Santee Cooper aims to go 'above and beyond' standards

Santee Cooper said it will go above and beyond regulations to receive a water quality permit for its proposed Kingsburg plant, but opponents are raising concerns about levels of mercury in the Great Pee Dee River.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control held a public comment session Tuesday at Johnsonville High School regarding the state-owned utility’s application for a water quality certification.

“We will either meet or do better than all of the required state and federal regulations,” Santee Cooper President and CEO Lonnie Carter said.

Hemingway resident Larry Creel asked whether the plant would violate water quality standards by adding more mercury to the Great Pee Dee River.

“To me, it’s kind of like the dog’s not dead, so why don’t we go ahead and shoot it again?” he said.

DHEC will examine that possibility in deciding on whether to issue the permit, said Heather Preston of DHEC’s Water Bureau.

Section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act requires the state to issue a certificate for any activity that could lead to a discharge into state waters.

DHEC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have a joint permitting process regarding wetlands development, Preston said.

DHEC has one year from the date application was received — that is, until Oct. 17 — to issue, deny or waive the permit. If DHEC denies the permit, the Corps cannot issue its permit.

Santee Cooper’s project would fill just more than 16 acres of wetlands and have an impact on nearly 91½ acres, according to DHEC.

After an hourlong question-and-answer session Tuesday, DHEC allowed public comments. Nearly 40 people had signed up to speak, DHEC officials told the crowd.

Johnsonville City Administrator Scott Tanner spoke first.

“This plant is vital not only to the Pee Dee region but to the economic prosperity of our state,” he said, asking DHEC to approve the permit quickly.

Carter, in his comments before the question-and-answer session, said the plant would reduce mercury emissions by as much as 95 percent.

He said trace amounts of mercury could enter air but would have no local impact, so residents wouldn’t have to eat less fish caught in local rivers.

“It will not have a measurable impact on this great community,” he told the crowd.

Kathryn Hilton of Aiken, with the S.C. Alliance for Sustainable Campuses and Communities, raised concerns over ash basins leaking pollutants into the river.

In responding to Hilton, Chuck Gorman of DHEC’s water bureau said arsenic has been detected in groundwater near some ash basins.

Santee Cooper recycles 85 percent of its ash and therefore hopes it wouldn’t have to use its ash basin, which would be lined to prevent chemicals from leaking, Santee Cooper spokeswoman Laura Varn said.

Opponents of the plant also asked for DHEC, before issuing the permit, to perform mercury testing on people in addition to studying contamination in fish.

DHEC accepting comments

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will accept written comments through Dec. 3. For more details or to submit a comment, please contact:

Chris Beckham, project manager

Division of Water Quality

S.C. DHEC

2600 Bull St.

Columbia, SC 29201

Beckham also can be reached via e-mail at beckhajc@dhec.sc.gov.