CEAC-2021-07-July

Experts: 1 Pipeline Each for NC Natural
Gas, Fuel a Concern By Gary D. Robertson | Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina is particularly susceptible
to energy interruptions because gasoline and natural gas
supplies originate mainly from two pipeline systems, energy
industry experts recently told a state Senate committee.
Representatives of utility giants Duke Energy and Dominion
Energy were among those who addressed the chamber’s
energy panel in light of the recent ransomware cyberattack
upon the Colonial Pipeline. North Carolina motorists were
hit particularly hard — 43 percent of the state’s gas stations
remained out of fuel weeks after the attack, according to
GasBuddy.
Up to 75 percent of each day’s supply of refined petroleum
products in North Carolina run through the Colonial Pipeline,
said David McGowan, executive director of the North Carolina
Petroleum Council. And the Transco pipeline is currently
the lone interstate natural gas transmission line for North
Carolina. Both lines move products south to north.
Natural gas increasingly fuels electric generation. A lack of
diverse distribution and redundancy in distribution networks
make widespread outages for electricity and natural gas hard
to overcome quickly, whether from natural disasters or cyberattacks,
said Ed Finley, the former chairman of the North
Carolina Utilities Commission.
“When it goes out, people’s lives are disrupted,” Finley said,
adding that the inability for consumers and businesses to
turn on electricity and natural gas “would be crippling to the
state’s economy.” Finley said hardening the electrical grid
against physical damage and cyberattacks should be considered.
Duke Energy, which uses natural gas to generate 30 percent
of its electricity during the coldest weather, has backup fuels
at most of these plants, said Nelson Peeler, a company senior
vice president. But the diesel fuel immediately available only
would last a couple of days, he said.
Tanker trucks are parked near the entrance of Colonial Pipeline Company
Wednesday, May 12, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. North Carolina motorists
suffered considerably in the wake of the May 7, 2021, cyberattack, with
43 percent of the state’s gas stations still out of fuel weeks after the attack,
according to source GasBuddy. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Rusty Harris, a Dominion Energy vice president, said that
without expanding natural gas being piped into North Carolina,
the utility may have to look to creating more storage
facilities to plan for an interruption. Harris and Peeler said
separately that alternative forms of energy, such as solar,
wind or a greener form of natural gas, can diversify fuel
sources. But they cautioned the technology or economics
don’t yet make them a reasonable or reliable substitute.
Sen. Paul Newton, a Cabarrus County Republican, retired
Duke Energy executive and committee member, said during
the meeting he was concerned that natural gas production
limitations in North Carolina could stunt the state’s economic
growth.
“The message from today’s hearing couldn’t be clearer:
North Carolina’s reliance on a single pipeline is a critical vulnerability,”
Newton said in a news release after the meeting.
Efforts to diversify natural gas supplies in North Carolina,
particularly by moving the fuel from deposits in the north,
have stalled in recent years.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, proposed by Dominion Energy
and Duke, was canceled last summer after legal challenges,
construction delays and ballooning costs. And a proposed
extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline from Virginia
into North Carolina is in jeopardy after the North Carolina
Department of Environmental Quality denied a water quality
certification.
Volume 86 · Number 7 | 43