Chapter 5 Threats
5.5 Energy Production and Mining
This category addresses threats from production of nonbiological resources related to exploring for, developing, and producing energy and mining resources. Resources include oil and gas drilling on land and in ocean waters; coal and gold mines; and rock, sand, and phosphate quarries. Renewable resources also fall under this category, such as hydropower and emerging technologies associated with solar farms, windmills, tidal wave energy capture, and geothermal power production (Salafsky et al. 2008) . Renewable energy is defined by NC General Statute (G.S.) 62-133.8(a)(7) and (8) and North Carolina has a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) that was passed into law in 2007 (Session Law 2007-397, Senate Bill 3). This standard requires all investor-owned utilities to reach 12.5% renewable energy production. There is the potential for future reduction of this target. Rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric suppliers have a 10% REPS requirement. As of January 2024, the NC Utility Commission has accepted 1,264 renewable energy facility registrations, with the majority being solar photovoltaic facilities (NC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard [REPS] 2007) . The NC Clean Energy Technology Center works with partners in government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations to develop clean energy technologies (NC Clean Energy 2025) . Renewable energy facilities include those that generate electric power using renewable energy resources, combined heat and power systems, and solar thermal energy facilities. Solar electric, solar thermal, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and ocean current or wave energy resources are considered renewable energy resources. Another example of a renewable energy resource covered under the REPS includes biomass or biofuels, which use agricultural waste, animal waste, wood waste, spent pulping liquors, combustible residues, combustible liquids, combustible gases, energy crops, or landfill methane for energy production. Information about other renewable energy resources covered by the REPS is available online from the NC Utilities Commission website: https://energync.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/03/Citizens_Guide_NC_REPS.pdf. 5.5.1 Biomass and Biofuels – Anticipated Impacts Biomass resources include organic matter from a variety of wood materials and energy crops that can be gasified, used in combined heat and power technologies or in biochemical conversions, used to create biofuels, or used for direct combustion (Milbrant 2005; Fargione et al. 2009) . There are two main types of biofuels in use today that are made from biomass resources: ethanol and biodiesel (Biofuels, n.d.).
Enviva is a global producer of wood pellets that operates hardwood pellet production facilities in Ahoskie, Hamlet, Northampton County, and Sampson County. The pellets are shipped from
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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