Possible gas pipeline route in SC is a 'trade secret' that a utility refuses to reveal

Santee Cooper, a partner with Dominion Energy in a plan to build a new Lowcountry gas plant, declined to provide any information about a future pipeline in response to a Post and Courier open records request.

Santee Cooper's denial of even a single word about the pipeline "strained belief," said one public disclosure expert, while opponents said it was another example of the project's secrecy.

In public filings and hearings, officials with Dominion and Santee Cooper have said they want to build a large natural gas plant on the banks of the Edisto River where an old coal-fired plant once stood.

A small gas pipeline serves that area, but a much larger one would be needed to fuel a gas plant. Dominion and Santee Cooper said they need to build the plant and pipeline to meet rising electricity demand. Yet both utilities have declined to say how much the plant and pipeline would cost, how much land it might need and whose properties could be affected.

Amid this vacuum of information, The Post and Courier asked Santee Cooper, a public agency, for basic information about the pipeline plan, including maps, emails, reports and analyses of its route and costs.

But the agency said it wouldn't provide any documents. In its denial, Santee Cooper cited exemptions in the state's Freedom of Information Act. The exemptions allow agencies to withhold information involving "trade secrets" or discussions between attorneys and clients.

The blanket denial "strains belief that every line, word or punctuation within the documents" is a secret and exempt from disclosure, said Taylor Smith, an attorney for the South Carolina Press Association.

Smith said that when agencies fail to properly release government-generated information, "the public cannot learn the activities of these public officials."

Mollie Gore, Santee Cooper director of corporate communications, said the Freedom of Information Act has "clear exemptions for sensitive documents" that, if released, could "harm an agency's ability to perform its public purpose."

But the newspaper isn't the only organization that has had trouble extracting public records from Santee Cooper.

Daniel Tait, research manager with Energy and Policy Institute, sought information from Santee Cooper related to energy bills going through the state Legislature.

The agency responded quickly in connection with one request, but then Tait spotted an email from a lawyer who specifically mentioned he had removed any legal advice or conclusions from a memo. Tait wanted that memo. Santee Cooper said no.

"We don't think these records are covered by attorney-client privilege," he said.

The Southern Environmental Law Center also sought information about the pipeline project. Santee Cooper officials told the group that the agency had already given information to them as part of the utility's Integrated Resource Plan, a utility's chief map of how it plans to generate and distribute electricity.

But the group had to sign a stringent nondisclosure agreement merely to view the agency's documents.

All this comes amid a push by pro-utility lawmakers to pass a major energy bill, one that would have made it easier to condemn land for a pipeline. The bill also removed protections created in the wake of the V.C. Summer nuclear fiasco, which saw ratepayers fork over billions of dollars for nuclear generators that never cranked out a single watt.

Once on a fast track, the bill's momentum slowed as more and more lawmakers grew skeptical.

Entering the summer months, the bill as it was initially drafted remains on life support.

House lawmakers made an eleventh-hour push to reinsert the bill into several unrelated pieces of legislation. But Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told reporters on the final day of session he has no plans to act on the bill anytime soon. He said he intends to hold additional hearings over the summer and fall, a precursor to a compromise bill later in the year.

No matter the bill's course, state officials shouldn't endorse or approve a project until "there has been full transparency and public review," said Eddy Moore of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Some lawmakers have been calling for more openness. During a hearing April 16, several of them grilled utility executives about the gas project and pipeline, reminding them about the public's skepticism after the V.C. Summer nuclear scandal.

In response, Jimmy Staton, Santee Cooper's president and CEO, said: "We are committed to being the most transparent. If there is a nut or a bolt that comes in 10 days late, you folks are going to be aware of it."