Needmore community members met June 29 at Maple Springs Baptist Church — joined by Representative Anna Ferguson and a staff member from Congressman Chuck Edwards’ office — to continue their fight against Duke Energy, which aims to route transmission lines along Needmore Road at the expense of about 45 families.
That day, leaders shared a puzzling observation: Duke has yet to develop electricity infrastructure on a transmission easement that the company claims to possess.
While one resident said he’d seen distribution lines over part of the Little Tennessee River— the area in question — no other audience member could speak to anything but trees and foliage.
What’s more, transmission lines are generally incomparable to distribution infrastructure in terms of scale and impact. Duke’s Swain County undertaking, coined the Almond Transmission Line Project, will likely necessitate 80-to-100-foot monopoles made of galvanized steel in order to transport 66kV of electricity over long distances. On the other hand, wooden 30-to-40-foot distribution lines, often carrying about 12.5kV of electricity, power homes and businesses and are ubiquitous to many residential areas.
But even if infrastructure does not yet exist, a company could already possess the necessary right of way to construct it — as is the case for the Little Tennessee River crossing adjacent to Needmore Road.
Similarly, a Johnston County neighborhood in 2017 was caught in a property dispute after Duke Energy expressed intent to utilize a previously dormant 1987 transmission line easement. While that conflict allegedly involved improperly drawn plat maps, the utility giant’s actions then still contextualize the Needmore Road project, which relies on a December 14, 2000, supplemental transmission line easement granted by Crescent Resources.
This 26-year-old easement is sensitive precisely because it is located on the NC Wildlife Resources Commission-managed Needmore Game Lands, which host a wide array of biodiversity and span over 5,000 acres.
State stewardship of this corridor is described as “balancing science-based conservation practice with public access and usage.” That’s why Needmore community leader John Close became suspicious after receiving word that the power company didn’t have to consult commissioners.
“[Duke Energy] said, ‘We’re going to have to expand the right of way a little bit over the gamelands,’ and so when we talked to Duke right before our last meeting, [a representative] told us, ‘No, we have the right of way that exists; we don’t even need to talk to the Wildlife Resource Commission.’ I thought that was a little bit odd that he would just say that,” he told attendees on June 29.
It makes sense that anyone looking to build on protected landscape, even with an existing right of way, would be subject to additional consideration. After all, the NCWRC only began managing state game lands in 2013, when it initiated conservation- and public access-related restrictions and took on the duty to oversee relevant land procurements. And if the same sale from Crescent Resources to Duke Energy were to occur today, the wildlife commission may not have authorized the game lands parcel.
But that’s generally not how it works with grandfathered utility easements, meaning Duke is likely legally permitted to construct within conservation-focused territory. And because transmission lines are required to be “free from interference and other vegetation at all times,” all trees above 15 feet within a Duke Energy right-of-way corridor are inspected for removal.
This ties into the legal landscape governing other aspects of utilities infrastructure, such as substations.
Resident Patrick Breedlove mentioned the circumstances surrounding Jesse Crisp’s 2023 sale to the state-regulated monopoly involving a property that would later house the substation. Several attendees were suspicious of the lack of a public announcement that typically accompanies real estate transactions.
Investor-owned utility companies do not usually have a public-facing requirement for real estate sales, instead negotiating directly with the owner. Indeed, an interested Duke Energy leaser or seller can complete a quick form about the parcel in question and, according to Duke, will receive a response within 10 business days.
That Crisp was paid $20,000 in 2023 by Duke Energy Carolinas for his work through Turnkey Service Contract Labor could seem problematic, but conflict-of-interest involvement generally does not arise unless insider knowledge was conveyed about Duke’s plans for the parcel — and measures taken as a result.
Nonetheless, the planned Almond substation as well as the existing Needmore easement share a perceived absence of transparency that has caused frustration among residents. Many feel sidelined by actions Duke has taken without public announcement as well as by the company’s lack of responsiveness to queries about the project, especially those regarding the route eventually chosen.
“We all presented some questions to [Duke], some very specific questions that they committed to getting us answers to, and to this day we’ve requested in writing, we haven’t gotten that,” said meeting co-organizer Rena Coleman.
The Almond project affects more properties than the two alternate routes Duke had initially considered, and residents said the company has yet to explain its reason for selecting the Needmore corridor. This could be especially frustrating because, when it comes to easement acquisition, the law also prioritizes utilities corporations above property owners. Eminent domain is reserved for such a situation on the grounds that power lines are installed as a public good.
Duke Energy claims the Almond 66 kilovolt project will “help provide reliable, increasingly clean electricity”, “better serve current and growing energy needs” and “help improve reliability,” including severe weather resiliency.
To the first statement about clean energy, however, environmental groups argue that Duke Energy’s 2025 Carolinas Resource Plan is anything but. It proposes constructing 12 natural gas plants, decreasing reliance on wind farms and expanding nuclear power through a new reactor. Potential consequences include rising carbon dioxide emissions, a potentially less reliable energy supply and hefty consumer costs.
As for the latter claims, the 2025 plan describes growing power needs as applicable to consumers — and also industrial users. In the first quarter of this year, new Duke contracts with data centers added an additional 2.7 gigawatts of energy service, likely requiring transmission buildouts. A right-of-way in this instance, though only encompassing part of the property, could have far-reaching impacts to homeowners, including limiting future construction and natural features while requiring around-the-clock maintenance access.
State law dictates that “the determination of the amount of compensation shall reflect the value of the property,” but that’s little, if any, comfort to Needmore residents, who share an unparalleled attachment to the place each calls home.
“My dad has fought cancer. He is on his fourth round,” Suzanne Allen Howard told attendees, adding that while the land is not a lot, at 15 acres, it “means everything to him.”
“We all know there’s very little taxable land here, so not only is that family land that’s no longer usable, but it may mean that they have to relocate. So, it’s heartbreaking for us,” she said. “My dad doesn’t know of this …. because that would probably take him off this earth.”