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Published Date: 3.19.26
Last Updated: 3.19.26

A PEOPLE-Powered Plan for
Lower Energy Bills and Cleaner Air

WHAT SB 266 GETS WRONG

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❌ Raises costs on families
 

❌ Weakens pollution standards
 

❌ Expands natural gas reliance (more methane leaks)
 

❌ Opens the door to high-energy data centers without safeguards
 

❌ Fails to invest in real economic mobility

THE PEOPLE-POWERED FIX
If we’re rewriting energy policy, it should lower costs, reduce pollution, and invest in our communities—not shift risk onto families.

1. METHANE ACCOUNTABILITY (Stop the Leak!!!)

✅ Continuous methane monitoring (landfills + gas systems)
✅ Public reporting across North Carolina
✅ Rapid leak repair requirements

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Including major methane sources like landfill emissions in Winston-Salem

2. LANDFILL & WASTE REFORM

✅ Stronger gas capture standards
✅ Mandatory system upgrades
✅ Independent inspections
✅ Composting + food waste diversion programs

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Stop turning waste into pollution—and start reducing it at the source

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Turn Waste Into Revenue (Local Opportunity)

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  • Captured methane can be:

    • Converted into energy (electricity or renewable natural gas)

    • Sold back into the energy market
       

  • Opportunities to reinvent new local revenue streams:

    • Lower waste costs

    • Community programs

    • Infrastructure improvements
       

Instead of letting pollution escape into our air, we can capture it, clean it, and put that value back into our communities.

3. RESPONSIBLE DATA CENTER POLICY

The problem:


Data centers:

  • Drive massive energy demand

  • Increase pressure for new gas infrastructure

  • Raise costs for ratepayers

  • Create relatively few long-term local jobs
     

The Fix:

✅ Require 100% clean energy matching
✅ No cost-shifting to ratepayers and no sales tax and other exemptions
✅ Water use transparency + limits
✅ Community impact agreements

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No blank-check subsidies for projects that raise bills without real local benefit

4. REAL ECONOMIC MOBILITY

Economic development should create opportunity—not just higher demand on our energy system.

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Instead of subsidizing high-cost, low-job projects:

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Invest in:

  • Skilled trades + apprenticeships

  • Community colleges & job training

  • Clean energy jobs (solar, grid upgrades, efficiency)

  • Small business growth
     

Jobs that are local, stable, and accessible without a 4-year degree

5. PROTECT FAMILIES FROM HIGHER BILLS

SB 266:
❌ Customers pay upfront for projects
❌ Families absorb the risk

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The Fix:
✅ No charging customers for failed or delayed projects
✅ No paying for leaked or wasted energy
✅ Corporations—not ratepayers—carry financial risk

6. ACCOUNTABILITY + TRANSPARENCY

✅ Strong enforcement authority for NC DEQ
✅ Daily penalties for violations
✅ Public methane + infrastructure map
✅ Community notification for major impacts

HOW WE PAY FOR IT
Right now, families are already paying—through higher bills, wasted energy, and preventable pollution. This plan stops that waste and puts responsibility where it belongs—and creates new value for our communities.

1. STOP WASTED COSTS

  • Prevent paying for:

    • Leaked natural gas

    • Inefficient systems

    • Preventable infrastructure failures
       

Fixing waste lowers costs immediately

2. MAKE CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE

  • Utilities cannot charge customers for:

    • Lost or leaked gas

    • Poor planning or cost overruns
       

  • Data centers must:

    • Cover their own energy + infrastructure needs

    • Not shift costs onto communities

3. GENERATE LOCAL REVENUE FROM METHANE CAPTURE

  • Landfill methane capture systems can:

    • Generate electricity

    • Produce renewable natural gas for sale
       

  • Revenue can be used to:

    • Offset local waste management costs

    • Fund community investments

    • Reduce long-term taxpayer burden
       

Turning a pollution problem into a local economic asset

4. USE PENALTIES TO FUND ENFORCEMENT

  • Fines for methane violations and non-compliance

  • Funds reinvested into:

    • Monitoring

    • Enforcement

    • Community protection

5. INVEST IN WHAT LOWERS COSTS

  • Energy efficiency → lowers bills immediately

  • Composting → reduces landfill costs over time

  • Workforce training → builds long-term economic growth

6. LEVERAGE EXISTING FUNDING

  • Federal infrastructure + climate funds

  • Public-private partnerships

  • Waste reduction and clean energy grants

THE BOTTOM LINE

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SB 266:

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➡️ Higher bills
➡️ More pollution
➡️ Corporate-first policy
➡️ Risk pushed onto families

 

A People-Powered Plan for Energy Lower Bills and Cleaner Air:

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➡️ Lower costs
➡️ Cleaner air
➡️ Accountability
➡️ Local revenue from solutions—not just costs
➡️ Real economic opportunity

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We can lower costs, clean up our communities, and even turn waste into local revenue—but only if we stop letting pollution go unchecked and start putting people first.

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