8/24/2009

Santee Cooper nixes plan for coal plant

BY Sammy Fretwell
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

PINOPOLIS -- Santee Cooper will not pursue construction of a controversial coal-fired power plant that has drawn intense opposition from environmentalists over the amount of mercury and greenhouse gas pollution the facility would release.

A committee of the state-owned utility voted this morning to suspend an effort to secure permits for the $2.2 billion plant in Florence County along the Great Pee Dee River. The full Santee Cooper board is expected to ratify the vote at noon today.

The agency's action makes it unlikely the plant will ever be built, said Santee Cooper board Chairman O.L. Thompson.

Santee Cooper's board chairman said Friday the utility might not need a coal-fired power plant in the Pee Dee region if a handful of S.C. electric cooperatives buy their power from rival Duke Energy.

O.L. Thompson, who heads the 11-member governing board, said the panel is expected to take action Monday on whether to allow a representative of the cooperatives, which are supplied by Santee Cooper, to strike a deal with Duke on their behalf.

If five Upstate cooperatives begin receiving energy from Duke instead of Santee Cooper, it will free capacity for his utility, Thompson said.

Duke Energy has agreed to provide power to five electrical cooperatives in South Carolina, reducing the needs of a state-owned utility that has dropped plans for a coal-powered plant.

The State reported that Duke's directors agreed Tuesday to sell power to five electrical cooperatives in the Upstate now served by Santee Cooper. The agreement still must be approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

Santee Cooper dropped plans earlier this week for a $1.25 billion coal-fired power plant planned in rural Florence County.

Duke Energy has agreed to provide power to five electrical cooperatives in South Carolina, reducing the needs of a state-owned utility that has dropped plans for a coal-powered plant.

The State reported that Duke's directors agreed Tuesday to sell power to five electrical cooperatives in the Upstate now served by Santee Cooper. The agreement still must be approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

Santee Cooper dropped plans earlier this week for a $1.25 billion coal-fired power plant planned in rural Florence County.

Ending months of private discussions, Santee Cooper's governing board abandoned plans Monday to build a $2.2 billion coal-fired power plant that had sparked an uproar in South Carolina over the need for the energy complex and its potential environmental impacts.

The Santee Cooper board agreed the state's sluggish economy, the expense of looming federal carbon regulation - and an agreement with another power company - have made it possible to forgo building the power station along the Great Pee Dee River in Florence County.

O.L. Thompson, the Santee Cooper board chairman, said that while the state-owned utility reserves the right to pursue the coal plant at a later time, he doubts that will happen.

State-owned utility Santee Cooper decided Monday to drop plans for a controversial coal-fired power plant in South Carolina, a move lauded by environmental groups that had criticized the facility.

The vote by the utility's board seemingly put to rest a battle pitting Santee Cooper against environmentalists and residents who had expressed concerns the plant would harm surrounding waters and wetlands, as well as the people living near the massive facility.

South Carolina's environmental agency granted Santee Cooper's request for air permits for two 600-megawatt boilers on the Great Pee Dee River, in rural Florence County. But the utility subsequently said it planned to build just one boiler, at a cost of $1.25 billion, to meet energy demands while it tried to build a nuclear reactor elsewhere.

Committee members and Santee Cooper staff said the down economy, looming federal regulation of carbon and a potential agreement with another power company made it possible to forgo building the power plant.

During the meeting, the committee voted to let a representative of five Upstate electric cooperatives buy power from another utility, presumably Duke Energy. The cooperatives would purchase about 1,000 megawatts over about seven years, thus reducing the load Santee Cooper would have to provide --- and reducing the need for the coal plant near the communities of Pamplico and Kingsburg.

Today's meeting, at the utility's scenic Wampee conference center on Lake Moultrie, was attended by representatives of most major environmental groups in South Carolina, as well as by Central Electric Cooperative.