

demand as well as all aspects of the pipeline projects with the exception of cost estimates.

They denied this request, offering an NDA as a vehicle for limited disclosure.

The terms of the NDA were unacceptable:

The Protected Information shall be used solely for the purpose of participating in the Docket. The use of or reliance upon the Protected Information in any context outside of participation in the Docket is in conflict with the purpose of this Agreement and is explicitly prohibited. Unauthorized use of the Protected Information includes, but is not limited to, using the information to inform the Recipient’s commercial negotiations, dealings, or engagements where the Protected Information is relevant or to support, or develop litigation strategies and tactics in other proceedings that are in any way related to or could impact the planned construction and operation of the proposed [pipeline] facility at issue in the Docket. Nevertheless, the interaction did yield some new information. First, a statement was made that was perhaps intended to imply that the pipeline project was motivated by expected increased residential demand:

The Chatham County Project was designed with additional capacity that could serve

approximately 8,300 residential customers. This decision recognizes the growth

potential that might be served by the pipeline and prevents EGNC from making more

costly system expansions in the future.

Second, some information on the Chatham County System Expansion pipeline was disclosed and revealed that the operating pressure would range between “500 psig or 800 psig (TBD)”. The operating pressure information combined with the pipe diameter and pipeline length enables capacity calculations.

At 500 PSI, the pipeline has a nominal throughput capacity of roughly 60,000 to 80,000 Dth/day, while at 800 PSI the maximum throughput capacity ramps up to roughly 100,000 to 130,000+ Dth/day (depending on compression and allowable pressure drop). At approximately 1 Dth/day (peak winter draw) 8,300 households consume 7% to 12% of capacity (depending on operating pressure). The remaining 88% to 93% (~70,000 to 100,000+ Dth/day) of the line's engineered throughput appears to be built specifically for large-volume, continuous industrial users.

From my point of view, transparency is good. I’ll let you sort out the benefits of confidentiality.

Opposing aspects of a pipeline project at NCUC is made difficult, regardless, given the

Commission’s focus on capital management and rate structures, rather than eminent domain

fairness or environmental protection judgements. The process, run in its entirety, would

nevertheless bring transparency and possibly political pressure to bear on the Chatham County

System Expansion project.

A “public use” challenge and associated discovery process can be pursued on a case-by-case basis in North Carolina Superior Court during a pre-condemnation right of entry or eminent domain lawsuit brought by Enbridge against a landowner. There are potential avenues to challenge NCGS 62-190’s implied public benefit based on North Carolina state constitution grounds.

Environmental Permitting: The NCDEQ Track

Enbridge still cannot construct the pipeline without explicit environmental clearances from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). Pipeline routes inevitably cross wetlands, streams, and varying soil taxonomies, triggering rigorous state protections.

Enbridge must secure several critical certifications, primarily managed by two divisions: Division of Water Resources (401 Water Quality Certification): Required if the pipeline impacts state waters or wetlands. Enbridge must prove it has minimized stream crossings and will avoid degrading water quality.

Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources (Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan): Requires a comprehensive plan detailing how they will prevent runoff and soil erosion during excavation, especially across sensitive or sloped terrain.

Environmental permitting is highly vulnerable to technical challenges:

Public Comment Windows: NCDEQ must open draft permits for public comment. This is the time to flood the registry with highly specific, data-driven critiques—such as identifying flawed soil taxonomy modeling, unmapped wetlands, or inadequate erosion controls.

Demanding a Public Hearing: Opposition groups can formally request that NCDEQ hold an in-person public hearing, which draws media attention and forces regulators to scrutinize the application more closely.

Contested Case Hearings (OAH): If NCDEQ issues the permits, a directly impacted party (like a landowner whose water resources are threatened) can file a petition in the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) within 60 days. This initiates a de novo review before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to overturn the permit.

Local Land Use & Eminent Domain (NCGS 40A)

While North Carolina law heavily shields public utilities from strict local zoning vetoes for major linear infrastructure, local interaction and the execution of property rights are critical friction points.

To clear the right-of-way, Enbridge must negotiate easements with landowners. If a landowner refuses, the utility will look to invoke eminent domain under NCGS Chapter 40A, claiming the power to condemn private property for "public use."

Landowners have significant leverage to push back or tie up the project in the court system:

Challenging "Public Necessity" in Superior Court: When Enbridge files a condemnation lawsuit to take an easement, the landowner can file an answer explicitly challenging their right to take the land. Under NCGS 40A, you can argue that the taking is not for a public use, or that the route chosen is arbitrary, capricious, or constitutes an abuse of discretion.

Valuation Disputes: If the right to take cannot be defeated, landowners can aggressively litigate the "just compensation" amount in Superior Court, demanding a jury trial to value the true impact of a high-pressure natural gas line cutting through their parcel. The problem for individual landowners, however, is that a team of legal, engineering, and environmental experts is difficult to assemble and, if you succeed, expensive. For example, major law firms operating in the utility space with necessary expertise understandably have these utilities and commercial developers and financiers as clients, immediately triggering conflicts of interest.

Political and Economic Forces

One way to examine the political and economic forces pushing industrialization is to review the incentives and public positioning associated with Wolfspeed and VinFast as anchor tenants of Chatham County’s industrial parks.

The recruitment of Wolfspeed to the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) site and VinFast to the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) in Moncure represented two of the largest economic development announcements in North Carolina history. Both projects relied heavily on overlapping layers of state and local public subsidies.

The Incentive Packages

The state of North Carolina and Chatham County structured massive, multi-decade incentive packages for both companies. These were primarily built on performance-based tax reimbursements and direct infrastructure spending.

