Santee Cooper's coal plant is wrong
Editor's note: This was

sent to Joe Eller, Engineering

Services Division Bureau of

Air Quality, DHEC from Ben

Gregg, executive director of

the S.C.Wildlife Federation

This letter is in response to DHEC's request for comments pertaining to Santee Cooper's proposed coal- fired power plant in Florence County. As stated at the public hearing on November 8, 2007, South Carolina Wildlife Federation opposes issuance of an air permit for this facility.

What is most striking about this process to date is DHEC's rush to judgment before all environmental studies are completed. With the US Army Corps of Engineers conducting a full Environmental Impact Statement, making an early decision on the air permit defies reason.

If DHEC believes it cannot legally wait until the EIS process is completed and that belief is correct, then the agency needs to go to the General Assembly and ask for the law to change. The agency responsible for a healthy citizenry and a clean environment should make decisions based on a full exploration and study of the facts and particularly with a proposal that has so many potential negative consequences.

To repeat briefly, here are some points we touched on November 8:

• Santee Cooper seeks permits for a dirty, old- style technology that does not allow for capture of carbon dioxide and emits a variety of other dangerous pollutants. If built, this power plant can be expected to operate for more than 50 years. It will contribute to global warming, smog and soot pollution, and mercury pollution in our rivers and coastal waters. There are alternative energy and efficiency measures that can take care of demand increases.

• A recent investigatPiovest r aenpdo rCt obuyr tiehre Charleston has raised alarming questions about mercury in our state. The proposed plant is in the middle of "The Mercury Triangle." This is a hot spot of mercury pollution. We know that Santee Cooper's existing dirty coal plants are already the number one source of mercury in the entire state, that it is turning up in our bodies, and that it is a threat to our health.

• Santee Cooper's coal plant is wrong for our state, and if DHEC is serious about its mission, it should test humans for mercury prior to issuance of a permit. For now, the draft permit should be suspended or rescinded pending study of mercury in the bodies of South Carolinians.

• DHEC advertises its mission as "Healthy People Living in Healthy Communities." This air permit application is a test for how serious DHEC takes that mission. If DHEC can not comply with this mission in its permitting programs, it's time for the agency to come clean and admit it's not up to the job. More and more people in the Pee Dee region and indeed the entire state are tired of DHEC saying its hands are tied when it comes to preventing dirtier air and dirtier water.

In summary, SCWF strongly urges DHEC to deny this permit. We also hope the agency will carefully consider the more detailed analysis of the Southern Environmental Law Center letter of January 21 opposing issuance of the permit.

South Carolina Wildlife Federation is made up of 8,000 members, many of who live in the Pee Dee region and enjoy this region's great outdoors.

Ben Gregg Executive Director