CHARLESTON, S.C. — Today, the South Carolina Public Service Commission voted 7-0 to approve Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy South Carolina’s 2,200-megawatt joint gas plant in Canadys, South Carolina on the banks of the Edisto River. For years, environmental and clean energy groups have raised concerns about the project’s potential negative impact on nearby communities, the ACE Basin, and other natural resources.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, intervened in the proceeding to raise concerns about the environmental impacts and rising costs of the massive plant and the 71-mile greenfield pipeline needed to service it.
In response to the gas plant’s approval, the groups released the following statements:
“This massive, polluting plant has already doubled in cost from $2.5 to $5 billion in the last year, and the utilities admitted at the hearing that its final costs would likely be even higher,” said Kate Mixson, SELC Senior Attorney. “We’re certainly worried that the plant and pipeline will negatively impact communities and raise customers’ bills. We will closely monitor the project’s next steps to ensure its impacts are as mitigated as possible.”
“We are deeply concerned about the environmental, public health, and economic impacts of this plant and the associated pipeline, and we are also alarmed by the utilities’ repeated delays in retiring the coal units this plant was supposed to replace,” said Taylor Allred, State Energy & Climate Program Director at the Coastal Conservation League. “It would be a deep injustice to allow the utilities to raise rates for families and small businesses to fund tens of millions of dollars needed to keep their aging coal units online, on top of the billions spent on this massive gas plant, to serve potential future energy demand from big data centers.”
“When you count the all-in cost to customers to build, finance, and operate this gas infrastructure, our predictions two years ago that this project would cost as much as the failed $9 billion VC Summer nuclear project are coming true,” said Eddy Moore, SACE Decarbonization Director. “The difference is that the environmental damage from millions of tons per year of new air pollution for fifty years plus using the gas pipeline to industrialize the ACE Basin will be worse. Meanwhile, in the 5 or more years before this project delivers any power, the world economy will continue to shift towards the cleaner, more advanced energy solutions that South Carolina should embrace.”
Press release originally posted on selc.org. Media contacts: Rachel Chu, SELC, 843-720-5270, rchu@selc.org; Amy Rawe, 865-235-1448, amyr@cleanenergy.org
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About Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 250, including more than 160 legal and policy experts and advocates, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, DC. selc.org
About the Coastal Conservation League
Since 1989, the Coastal Conservation League has worked with communities, businesses, citizen groups, and people like you to protect what we love about South Carolina. We advocate to protect the natural environment of South Carolina’s coast for the benefit of all. The Coastal Conservation League envisions a South Carolina coast where wildlife thrives, air and water are clean, and natural landscapes are protected for generations to come. Learn more at coastalconservationleague.org.
About the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Since 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has worked to promote responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at cleanenergy.org.