Wolfspeed (CAM Site)

Wolfspeed’s silicon carbide wafer plant involved an estimated total incentive value of roughly $775 million to support a projected $5 billion investment.

Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG): A state grant authorizing up to $76.1 million in tax reimbursements over 20 years, contingent on meeting incremental hiring targets (1,800 jobs by 2030).

State Site Preparation & Infrastructure: $57.5 million directed by the NC Department of Commerce via legislative budget appropriations for direct site grading and utility readiness at the CAM site.

Local Government Incentives: More than $600 million in combined local property tax abatements, infrastructure matching, and incentives from Chatham County and Siler City.

VinFast (TIP Site)

VinFast’s electric vehicle assembly plant secured a record-shattering $1.2 billion incentive stack for its proposed $2 billion to $4 billion multi-phase manufacturing hub. Transformative JDIG: Worth up to $316.1 million over 32 years. This utilized the state's "transformative project" tier, which allows for longer payout terms and higher clawback protections.

Direct State Appropriations: $450 million explicitly budgeted for road improvements (including a new highway interchange), site clearing, and massive extensions of local municipal water and sewer lines to the TIP park.

Chatham County Incentives: A local incentive package valued at $400 million, primarily driven by performance-based property tax relief.

Supplemental Grants: $50 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation and $38 million in customized workforce training through the NC Community College System.

Proponents and Their Arguments

The alignment of proponents for these incentives crossed traditional partisan lines, uniting executive branch Democrats with legislative leadership Republicans, alongside regional economic development coalitions.

Key Proponents

Governor Roy Cooper (D) & Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders: Spearheaded the executive recruitment and marketing efforts.

Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R) & House Speaker Tim Moore (R): Facilitated and passed the historic state budget appropriations required to fund the megasite infrastructure.

Local Authorities: The Chatham County Economic Development Corporation, Chatham County Commissioners, and the Golden LEAF Foundation.

The Arguments For the Incentives

Proponents relied on several core economic and structural arguments to justify sending hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to private corporations:

The Clean Energy "Epicenter" Narrative: Governor Cooper argued that securing both a primary chip maker (Wolfspeed) and an EV assembler (VinFast) would position North Carolina as the undisputed East Coast hub for the green transition.

Economic Transformation of Rural/Suburban Margins: Proponents highlighted that while the Triangle's tech core was booming, western and southern Chatham County historically lagged behind. Proponents pointed to Wolfspeed's target average wage of $77,753 (compared to Chatham’s then-average of ~$41,638) as a vital vehicle for upward mobility. The Regional Multiplier Effect: Secretary Sanders and local economic groups argued that automotive assembly and industrial semiconductor plants act as "economic engines." The baseline calculation was that thousands of direct manufacturing jobs would automatically draw dozens of Tier-1 and Tier-2 ancillary suppliers to the state, exponentially growing the local tax base.

Justification of Past Policy Choices: Legislative Republicans like Senator Berger used the announcements to argue that a decade of corporate income tax cuts and "business-friendly" regulatory rollbacks were the primary reason these global entities chose NC over competing states like Georgia or Ohio.

Personal and Political Gain

When analyzing what the proponents stood to receive, the benefits classify as political capital, institutional legacy, and regional economic leverage, rather than overt monetary enrichment.

Political Capital and Legacy Building: For Governor Cooper, cementing North Carolina as a clean energy titan served as a marquee achievement for his second-term legacy. It provided concrete proof of his executive agenda to combat climate change through market-driven industrial growth.

Validating Legislative Agendas: For Republican leadership (Moore and Berger), these massive wins served as a high-profile validation of their fiscal policy choices. Being able to point to billions in private investment allowed them to counter critics who argued that cutting corporate taxes would starve the state of growth.

Regional Influence and Tax Base Growth: For local Chatham County officials and commissioners, anchoring these two facilities permanently shifts the county from a rural bedroom community to an industrial powerhouse. It drastically expands the commercial real estate tax base, giving local government massive long-term revenue advantages to fund local school systems and public infrastructure without raising residential property tax rates.

Counter-Criticism: Free-market think tanks (such as the John Locke Foundation) strongly criticized these moves, arguing that the political gain came at the direct expense of regular taxpayers, resulting in the state picking corporate "winners and losers" while placing an unfair infrastructure burden on local utility and public resources.

By May 2026, the ambitious economic development plans for Chatham County faced significant legal and financial adjustments. North Carolina’s dual-track industrial expansion took a sharp turn when Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed a default lawsuit against VinFast.

The $5 billion John Palmour (JP) silicon carbide facility in Siler City remains intact. It achieved production readiness late last year and is growing its first batches of 200mm crystals, though its long-term manufacturing ramp-up has been slowed significantly under a more disciplined financial approach.

Proponents rationalize the legal fight with VinFast by asserting that the Moncure megasite is now significantly more valuable than it was four years ago. Because the state utilized hundreds of millions in public funds to clear the land, grade the topography, and run municipal water, sewer, and prepare highway access directly to the park, they argue the site is now a turn-key asset that can be quickly transferred to an alternative heavy manufacturer.

It should also be noted that, in addition to state executive branch officials such as former governor and now Democratic senate candidate Roy Cooper, key county and legislative elected officials celebrated at the VinFast ground breaking ceremony. They included Karen Howard, Chatham County commissioner and then chair; Robert Rieves, House District 54 representative; and Natalie Murdock, Senate District 20 representative. Also attending the ceremony was Chatham County Economic Development Corporation president Michael Smith.

This political event underscored a policy irony: elected leaders utilized substantial public economic incentives to recruit a private manufacturer from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a country that has famously integrated state-capitalist, market-oriented mechanisms into its economy.

