State records reveal devastating impact of proposed US gas pipeline: 'A serious ... public health danger'

Transco, a major interstate natural gas pipeline system in the United States owned by Williams, a Houston-based energy infrastructure company, is planning to expand its operations in five states. State records show that the project would have a devastating impact on air pollution in several North Carolina communities. 

What's happening?

Inside Climate News reported that the expansion would increase horsepower at two compressor stations located along the pipeline in the towns of Mooresville and Lexington. The increased throughput would allow more gas to flow through the pipeline, at an environmental cost of releasing more than 935,000 tons of planet-warming pollution annually. 

Meanwhile, communities near the pipeline, including those with compressor stations, would be exposed to pollution from hazardous substances such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds at concentrations up to 350% higher than current levels. 

The 42-inch pipeline isn't just a threat to air quality; it's also a potential danger to life and property in the event of an explosion. 

Maps released by Transco that show the proposed route for the pipeline reveal that hundreds of homes, businesses, schools, daycare centers, and recreational areas are located within the pipeline's blast zone — the area around a natural gas pipeline where an explosion could cause serious injury or death due to flying debris, a pressure wave, or incineration.

"This is a serious environmental and public health danger that FERC should consider," Erin Sutherland, the policy and program director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit environmental watchdog, said in a comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Why is the proposed pipeline expansion concerning?

Juhi Modi, North Carolina field coordinator at Appalachian Voices, a grassroots environmental organization, said that residents in Mooresville and Lexington "are already burdened by decades of air pollution from existing Transco infrastructure and deserve to breathe clean air."

Data from the Environmental Protection Agency's EJ Screen appears to support these findings, as it indicates that communities located within a one-mile radius of the compressor station in Lexington experience higher-than-average exposure to fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. While the pipeline infrastructure isn't the only contributor to poor air quality, it likely plays a major role. 

Compressor stations also release benzene, a known human carcinogen, and both towns already have exceedingly high levels of the chemical. "In Lexington, benzene exceeds federal hourly emission rates by 100 times; in Mooresville, the figure is 61 times," per Inside Climate News.

Consistently poor air quality is linked to a number of health problems, including asthma, lung cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, and living near a gas pipeline can worsen these ailments or increase the chance of developing them. 

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The fact that hundreds of people live near the proposed pipeline expansion, as well as businesses, churches, and schools operating in the area, is also quite concerning. While pipeline explosions are not extremely frequent, the consequences can be severe when they do happen, according to the Houston-based law firm Kherkher Garcia. 

And even though explosions are rare, natural gas pipelines have been shown to leak methane — a potent planet-warming gas — at much higher levels than previously thought, even to the point of being detectable from space using satellite technology. 

What's being done to protect North Carolina residents?

The Midway Town Council voted to oppose the pipeline project and compressor station in Lexington, which is ten miles away from Midway. Town officials requested that FERC mandate the installation of pollution control technologies at the compressor stations, should the proposal be approved. 

Recently, U.S. appeals courts have blocked construction on several gas pipeline projects in New Jersey and Tennessee, indicating that awareness is growing about the environmental and societal harms associated with burning dirty fuels.

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