The residents of Chapel Hill do not like the University of North Carolina’s power plant—at least those who turned out to a hearing Thursday night.
They do not like that it burns coal and natural gas, spewing carbon dioxide and methane into the air in the heart of the town. They do not like that administrators promised to stop burning coal by 2020, and then failed to meet that goal. And they definitely do not like the university’s attempt to amend its air permit to allow for the burning of paper and plastic pellets.
“I don’t know who the administrators are who requested this permit,” said former Town Council Member Maria Palmer at a public hearing on the permit amendment. “Are they not concerned for their own children, or do they not live in Chapel Hill?”
The university has pitched the plan as a way to slowly reduce its use of fossil fuels. As Inside Climate News reported before the hearing, burning the pellets would reduce greenhouse gases from the university’s physical plant but would increase harmful levels of nitrogen oxides, lead, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.
The hearing showed a stark contrast between the politics of the state’s flagship university and those of the town it calls home. Palmer was one of about 50 people who showed up on a Thursday night to speak against the permit amendment. No one spoke in favor of it.
The entire hearing, which was a who’s who of local politics and activism, had a very Chapel Hill feel to it. The speakers, a mix of students, professionals, and retired people, were all ridiculously educated—many beginning their speeches with an extensive list of degrees and credentials—and staunchly progressive—many arguing not just that the permit should be denied, but that the plant should be entirely shut down.
Town council member (and former EPA employee) Melissa McCullough, speaking on her own behalf, pointed out the history of the site.
“This is an old problem,” McCullough said. “The surrounding neighborhoods have had to breathe the pollution from this plant since decades before there were even air pollution laws. This is an environmental justice issue for the historically Black neighborhoods where the people who built and served our university have lived for generations.”
She also compared the upcoming permit decision to decision-points along the way in a years-long struggle to redevelop a 10-acre site near Bolin Creek contaminated with coal ash.
“We already know that big problems are created when decisions are knowingly made in ignorance of how bad the problem could be,” said McCullough.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality will accept public comment through January 23. After that, the officer who presided over the hearing will write a report and make a recommendation to the director of air quality, who will make the final decision.
After the hearing, public information officer Shawn Taylor told INDY that public comments often inform the division’s final decision.
“We can make changes to the draft that we put out and perhaps issue a permit that looks different than what we were proposing,” Taylor said. “Every time, pretty much, that we go through a public process, we end up strengthening the permit as a result.”
Some officials, though, are already looking towards a future without the power plant. State Senator Graig Meyer, who gave an introduction at the beginning of the meeting, teased the CoGen Transformation Project, which would make use of the plant’s train line that runs through Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
“How do we transform that rail line into an opportunity for non-automotive transportation, for connection to new housing opportunities, for economic development opportunities?” Meyer said.
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Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at chase@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.