Following subsequent development delays at the Moncure site and the eventual default lawsuit, these officials maintain a strong incentive to secure a replacement industrial tenant. Consequently, their policy positions regarding Enbridge’s natural gas transmission infrastructure remain intertwined with the necessity of ensuring regional site-readiness for future recruitment.

Another factor to consider in this analysis is the structural configuration of the area’s elected representation. Chatham County employs a district-residency, countywide at-large framework for its Board of Commissioners, paired with legislative house and senate districts that bridge disparate rural/urban communities. This electoral design also creates a distinct geographic representation gap for rural residents in the immediate vicinities of both the TIP and the proposed pipeline route.

Because commissioners must reside in specific districts but are elected by the countywide electorate as a whole, the outcomes are mathematically determined by the higher-density, urban-adjacent precincts of the north and northeast. A decade-long analysis of precinct-level returns demonstrates that the preferences of rural western and southern precincts are consistently counterbalanced by those northern voting blocs. This insulating electoral mechanism effectively decouples countywide decision-making from the immediate localized impacts borne by rural landowners.

And there was a devastating localized impact on the Merry Oaks community as a consequence of the VinFast misadventure. Transportation system improvements in the form of a multi-lane highway and interchange configuration required significant acreage right where the historic community of Merry Oaks was located. NCDOT initiated eminent domain proceedings to condemn and acquire private properties including 27 homes, 5 local businesses, and the Merry Oaks Baptist Church. The availability of eminent domain powers allowed NCDOT engineers to view the existence of the Merry Oaks community not as a constraint, but rather, as a free variable in the design of the project.

Standing as the heart of the community since 1888, the Merry Oaks Baptist Church was directly in the crosshairs of the highway alignment. In June 2024, the historic building was permanently demolished by wrecking crews to clear the way for NCDOT's right-of-way. Residents expressed profound grief and a sense of powerlessness, noting that the rapid acceleration of the project, combined with limited opportunities to mount an opposition defense, effectively erased a tight-knit community for a government subsidized corporate venture.

The land was cleared, yet no construction has commenced. Rather than viewing the planned highway improvements solely as a dedicated access road for VinFast, the upgrades are now viewed as foundational infrastructure for the broader Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) megasite. The state and county will presumably leverage the completed right-of-way clearing and pending interchange improvements to market the 1,700+ acre industrial site to future manufacturing tenants.

Eco TIP West

While not directly served by the Chatham County System Expansion pipeline, the proposed 750mw Eco TIP West data center provides further insight into political and economic forces at play. Consider that a 1gw state-of-the-art AI data center is estimated to cost $35b to take it from dirt to token production at full build capacity.

Duke Energy is expected to meet Eco TIP West electricity needs through grid connection, presumably generated from the Hyco Lake 2,720-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle facility fueled via Enbridge's expanded T15 pipeline capacity. To put this integration in economic perspective, venture capital sources estimate that incorporating equivalent on-site power infrastructure would increase baseline capital expenditures by an estimated $15 billion, demonstrating the significant economic advantage of direct grid interconnection.

Consider Kirk Bradley, who serves as the manager of Eco TIP West LLC alongside his role as Chairman, President, and CEO of Lee-Moore Capital Company. In this dual capacity, Bradley coordinates the local real estate procurement, development strategies, and joint-venture frameworks necessary to clear the path for the multi-billion-dollar hyperscale installation.

Bradley developed Mosaic, the 44-acre, $180 million mixed-use entertainment and lifestyle destination that serves as the primary “commercial gateway” to Chatham Park, aligning Lee-Moore Capital's interests with Preston Development Company (Tim Smith and Bubba Rawl, and financial backer Jim Goodnight). Bradley also has close ties to the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation, where he serves as the Chairman of the Accelerate 2026 Council. Launched in late 2021 as a five-year public/private economic initiative, Accelerate 2026 was designed to pool private business capital alongside public funds to aggressively market Chatham County within the Research Triangle Region and Carolina Core. This campaign directly set the stage for recruiting those massive industrial anchors to Chatham’s industrial megasites.

This synergy is physically materialized at the 79°West Innovation Hub inside the Mosaic development, which houses both the Chatham Chamber of Commerce and a satellite office for the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). By embedding the county's primary business and recruitment networks directly within a Lee-Moore Capital footprint, the development becomes the literal geographic nexus where regional growth, infrastructure readiness, and utility expansions are discussed among local leaders.

Through Eco TIP West, Bradley is currently in litigation against Chatham County to overturn its 12-month data center moratorium. Yet, as the Chairman of the EDC's Accelerate 2026 Council, Bradley was a primary architect of the five-year public-private campaign launched in 2021 to market Chatham’s megasites. Consequently, the very recruitment framework designed to attract industrial park anchors has culminated in a legal and logistical standoff over the infrastructure demands of the advanced manufacturing and digital technology boom.

To be clear, Bradley and the EDC bear a share of responsibility, just as the aforementioned elected officials, for the extension of those massive incentives to Wolfspeed and VinFast. While at initial launch the Accelerate 2026 five year strategic plan impressed with secured capital commitments and employment pledges, many now consider the program to be a failure. Private capital investment was severely curtailed, while none of the 7,500 jobs pledged by VinFast have materialized, and less than 250 of Wolfspeed’s pledge of 1,800 permanent jobs have been realized. Should Eco TIP West move forward following the county’s data center moratorium, it is unlikely to contribute significant permanent employment opportunities.

