ROUGEMONT, N.C. (Sept. 8, 2025 — Person County locals, with the aid of Southern Union for Social Justice (SCSJ), continue battling versus a questionable rezoning choice made in favor of the proposed Moriah Energy Facility (MEC)– which stays an environmental worry.
SCSJ submitted a short Monday with the North Carolina Court of Appeals requesting their lawsuit against the rezoning be heard. The claim, filed in very early 2024, challenges Individual Area’s redesignation of land zoned rural residential and preservation to industrial, including hefty industrial, for Enbridge– previously Preeminence Power– to construct and operate MEC, a liquified methane storage center.
The rezoning was gone by the Person County Board of Commissioners in December 2023 in spite of overwhelming community opposition. By the end of last year, nearly all insurance claims were dismissed after Individual County and Enbridge attorneys said the Complainants lacked lawful standing. SCSJ appealed the dismissal previously this year.
“Must this not be treated in an interlocutory charm, the Plaintiffs run the risk of never having the ability to be heard in a meaningful manner,” the brief states. “Already, the center is being constructed. If Plaintiffs are required to wait until the conclusion of proceedings to seek their civil liberties, it may well be too late. A significant hearing after the gas is on the ground and the emissions impend is no meaningful hearing whatsoever.”
Click on this link to read the appellate quick.
The legal action and appeal represent Individual Area locals’ determination to have their voices listened to on a rezoning choice that currently has and will continue to have a considerable impact on their homes, wellness, and lives. The short details why plaintiffs lawfully have the right to be listened to on this problem despite initiatives from the Region and Enbridge to silence them.
“When neighbors withstand test an extreme zoning adjustment that changes the entire personality of their area, reveals them to air and water pollution threats, and endangers their way of living, they have a right to be listened to, and the Area and Enbridge must not have actually tried to obstruct that right,” stated Anna Byers, Senior Advise for Environmental Justice at SCSJ “This allure is about seeing to it communities have a voice in rezoning choices– and fixing the procedure when that voice is ignored.”
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice , founded in 2007, companions with areas of color and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the South to defend and progress their political, social, and financial rights via the combination of lawful advocacy, research study, organizing, and interactions. Find out more at southerncoalition.org and follow our service Facebook , Instagram, and LinkedIn