Environmental groups Intervene at Public Service Commission to Raise Concerns
CHARLESTON, SC — Today, Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy South Carolina applied for approval for their joint Canadys gas plant at the South Carolina Public Service Commission. The application kicks off a months-long process during which the Public Service Commission will review the plans for the 2,200-megawatt methane gas plant.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, filed to participate in the docket as intervenors last week. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the proposed project for years given the plant’s size and proximity to the Edisto River and the ACE Basin.
“We’ve been waiting for this application for a long time. While we haven’t dug into the application yet, we intervened to raise significant concerns about the cost and risks of this massive plant—and the new pipeline needed to serve it—and its impacts on the community and environment,” said Kate Mixson, SELC Senior Attorney.
“The massive gas plant proposed on the Edisto River in Canadys – and the proposed Elba Bridge pipeline that would traverse the ACE Basin to fuel it – pose serious threats to critical habitats, air and water quality, public health, energy affordability, and the community’s rural character,” said Taylor Allred, Coastal Conservation League’s State Energy & Climate Program Director.
“This huge power plant being planned on the banks of the Edisto River largely to serve new data centers has already doubled in cost to $5 billion. It will likely see further cost overruns from the multiple gas pipeline projects needed to supply it. We believe there are cleaner, smarter, less risky ways to meet South Carolina’s energy needs,” said Eddy Moore, Decarbonization Director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
In October, SELC released a health impacts report that modeled the projected air pollution from the proposed plant. The report revealed that the plant would emit at least 164.3 tons of particulate matter, a harmful form of air pollution.
Media contact: Rachel Chu, SELC, 843-619-4617, rchu@selc.org; Taylor Allred, SCCCL, 843-723-8035, taylora@scccl.org; Eddy Moore, eddy@cleanenergy.org.
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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 200, including more than 130 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. Learn more at selc.org
The Coastal Conservation League advocates to protect the natural environment of South Carolina’s coast for the benefit of all. We envision 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
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