Note that Bradley also serves on the board of Lee County’s Sanford Area Growth Alliance. Fellow board member Jay Rapp is managing partner at Helix Ventures, who is partnering with PointOne Data Centers to develop the 90MW Phase One hyperscale data center project at the new technology and light industrial park on Lower Moncure Road. Subsequent data center phases are possible, contingent on future power infrastructure upgrades, which are to be paid for by PointOne and its tenants. Grid power is to be provided over Central Electric Membership Cooperative distribution infrastructure with supply from North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, which holds equity stakes in various generation facilities, including relationships with Duke Energy, and also procures power through other wholesale purchasing arrangements.

Protecting Property Rights

In its April 16, 2026, project announcement letter to landowners along the proposed pipeline corridor, Enbridge explicitly invoked Chapter 40A-11 of the North Carolina General Statutes. While the inclusion of 40A-11, 'Right of entry prior to condemnation', functions technically as a statutory notice required to conduct land surveys and engineering studies, its deployment in an initial introductory communication was widely interpreted by recipients as a mechanism of legal intimidation.

This aggressive statutory positioning underscores a profound systemic conflict and raises critical policy questions:

First, why do highly capitalized energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technology corporations require private landowners to effectively subsidize their commercial activities by absorbing localized physical risks and property devaluations - burdens that, under true free-market principles, should be negotiated and fully compensated through voluntary commercial transactions?

Second, why do the state’s executive, legislative, and administrative bodies consistently prioritize utility and corporate expansion over the protection of private property rights, ultimately utilizing statutory mechanisms to favor corporate economic development to the clear disadvantage of individual citizens seeking to safeguard their land and sovereignty?

By utilizing 40A-11 to secure non-consensual property access before a public-necessity justification is even adjudicated, the current regulatory structure effectively insulates utility developers from market forces, requiring private property owners to bear the negative consequences of regional industrial recruitment.

The costs and risks that private landowners are forced to bear cross personal safety, property protection and valuation, and environmental impacts concerns. Indicators of these costs and risks must be scientifically evaluated or economically quantified in order to formally challenge a route, negotiate a right-of-way agreement, or litigate a “public use” judgement.

By way of example, I and a couple of neighbors own parcels that together comprise a roughly 140 acre virgin hardwood forest. The forest contains a drainage basin that captures significant rain water from land to the north/northwest along Chatham Church Road as well as from the 15-501 easement to the east. The headwaters of a USGS-indicated intermittent stream originate at this basin and flow approximately 2 miles to the Rocky River at the White Pines Nature Preserve. Even during the recent drought, aquatic and amphibious life is present in pools along this stream bed.

Given the topology of the area, Enbridge will likely choose a route that directly impacts both basin flows from the north and the east, with corridor clearing and grading destroying the filtering and absorption properties of the root structures, biological organisms, and organic matter accumulation comprising the forest floor. That clearing and grading, and any associated erosion, will also likely change directional drainage flows and dynamics. Additionally, soil compaction from heavy equipment traffic will increase flow rate and the loss of canopy will result in increased direct rain impact to this cleared and compacted ground surface. This basin has a history of flooding during extreme weather events. In conversation with Enbridge environmental assessment contractors, I asked about consideration of extreme weather impacts and was told that their methodologies utilize 10 year averages. This is a significant analytical exclusion.

The house of one of my neighbors is situated on a modest elevation forming the western bank of the intermittent stream. A proper assessment would perform hydrological analysis of negative impacts related to increased flooding risk to property as well as velocity, thermal and sedimentation impacts on the stream. The responsibility for executing this task apparently falls to the landowner, who then must also hire expert/legal representation to present the analysis at NCDEQ.

Soil analysis of the local area as well as a possible alternative northern route was performed based on NRCS typings available in the Chatham County GIS in order to evaluate structural suitability for pipeline construction and environmental stability post-construction.

Characteristics of the primary proposed route suggest possible severe construction and long-term environmental hazards, including mandatory hard-rock blasting of shallow slate bedrock; extensive subsoil compaction within the floodplain soil matrix; and, depending on slope traversal orientation, concentrated subterranean water redirection as the result of a “french drain” effect. Blasting through 10-to-20-inch slate bedrock also risks permanently fracturing, shifting, or collapsing the deep, bedrock-fed aquifers that supply our wells.

In conversation with Enbridge construction and engineering leads, I was assured that modern techniques utilizing calibrated and shaped charges eliminates this risk, yet unfortunately, such assurance is difficult to accept absent subject matter expertise. Additionally, I was told that Enbridge would baseline well performance and if negatively impacted, would cover expenses to drill a new well. Independent sources recommend that landowners hire an expert to perform a highly technical pre-construction baseline analysis and follow-up post-construction.

The analysis of the alternative northern route concluded that it does not resolve the risks exposed for the primary route. Instead, it encounters an equivalent, if not more complex, set of structural hazards, including subsurface structural liquidization, severe slope failures, and localized pipe-shearing cycles.

Because a 12-inch transmission line lacks the beam stiffness of larger-diameter pipes, it is vulnerable to localized buckling, wrinkling, and exposure via hydrodynamic scour across both terrains.

In order to optimize their construction path, Enbridge will surely perform core sample drilling and engineering assessments. Landowners pursuing a formal intervention must perform the same tasks as well as secure expert/legal representation.

Given potential biases, why are these environmental and geotechnical analyses not the responsibility of the state or county, either directly or through a vetted contractor performing as an independent body (much like a financial auditor) on behalf of both the landowner and the utility, paid for by the utility?

Important intangibles linked to personal preferences associated with rural lifestyle and conservationist values are routinely ignored in any legal calculation of “fair market value”. This forces the landowner, in the absence of being able to set a free-market selling price, to work with a legal team to translate these preferences into objective, compensable economic terms.

