Natural gas becomes priority
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 28, 2018 3:05 AM
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Securing natural gas for the northern part of the county should be a priority if that area is to grow, Wayne County Commissioner Ray Mayo said.
Mayo asked commissioners during their Thursday planning retreat to work with him and Fremont Mayor Darron Flowers and Town Administrator Barbara Aycock to find ways to accomplish that goal.
"As you know, one of the major things inhibiting growth in Fremont is (lack of) natural gas," he said. "I really believe if we don't make some kind of headway on this over the next few years and the WCDA (Wayne County Development Alliance) is keenly aware of this, because mostly warehouse space is the only thing that can go up in the northern part of the county."
Mayo asked for the board's help and suggestions on what avenue needs to be taken to get natural gas to Fremont.
"We know it is at Black Creek (north of Fremont) and that's eight miles from Black Creek to Fremont," Mayo said. "It's about a million dollars a mile and change.
"The key is that that area of the county is going to be exactly where it is today if they don't get natural gas at some point."
The natural gas line was not on the board's original list of potential priority items, but was added at Mayo's request.
"Natural gas is like a lot of other government entities, there are so many fingers here," he said. "There are so many places that you have to go. What procedure do we need to use?"
It is kind of like the which came first, the chicken or the egg thing, Chairman Bill Pate said.
"I don't have a solution. I wish I did," he said.
The county's resolution in support of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a start, even though the pipeline won't come close to Wayne County, Commissioner Wayne Aycock said.
"Who do we need to go see?" Mayo said. "There has got to be something that we can do to start the ball rolling. Even if it was to happen, how many years will it take to run it?
"Fremont, at those (Interstate 795) interchanges up there, are dead in the water, and industry, until we can get some natural gas, and it is as simple as that."
Whenever natural gas is requested, they want to put it in because it is cleaner, cheaper and more efficient, said Carol Bowden, clerk to the board.
"Obviously it is more work for them and growth for the industry," she said. "So it's not a mater of it taking forever. I don't know about the grant process, but the actual implementation of bringing gas lines to a community, that's not as long a process as you would think."
Mayo said he has spoken with Barbara Aycock and the problem is the sparse density of population in the area between Black Creek and Fremont.
"It is rural," he said. "That's where the snag is. The gas company says, 'We can't justify it.'"
Bowden said she wondered if there were other options.
"Black Creek might not be the only way," she said. "Kenly is just a shot across (N.C.) 581, and Kenly is also part of, well it is all part of Duke Energy now, but they still identify as Piedmont Natural Gas."
Mayo said he thinks the issue should be at the top of the priority list because it is "very critical."
"Commissioner Mayo, you are right," Commissioner Joe Daughtery said. "You are not going to land an industry until you have natural gas, and you are not going to have natural gas until you have an industry. So we just go 'round and 'round.
"You are saying that right now it is an $8 million problem. Well, out of the eight million, is it really an $8 million problem?"
It could be that once past the first four miles the population density might increase to the point that the gas company would be willing to lay the pipe, he said.
Then it could be a $4 million problem, he said.
If it is a $4 million problem, grants might be available through the state Commerce Department that might could help offset some of that cost, he said.
"I do think that we do need to put a great deal more emphasis to bringing natural gas to the northern end of the county," Daughtery said. "We have an Interstate. We've got rail.
"We've got a lot of things going for us, folks, but we don't have natural gas. So I think we need to put great deal more emphasis on it."