🧵 In Today’s Edition

1. Fighting a Gas Pipeline Expansion in Guilford County
2. What We’re Reading

Demonstrators oppose the pipeline expansion at a meeting of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners last week. (Image: Gale Melcher for The Assembly)

Fighting Expansion of a Gas Pipeline in Guilford County

On the outskirts of Guilford County in the town of Oak Ridge, there’s a long alleyway of grass stretching between the trees as far as the eye can see.

Brenda Chaney’s farmhouse is in the middle of the path. Far beneath the surface: three pipes full of natural gas, mostly methane, obtained through hydraulic fracturing or fracking. The Williams Companies’ Transco natural gas pipeline, stretching from New York City to the southern tip of Texas, channels it underneath properties like Chaney’s. The company has operated in Guilford County for more than 75 years, its Transco pipeline supplying natural gas to Duke Energy, the region’s biggest power supplier.

When Chaney purchased the property nearly a decade ago, she had no idea what was beneath. Due to the pipeline easement on Chaney’s property, Williams has the right to what’s below the surface. Those rights were signed away and pipes were built decades ago. Chaney and others are concerned about their safety and plans to expand the pipeline.

Chaney is a registered Republican. People assume she’d be all for “drill, baby, drill,” she said. She’s really tired of judgment from those who don’t have a personal stake in the matter, she said.

“I see a lot of people trying to make this a political issue,” she said. “It’s not.”

“I’m talking to people from every single party,” she said. “It’s not about that. What we have asked for repeatedly is just transparency on the safety of these.”

Read the full story here.

— Gale Melcher

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

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What We’re Reading

Arriving On Time?: Will JetZero choose Greensboro for a new production facility that could create as many as 10,000 new jobs? Keep an eye out Thursday when the State Economic Investment Committee holds a specially called meeting. On the same day, both the Greensboro City Council and Guilford County Board of Commissioners will meet to discuss incentives for an as-yet-unnamed company that’s eyeing Guilford County. The News & Record has the story.

Homicide Number 17: On Monday, Greensboro Police charged Curtis Tyrone Vanhook, 46, in what they said is the city’s 17th homicide of 2025. Police were called to the 200 block of Berryman Street at just after midnight Monday in response to a shooting. There they found Catherine Whitsett, 41, who later died of gunshot wounds. ABC 45 has the story.

Feeling Supersonic: The Wall Street Journal has a close look at where Boom Supersonic, a potential economic game changer for Greensboro, actually is in producing its supersonic commercial plane. Among the not-so-encouraging details: the company’s valuation, once around $1 billion, was at around $500 million at the end of last year. The company has also dramatically slashed its fundraising goals and laid off half of its 260 employees.

Gale is a Report for America corps member and Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She previously covered local government and community issues for Triad City Beat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from N.C. State University.