For example, an appraiser cannot add $250,000 to a valuation simply because an owner enjoys the rural tranquility. However, the law dictates that a property must be valued at its Highest and Best Use (HBU), not merely its current use.

The Translation: If a rural parcel has significant acreage, privacy, and natural features, a savvy legal team will argue that its HBU isn't just "undeveloped rural land." Instead, they frame it as a premium, low-density residential estate or a recreational tract.

The Impact: By shifting the HBU to a premium classification, the base market value of the land rises. The mediation then centers on the market value of privacy and space, which is a quantifiable metric based on what wealthy buyers pay for comparable estate tracts.

Additionally, when a utility executes a partial taking (e.g., cutting a wide easement through a property for a pipeline or power line), the owner is entitled to compensation for the land taken plus the loss in value to the land that remains (severance damages). This is where conservationist values find their strongest legal footing:

Aesthetic & Proximity Damages: Evidence that the physical scarring of the landscape, loss of mature timber, or proximity to industrial infrastructure visually degrades the tract and depresses the market value of the remaining master homesite.

Loss of Utility/Buffer: Proving that dividing a contiguous forest or wetland destroys the property's functional use as a managed timber tract, certified wildlife habitat, or private recreational hunting/fishing ground.

Construction Impact: Arguing that clearing and grading with heavy machinery introduces invasive species, disrupts fragile topsoil hydrology, or threatens organic land certifications, causing concrete economic harm to the remaining soil.

Finally, while personal fear or dislike of an industrial utility project cannot be compensated, market stigma can be. If a landowner values conservation and rural safety, it is highly probable that the broader market of rural buyers shares that sentiment.

In mediation, landowners can introduce evidence showing that buyers in the open market actively avoid parcels bisected by certain types of infrastructure (due to perceived environmental risks, future expansion fears, or restricted land usage). If data shows that neighboring properties with similar easements sold at a 15% to 30% discount, that "stigma" is no longer an intangible preference—it is a measurable market reality that must be factored into the settlement.

To be sure, these property impact considerations - in the view of free-market proponents - are the result of unfair governmental interference; property owners are being legislatively compelled to sell.

The Evolution of Eminent Domain Law

Modern libertarian and classical liberal thinkers argue that a person’s home or land represents a sphere of absolute individual sovereignty. When the state uses eminent domain to hand property to a private developer (acting as a utility surrogate or economic development driver), it violates the social contract. It reduces the citizen from a sovereign individual to a tenant of the state, whose tenure is valid only until a wealthier or more politically connected entity wants the land.

Long before it was used for railroads, electric grids, or natural gas pipelines, eminent domain was conceived not as a tool to promote economic growth or corporate expansion, but as an absolute, inherent power of a sovereign government to seize private property solely to ensure public survival and defense.

The term "eminent domain" was coined in 1625 by the Dutch jurist and philosopher Hugo Grotius in his foundational text on international law, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (On the Law of War and Peace).

Grotius argued that when citizens form a society, they enter into a social contract. While private property rights are vital, the sovereign retains a backstop power—dominium eminens (supreme lordship)—over all property within its borders.

However, Grotius placed two strict, non-negotiable conditions on this power:

Extreme Necessity: The taking must be strictly necessary for the public utility or survival.

Just Compensation: The community as a whole must reimburse the individual property owner for their loss.

In the 17th century, "extreme necessity" meant things like building a fort to repel an invading army, constructing a defensive wall, or building a public road so the military could move.

Our Constitution did not explicitly grant the federal government the power of eminent domain in the text; it was taken for granted that any sovereign government possessed it.

Instead, the framers wrote the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment specifically to restrict that power:

"...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Let’s take a sidebar with regard to “just compensation” first. Legal precedent sets compensation through a determination of “free market value”. However, in a true free market transaction, the difference between, for example, a comparable sales-based market price estimate and the price at which an owner would voluntarily sell is referred to as the subjective premium.

When a landowner refuses to sell at the estimated market price, it is because the land holds non-monetary value to them (e.g., decades of soil stewardship, multi-generational heritage, unique operational layout). By capping compensation at “fair market value”, the law effectively confiscates this subjective premium. Yet if the land generates significant profit for the taker, representing an enhanced valuation for the property, the impacted landowner has no claim to that enhanced value.

As to “public use”, In early American history, it was interpreted literally. It meant the property must be owned by the public or physically occupied by the public.

The literal interpretation of “public use” was subsequently contested through a series of actions known as Mill Acts. To power textile and grain mills, private developers needed to build dams that would flood upstream properties owned by neighboring farmers. Because mills were privately owned, farmers sued, arguing it was a private taking.

As early as 1832 courts sided with the mill owners, subtly changing the definition of "Public Use" to "Public Benefit." Judges argued that because the mills ground grain for the community and grew the economy, the public benefited from them, even if they couldn't physically walk into the factory.

These rulings allowed eminent domain to morph from a defensive weapon of absolute state necessity into a cost-saving procurement tool for industrial infrastructure. This corporate entitlement was solidified in 2005 by the Supreme Court in the Kelo decision (Kelo v City of New London). Susette Kelo sued after the city condemned her waterfront home to hand it to private developers for a Pfizer research facility and a planned recreation and entertainment district, strictly to increase the city's tax base and create jobs.

This was the ultimate "pure economic public benefit" test case.

The homes of the petitioners in Kelo were marked for eminent domain not because they were blighted, but because they stood in the way of the city’s plan to increase its tax base and develop what officials saw as a depressed waterfront in their town.

