Santee Cooper CEO says mercury worries overblown

July 22, 2008, The Post and Courier, Charleston
By Tony Bartelme, Doug Pardue
 
The high-stakes battle over Santee Cooper's plan to build a coal-fired power plant has grown more heated in recent weeks, with the utility's top executive and its $325-per-hour consultant arguing that concerns about the plant's mercury emissions are overblown.

Environmental groups say Santee Cooper is spreading misinformation to push the plant through.

Coal-fired plants are a key man-made source of mercury pollution and greenhouse gases worldwide, and concerns about these pollutants have fueled growing opposition to new plants here and abroad.

This month, Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper's chief executive officer, went on the offensive. In op-ed pieces for The Post and Courier and

other newspapers, he downplayed mercury's effects in South Carolina rivers and those who eat tainted fish.

"There have been no reported cases of mercury poisoning resulting from environmental exposure in the U.S.," he wrote, adding that the new Pee Dee plant would be "among the cleanest facilities currently in operation."

On Monday, conservation and citizens groups fired back, saying Carter's statements were false and irresponsible. They said a coal-fired plant in Virginia will emit far less mercury than the one proposed for the Pee Dee, and that another in Pennsylvania would emit one-fiftieth as much.

"What we're seeing is a growing credibility gap between Santee Cooper's numbers and its spin," said Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center's Charleston office.

The battlefield shifts today to the tiny town of Pamplico, where the state Department of Health and Environmental Control will hold a public meeting and question-and-answer session about the plant. Citizens groups said Monday that they plan to call on Carter to retract his recent statements.

The National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council estimated in a 2000 report that about 60,000 children per year may be born in the U.S. with neurological problems related to mercury exposure. In 2005, an Environmental Protection Agency-funded study by Harvard researchers calculated that stronger mercury laws could save nearly $5 billion a year in reduced neurological and cardiac harm. In a recent series, "The Mercury Connection," The Post and Courier interviewed doctors here and across the country who treat patients nearly every day for mercury-related health effects.

Santee Cooper wants to build a $1.25 billion plant on the banks of the Great Pee Dee River. The utility says it needs the power plant online by 2013, or its customers could suffer serious power interruptions. As part of its new public relations push called "The Real Story on Mercury," Santee Cooper created the Web site therealstoryonmercury.com.

"The bottom line is that South Carolina waters and fish are safe," the Web site says. "And so are South Carolinians."

The statement is at odds with DHEC's fish consumption advisory, which says: "Some fish caught in South Carolina may not be safe to eat because they contain harmful levels of some chemicals," mainly mercury.

Based on thousands of tests on mercury-tainted fish, DHEC has warned people to avoid eating certain species in 1,747 miles of rivers in South Carolina, mostly in the coastal plain.

According to test results obtained by The Post and Courier, some freshwater fish had such high levels of mercury they would be pulled off store shelves if sold commercially.

This spring, Santee Cooper hired Gail Charnley, a Washington-based toxicology consultant, to advise the utility on mercury matters. In an interview with The Post and Courier, she disputed studies that link power plants with local mercury hotspots and cited overseas plants as the primary culprits.

Environmental groups have criticized Charnley for her work with the tobacco, pesticide and coal industries. "She's repeating these old utility industry dogma," said John Suttles, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, noting her close ties to industry.

An invoice obtained by The Post and Courier shows Charnley charging Santee Cooper $325 an hour plus travel expenses for a recent visit and work between April 9 and July 7, a total of $11,698.50.

A recent federal court ruling struck down the Bush administration's mercury pollution rules. In response, Santee Cooper said it would install new equipment to remove more mercury. Officials with DHEC organized tonight's meeting to address these changes.

Before Santee Cooper can move forward, the Army Corps of Engineers also must issue a permit. The utility, meanwhile, has begun stockpiling construction supplies near the site.