10/15/2026
This can't be right. Glad to see this decision is being appealed in Davie County!
"If the county’s decision stands, one of the largest industrial projects in Davie County history would go forward without any of the process, public engagement, permitting, and protective conditions the county requires of far smaller facilities." ~ Southern Environmental Law Center
Press Release | October 12, 2026
Groups appeal Davie County decision allowing Duke Energy to build two gas plants without public review: County’s reading of its zoning rules would allow industrial power plants next to farmland and family homes
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—On behalf of the Yadkin Riverkeeper and Appalachian Voices, the SELC appealed a Davie County decision to allow Duke Energy to build two industrial-scale gas plants on land zoned for farms and homes along the Yadkin River in eastern Davie County.
SELC filed the appeal with the Davie County Board of Adjustment.
The groups are asking the board to reverse the county’s September 10 Certification of Zoning, which treats two combined cycle gas power plants as allowed “by right” on Duke Energy’s roughly 1,665-acre property on US/NC Highway 801 south.
At Duke Energy’s request, the county appears to have signed off with no rezoning, no public hearing, no special use permit, and no protective conditions.
“Davie County’s zoning ordinance does not allow two polluting gas plants on land reserved for farms and homes,” said Brooks Rainey, North Carolina legislative counsel at SELC. “People living next to this industrial site deserve the same public process and protections the county requires for telecommunications infrastructure or a small sewage plant. Duke Energy shouldn’t get to skip that process just because it asked.”
Duke Energy proposes to fuel those two power plants, each about 1,360 megawatts, with methane gas piped beneath the Yadkin River from a liquefied natural gas storage facility that Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas plan to build across the river in Davidson County.
The project would also require new high-voltage transmission lines and drilling a pipeline under the river that would disrupt the riverbed and banks along a wild, largely undeveloped stretch of the Yadkin.
If the county’s decision stands, one of the largest industrial projects in Davie County history would go forward without any of the process, public engagement, permitting, and protective conditions the county requires of far smaller facilities.
The plants would sit on the Perkins Game Land, which has been open to the public for decades for hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching, and would put heavy industry in the middle of farms, woods, and family homes. It will also negatively impact the Yadkin River State Trail Blueway and the Daniel Boone Heritage Canoe Trail.
The plants would rely on the Yadkin River for cooling, withdrawing an estimated 1 million to 10 million gallons of water a day. Some of that water would be returned to the river hotter than it left, and that kind of thermal pollution can harm fish and other aquatic life and degrade water quality.
“This stretch of the Yadkin is one of the most wild and historic places left on the river, and it supplies drinking water and a place to recreate for people downstream,” said Nicole Eastman, Yadkin Riverkeeper. “Turning it into an industrial corridor is a decision that should be made in the open, with the people who live here, paddle here, and drink this water at the table. Instead, Duke Energy asked the county for a shortcut, and the county gave them one. We’re asking the board to hold Duke to the same rules everyone else must follow.”
Additionally, the gas plants would expand the use and emissions of dirty fossil fuels, like methane, and would reduce local property values, increase air pollution in the community, worsen neighbors’ health, and pose serious safety risks.
“Families in eastern Davie County would be living next door to two industrial gas plants, breathing the pollution, and they never got a say in the matter,” said Juhi Modi, North Carolina program coordinator for Appalachian Voices. “Fine particulate pollution in this region is already close to the federal limit, and this project could push it over. Scientific studies have demonstrated that there is no safe level for this kind of air pollution, putting our neighbors’ health at risk. Residents have shown up repeatedly to say no to this project, and they deserve to be heard before the county lets Duke Energy build on their doorstep.”