In his dissent in Kelo, Justice Thomas attacked the moral underpinnings of the ruling by framing "public benefit" takings as an assault on the vulnerable:

Losses will fall disproportionately on poor communities. Those communities are not only systematically less likely to put their lands to the highest and best social use, but are also the least likely to fight the government... The consequences of today’s decision are not difficult to predict. The beneficiary will be large corporations, and the victims will be the politically weak.

I’ve yet to determine what motivated the North Carolina legislature to restrict eminent domain application with Senate Bill 730, The Rate Payer Protection Act. One clause of the bill prohibits the exercise of eminent domain to acquire private land for >100mw data center development. The restriction feels performative, as it essentially limits the ability of utilities to condemn property for the purpose of interconnect infrastructure intended to serve the data center. Given the cost structure of these operations, procuring the necessary land as a component of the larger campus is inconsequential.

The North Carolina legislature should extend eminent domain restrictions, at a minimum, to utility infrastructure that is demonstrated as predominantly benefiting industrial consumers. Certainly the favored treatment afforded to gas pipeline operators by NCGS 62-190 should be rescinded. And this should not be controversial to citizen representatives; property rights protection should be a bipartisan concern, and disposing of those protections in favor of a corporate entitlement is indefensible.

Enbridge, Duke Energy, hyperscale data center developers, and the broader advanced manufacturing industry are extremely well capitalized economic actors. They should be required to operate in the free market.

Free Market Alternatives

If the preceding analysis is accurate, the Chatham County System Expansion pipeline is a component of the broader regional energy infrastructure buildout being undertaken, in alignment with state government economic development interests, to fuel the major expansion of advanced manufacturing and digital technology operations in central North Carolina. The economic development actors served however are well capitalized and profitable private corporations and individuals, representative of a private benefit, not a public need.

The objective of my analysis is not to oppose economic development or natural gas pipelines, but rather, to require utilities and their industrial customers to bear the costs and risks that are otherwise transferred to private landowners through the exercise of eminent domain takings. these instances, utilities should be required to either utilize public rights-of-way, negotiate access to existing utility easements, or secure dedicated easements from private landowners through open, free market negotiations rather than coercive means.

In

One alternate route utilizing an existing utility easement has been proposed; the Duke Energy transmission line corridor that runs west-to-east from Siler City to Pittsboro, where it turns south and runs to Moncure.

As Inside Climate News reports: [Tim Sweeney] and his attorney have been advocating “for a route that minimizes new disturbance by following existing utility easements wherever possible.”

“I’m happy to provide easements through my [Chatham County] land following the large power transmission corridor that goes through my conservation land for several miles,” Sweeney told Inside Climate News in an email, “which seems like an ideal route for many reasons.”

Enbridge spokesperson Persida Montanez told Inside Climate News that when practical, the company considers routing new pipelines alongside existing rights-of-way to minimize environmental impacts.

However, that’s not feasible for the Chatham County project, Montanez wrote in an email.

First, Enbridge doesn’t have its own existing right-of-way in the area that could be used for the project, she said. And second, “Following the existing electric transmission easement in its entirety would have impacted more landowners and disturbed additional environmentally sensitive areas not otherwise presently affected,” Montanez wrote in the email.

Montanez’s statement warrants scrutiny.

To begin with, Duke Energy is partnering with Enbridge on the regional energy buildout, making structural accommodations between the utilities highly feasible. Furthermore, a significant portion of the required pipeline right-of-way is allocated to temporary construction material staging, excavated soil sorting, and machinery operations - activities for which the already cleared, graded, and utility-impacted Duke Energy easement is structurally ideal. If any minimal easement expansion is required for pipeline placement, maintenance access can be easily integrated. Enbridge’s preference for a separate, greenfield corridor may stem from a desire to maintain an independent, unencumbered footprint that allows for future parallel line expansions should additional industrial demand materialize.

Technical issues exist that require consideration with the shared utilities corridor proposal.

The power transmission line route increases the Siler City to Moncure distance by roughly 50%. If the purpose of the pipeline segment is in part to provide hydraulic stabilization, the overall efficiency of this function is reduced. However, if the pipe diameter is increased from 12” to 16”, it would eliminate the throughput penalty caused by the longer route, but it would also exponentially boost the pipeline's performance as a hydraulic stabilizer. Upscaling to a 16-inch pipe multiplies the steady-state flow capacity by more than 200% under identical inlet and outlet pressures.

By bumping the diameter to 16 inches, an estimated incremental $38m Enbridge capital commitment would turn the 40-mile reroute into a premium asset - combining the high-volume throughput of a transmission main with the massive localized storage capacity of a regional peak-shaving facility.

Not only must the utility corridor accommodate tower and pipeline footprints, in the case of running a natural gas pipeline parallel to high-voltage transmission lines, additional technical complications must be addressed.

The potential electromagnetic interference impact on the physical pipe coating must also be considered. However, if Duke Energy were to upgrade their H-frames (horizontal tri-cable span) to steel monopoles (vertical tri-cable span) the magnetic fields effectively cancel due to the transmission lines reconfiguration, often effectively eliminating the exposure. Duke Energy is already upgrading support structures in this manner across the region as part of their resilience improvement program.

The risk of an electrical arc to the buried pipe from a component fault or lightning strike must also be mitigated. Steel monopoles act as inherently grounded structures. When properly tied into a deep grounding system, they shield the immediate zone from direct lightning strikes far better than wood. Solid-state decouplers can also be applied to instantaneously "short-circuit" safely to ground during high-voltage surges (like a lightning strike or grid fault). This protects both the pipeline's coating and workers on the ground.

