By Steve Gilbert
Ten years ago, the oil and gas industry came after the South Carolina coast with an attempt to put oil rigs off our shores. This dangerous proposal threatened massive, economically devastating oil spills on our cherished beaches.
The American Petroleum Institute, working primarily through state legislators from other parts of the state, tried to cram this proposal down our throats through changes in state and federal law, and the coast fought back: Every coastal mayor opposed the proposal, working across party lines. Eventually the governor and even the president of the United States agreed to oppose offshore drilling.
The American Petroleum Institute is back again, threatening our land and water.
Recently, legislators whose constituents would not be affected by raised utility rates or new pipeline routing invited representatives of the institute and other industry backers to the front of the line in a legislative hearing — in front of 75 South Carolina citizens who had signed up to speak.
The petroleum industry wants a new natural gas pipeline into South Carolina. Some legislators approve of the pipeline without any definitive documentation of exactly where it will go, what it will cost, or who will pay for it.
One thing we do know: Most of the cost of the pipeline will be put on your electric bill, because the pipeline will supply new power plants that will increase our dependence on fossil gas rather than renewable energy.
The message of the petroleum industry to us in the Lowcountry can be summarized as “We are going to build a pipeline and you are going to pay for it.”
And that’s not all the public consumers will pay for. Because of the fluctuating cost of fossil gas, the cost of the power plant plus fuel could exceed the cost of clean energy alternatives by billions of dollars, causing electricity bills to skyrocket!
South Carolina is not an oil- and gas-producing state.
We are a beautiful, natural state with abundant sunshine. We care about the rivers and marshes this pipeline will cross. And we are once again at the point where citizens need to remind our state legislators that they work for us, not for the oil and gas industry.
In addition, those of us who are concerned about climate change and have already experienced the effects of a warming planet will appreciate the fact that methane, an 80 times more potent heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide, is known to leak from pipelines and gas plants and release directly into our atmosphere.
Steve Gilbert’s career includes three decades with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Division and the NOAA Coastal Services Center. His work at FWS focused on environmental impact analysis. He spent three years at the Florida FWS ecological services office working on the Everglades Restoration Project before returning to Charleston to work at the NOAA Coastal Services Center. There, he led a team of trainers that taught coastal issues across the country. He has a master’s degree in biology and ecology.
