People near, far speak out at Pamplico coal plant meeting

Hundreds of people packed the Hannah-Pamplico gymnasium Thursday to make their voices heard about Santee Cooper’s proposed Pee Dee Energy Campus.

The $1.25 billion project, a 600-megawatt coal-fired generation facility, is proposed to be located on a 2,709-acre tract along the Great Pee Dee River.

Some residents of the area are ready to get the discussion over with. Pamplico Mayor Gene Gainey said he is eager for the approval to build the Pee Dee Energy Campus.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s time to resolve this issue and get to building this plant,” he said.

But, Clair Boatwright, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, said the process is necessary to insure that adequate attention has been given to every detail of the proposed facility.

“The concerns that are brought forward have to have a basis in science and a basis in law,” she said. “If those two criteria are met, it absolutely is taken seriously. ”

Boatwright said nothing has been decided or will be decided for quite some time.

Despite it still being early in the process, people from throughout the state and country came out to voice their opinions about the proposed coal plant.

Dr. James Hansen, national climatologist and Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute, said in a phone interview Thursday, the rules of the energy game need to change to benefit everyone, not just the people at the top. To do that, he said, coal must be phased out and efficiency made the focus of people’s efforts.

“One coal plant can point at another one and say it’s better than the other, but both are very dirty,” Hansen said.

Busloads of people from Alcoa, the world leader in aluminum production, showed up to support the plant.

Meanwhile, buses carrying students from colleges and universities in the Upstate arrived to express their displeasure with coal power.

Laura Varn, spokeswoman for Santee Cooper, confirmed that Alcoa is one of the largest industrial customers of the energy company.

“It’s very important to them as it is for all industrial and residential customers,” she said. “By their show of support, they’re showing how crucial it is to them.”

But some of the residents think the issue should be left in the hands of the people who live where the plant will be located.

Ricky Hardee, co-chair of the Pee Dee Supporters for Progress, said his organization gave out 150 t-shirts to people living in Pamplico who were planning to come out in support of the coal plant.

“I think it should be more of a local issue,” he said. “It directly impacts this community as a whole. We’re desperate for jobs.”

S.C. Rep. Terry Alexander, of District 59, said he thinks energy efficiency is a nice idea in theory, but it action it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds.

“We have a lot of folks in our community who don’t have good houses and sealed windows,” he said. “You’re talking about low income folks who have to put up plastic on their windows to stay warm.”

Mike King, a member of the Pee Dee River Watchers, said he thinks if community leaders think the plant will be a boon to the area, “they are the biggest group of nitwits ever assembled in South Carolina.”