Real-world regulatory filings, industry engineering case studies, and utility project precedents demonstrate how this approach is implemented:

Kinder Morgan vs. Oncor Electric Delivery (Texas PUC Docket No. 48095)

The Case: When Oncor proposed a 345kV transmission line expansion running parallel to Kinder Morgan’s existing 30-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline for over 5 miles, Kinder Morgan intervened before the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

The Resolution: Kinder Morgan’s corrosion experts submitted evidence showing that standard horizontal structure spacing would create severe AC induction and step/touch hazards on their pipeline. To mitigate this without shifting the route off the shared corridor, the electrical transmission design was altered to incorporate steel monopoles with compact vertical double-circuit phasing. This configuration drastically collapsed the electromagnetic field (EMF) footprint at ground level, bringing the steady-state induced voltage down below NACE/AMPP safety thresholds.

Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Joint Corridor Re-Configurations

The Case: In several West-wide Energy Corridors (Section 368 corridors) across Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, interstate natural gas pipeline expansions (such as segments of the TransColorado and El Paso Natural Gas systems) were routed alongside 230kV and 500kV federal transmission lines. The Resolution: WAPA’s joint-use engineering guidelines explicitly recognize structural replacement as a primary AC mitigation tool. On congested segments where pipeline separation is less than 100 feet, WAPA has authorized replacing legacy wooden H-frame or lattice towers with tubular steel monopoles featuring reverse-phased double circuits (e.g., A-B-C on one side, C-B-A on the other). This structural choice actively cancels opposing magnetic fields, protecting the adjacent gas pipelines from AC-induced pitting corrosion.

In joint technical papers published by the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP, formerly NACE International) and CIGRE, power delivery and pipeline integrity engineers frequently document these exact conversions:

The 120-km Multi-Utility Corridor Project (AMPP Case Study): An extensive utility study evaluated six parallel high-voltage AC power lines sharing a 120 km corridor with eight natural gas and liquid pipelines owned by two different operators. Modeling showed that traditional horizontal framing created unsafe touch-voltage potentials exceeding 15V and high AC current density (>100 A/m2). The ultimate design solution required a hybrid approach: converting key overhead structures to vertical steel monopoles with transposed phasing to reduce electromagnetic coupling at the source, which drastically reduced the amount of physical zinc grounding ribbon that needed to be buried in the ground.

Colocation would avoid the environmental and personal property impacts of the pipeline project, and with the space freed by the monopoles, would likely avoid the need to widen the existing RoW. Constructing the 40-mile route within the existing Duke Energy transmission line easement also limits its environmental footprint largely to pre-disturbed land.

A coincidental feature of this power transmission corridor route is that as it approaches and then tracks south toward Moncure, it traverses lands slated for Chatham Park. While Enbridge’s presumed residential demand expectations remain a point of skepticism, if significant residential volumetric demand does materialize, its overwhelming source will be this massive master-planned development.

If infrastructure expansion is fundamentally justified by this master-planned growth, then economic principles dictate that the associated physical risks, environmental impacts, and capital costs should be internalized by the primary beneficiaries—Preston Development Company, its investors, and future Chatham Park buyers—rather than externalized onto legacy agricultural and rural properties. Utilizing the co-location route ensures that the pipeline's presence is fully disclosed to incoming buyers at the point of sale, allowing competitive market forces to accurately price the proximity of utility infrastructure.

A related consideration that should motivate Preston Development Company to absorb the pipeline impact is accumulating Chatham County tree loss. Historically, commercial timber harvesting has accounted for the majority of tree loss in rural Chatham County. However, over the past decade, permanent land conversion due to development (housing, infrastructure, commercial centers) has accelerated, accounting for thousands of acres of non-regenerative woodland loss. According to satellite data analysis, between 3,500 and 6,000 acres of forestland have been permanently converted to suburban and urban development in Chatham County since 2015, concentrated heavily in the eastern and central corridors (Pittsboro, Chapel Ridge, Briar Chapel, and US-64/US-1 corridors).

Regional land-use and conservation models (such as American Farmland Trust and regional council of governments projections) estimate that Chatham County could see between 15,000 and 25,000 acres of combined woodland and agricultural land lost to low-to-medium density suburban development over the next 20 years.

Chatham Park is a massive 7,100 to 8,000-acre master-planned development that according to its Planned Unit Development guidelines aims to retain approximately 30% to 35% tree canopy coverage across tree coverage planning areas, open spaces, and buffers. That translates to 4,600 to 5,300 acres of forest permanently cleared, or up to 25% of total Chatham County tree loss over the next 20 years.

Calculating the total woodland loss from the planned 28 mile x 100 foot pipeline corridor results in estimates of a gross corridor of 340 acres, with tree loss acreage of 200 acres at 60% canopy and 260 acres at 75% canopy. When taking into account permanent degradation from invasive species encroachment and microclimate disruption, the true ecological loss area expands significantly beyond the 100-foot construction cut. Estimates of combined ecological loss including these edge effects results climb to 600 acres at 60% canopy and 765 acres at 75% canopy.

As an offset to this environmental impact, Preston Development Company could contribute any additional easements required along the proposed shared utility corridor route that traverses Chatham Park.

Given the multi-billion-dollar scale of this regional energy infrastructure transition, the capital required to utilize a shared utility corridor represents an incremental, manageable expense that Enbridge and Duke Energy possess the financial capacity to absorb. To illustrate this point, Enbridge paid approximately $3.1 billion for the Public Service Company of North Carolina (PSNC) in its purchase from Dominion Energy. This transaction was part of a broader $14.0 billion aggregate deal Enbridge made in September 2023 to acquire three U.S. natural gas utilities from Dominion (PSNC, East Ohio Gas, and Questar Gas).

