Residents learn of risks associated with proposed coal plant

By Naeem McFadden

WBTW News 13

Published: August 26, 2008

A proposed Santee Cooper coal-powered electricity generating plant planned for the Pamplico area of Florence County spurned a Marion County citizens meeting at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church’s A.C. Robinson Family Life Center. Nearly two-dozen residents from throughout the county gathered to receive information from organizer Rennie Lunn-McAllister, the Rev. Michael A. McClain and Peggy Brown. Lunn-McAllister represented the Carolina Conservation League, Brown is a writer-editor for the Responsible Economic Development organization and McClain is the field coordinator for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.

From a health perspective, McClain said at-risk communities fall victim to land use policies and that the plan brings about “… health, environmental and racial injustice.” He added that the environment plays an important role in the health for people of all colors. “This plant will not be good for your health … bottom line, you will be affected,” McClain told the group during the Aug. 18 meeting.

Though in Florence County, the proposed plant will sit on the west side of the Great Pee Dee River that borders Marion County. “At what risk am I willing to pay to have a job,” McClain asked. “No one actually comes out and says what jobs will there be,” he added, saying that citizens need to pose those questions to elected officials. “It’s to their advantage to buy cheap land and use cheap labor,” he said, adding that minorities are perceived as passive citizens who won’t fight back against the poisoning of neighborhoods in fear that it may jeopardize jobs or economic survival.

McClain questions the number of jobs on the horizon for local residents, saying the job demands highly skilled workers. The event’s organizers urged citizens to challenge the plan and address their concerns to the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control. “We’re about renewable sustainable energy,” he said. Another concern addressed at the meeting is the harmful levels of mercury in fish. Brown said citizens should rethink how they eat fish, adding that eating smaller fish and species with less mercury, taken from lakes and rivers that do not have advisories can reduce the risks of ingesting mercury.

Brown also said air quality around a coal-powered plant will be a concern. “If it’s bad today, what would the air quality be after allowing more harmful emissions?” She asked, then added that there are 12 coal plants in the state. Brown said Santee Cooper is the state-owned public electric utility service planning to build the $1.25 billion dollar pulverized coal-fueled power plant on the Great Pee Dee River, north of the Kingsburg community on U.S. Highway 378, on Old River Road near Pamplico.

No one from the utility was at the meeting. According to published reports on the Times and Democrat newspaper Web site, “Santee Cooper spokeswoman Laura Varn said the state faces ‘an imminent crisis with energy availability’ and the plant will be built with equipment to meet or exceed state and federal standards.”

Brown said it could take five years before the plant goes online. Citizens asked a number of questions, such as what would the air quality will be like if the power plant operates. One person in the audience said residents in the county already suffer from a number of health issues, like kidney failure, cancer and asthma. Lunn-McAllister and the other presenters said they would prefer to see the company offer alternatives to coal-produced electricity, such as solar power, wind energy or coal gasification.

“That’s the kind of energy we need, going green,” McClain said, adding that the company’s economic impact study didn’t seem valid.

“They target the poor with the keyword … jobs … Weighing lives for dollars,” Robinson said.