Additionally, distributing a portion of these co-location and optimization costs onto Enbridge’s firm-contract industrial consumers appropriately aligns infrastructure expenses with the entities driving the capacity demand. Ultimately, this approach achieves an equitable cost-benefit balance across all project beneficiaries, while effectively eliminating an uncompensated, externalized burden from private landowners who derive no operational or economic benefit from the pipeline.

Final Observations

As should be apparent, there are plenty of actors that bear responsibility for the situation we rural residents along the proposed pipeline route find ourselves in. Vast sums of money are in motion and a disparate mix of interests and priorities are influencing actions, with community interests likely rating relatively low on the continuum.

That’s not the case when it comes to Chatham County Planning Department staff and the consultants that developed Plan Chatham and the follow-on Plan Moncure. I participated in the Plan Moncure activities and can say without question that community input was a priority and was reflected in the final deliverable.

When it comes to utility infrastructure, Plan Chatham’s focus is on servicing growth in designated residential and commercial nodes, managing local distribution, and regulating subdivision development. The Plan Moncure Small Area Plan was initiated as a reaction to the recruitment of VinFast at the TIP megasite. Given the scale of industrial manufacturing intended, one might have expected inclusion of macro-transmission corridor planning in the scope, but the document remained focused on localized distribution.

The reason for this omission likely comes down to jurisdictional authority. When the General Assembly overhauled the state’s land-use laws under NCGS Chapter 160D, it made a comprehensive plan a strict prerequisite for any local government wishing to enforce zoning. However, the legislature explicitly stripped these plans of any regulatory power, stating that “plans adopted under [160D-501(c)] shall be advisory in nature without independent regulatory effect”.

With NCGS 62, the legislature granted the North Carolina Utilities Commission exclusive, preemptive authority over utility siting. With NCGS 62-190, the legislature granted pipeline operators eminent domain power directly.

Consider Enbridge; in NCUC dockets, the company is referred to as “PSNC/d.b.a. Enbridge Gas North Carolina”. I believe it’s the correct way to think of the organization overseeing the Chatham County System Expansion project, and the broader set of infrastructure projects being implemented across the central North Carolina region.

Rusty Harris, Vice President & General Manager, Enbridge Gas North Carolina, was appointed to lead this organization (headquartered in Gastonia) following the close of the acquisition in late 2024. In March 2025, Enbridge expanded his role to also serve as Vice President & General Manager of Enbridge Gas Ohio following the retirement of that unit’s previous head. Harris has nearly four decades of experience in the natural gas and electric utility sectors. He began his career in 1986 as a customer service engineer at South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), a subsidiary of SCANA Corporation. He began overseeing PSNC Energy (Public Service Company of North Carolina) in 2003 and was named President and Chief Operating Officer of PSNC in 2006. He became Senior Vice President at SCANA in 2012. Following Dominion Energy’s acquisition of SCANA, he served as Vice President & General Manager of Gas Operations for Dominion Energy’s natural gas utilities in the Carolinas.

In my opinion, Harris knows the rules and he’s playing by them; he understands the advantages that he’s been granted and he’s leveraging them. He’s behaving as a rational economic actor.

Rusty Harris is a North Carolinian, not a Canadian. He’s one of us, but I don’t believe it can be said that he’s behaving like a good neighbor at the moment.

I’m interested to see how he and his organization react as the shared utilities corridor alternative is pressed. I’m also interested to learn his stance on PSNC’s statutory eminent domain grant, and whether the absence of that leverage would have incented initial consideration of the shared utilities corridor alternative.

Because the NCGS 62-190 grant in today’s economic environment is indefensible and needs to be rectified. A mechanism should also be established to give county governments an explicit formal role in route assessment and review, even if it’s limited to an advisory capacity. As it stands today, county governments must intervene in an NCUC docket to have any influence.

Regardless, it’s time for those that are responsible for the development activities that precipitated the need for utility expansion to act responsibly, now, to mitigate the negative impacts on the rural community. As the preceding analysis supports across multiple dimensions, the proposed natural gas pipeline route is irresponsible in light of the presented alternative.

Construction of the currently proposed route will demonstrate disrespect for rural culture and the residents that worked hard to establish their homes and farms in Chatham County.

The responsible resolution is for Enbridge, Duke Energy, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, the Economic Development Corporation, Kirk Bradley, Preston Development Company, Jim Goodnight, and other elected representatives to come together to implement the shared utility corridor.

I’m not advocating for slowing economic development or canceling the pipeline project.

As an immediate priority, I’m simply advocating for the commitment of a relatively small portion of the private investment and public incentives funding that is fueling the regional economic buildout to be directed towards a resolution that mitigates the negative impacts on individual landowners and the environment in what is becoming a quickly diminishing rural landscape. As a first step, Enbridge and Duke Energy should conduct an open technical assessment of a colocation strategy, with perhaps Chatham County funding a team to assist - and the assessment process should operate transparently. Coincidentally, Enbridge can evaluate the asset capacity benefit gained with a 40 mile x 16” pipe upsizing. And Duke Energy can check monopole upgrade scheduling to determine if conversion is already scheduled, and if not, whether priorities can be adjusted so that the upgrade can occur with sufficient lead to run ahead of Enbridge construction crews, should the plan move forward.

This issue is not limited to Chatham County; utility expansion through the exercise of eminent domain powers is impacting communities across the country. North Carolina has an opportunity to demonstrate that responsible private/public leadership that balances interests does in fact exist.

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