House members expected to take up amendments this week
By Jessica Holdman
SCDailyGazatte.com
COLUMBIA — House lawmakers will consider tweaking legislation that clears the path for a new power plant in South Carolina in an effort to make it more palatable to consumer and environmental opponents.
Though exactly what those changes would do remains to be seen.
The bill, sponsored by GOP House Speaker Murrell Smith of Sumter gives permission for Dominion Energy and state-owned utility company Santee Cooper to partner on a possible 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant along the Edisto River in Colleton County.
But in the process, it also introduces sweeping regulatory changes that have drawn significant blowback.
It was even enough to lead one utility regulator to resign in protest. Tom Ervin of Greenville left the Public Service Commission to publicly oppose a bill he says could lead to another “nightmare scenario.”
When it comes to the gas plant, utility companies argue it’s necessary to meet the power needs of South Carolina’s growing population, as well as major manufacturers the state continues to attract. But opponents note utilities were making those same arguments 17 years ago when they pushed legislation that would ultimately lead the state into a notorious nuclear fiasco.
That 2007 law, called the Base Load Review Act, allowed Santee Cooper and Dominion’s predecessor, South Carolina Electric & Gas, to charge customers upfront through their monthly bills for the expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in Fairfield County. The project marked the first nuclear venture in the United States in 40 years.
Soaring costs and gross mismanagement led the utilities to abandon the expansion in 2017, but not before spending $9 billion that the Base Load Review Act would have allowed them to recoup even though the project was never finished. Dominion’s buyout of SCE&G’s parent company still left customers on the hook for $2 billion.
There is nothing explicit in this latest legislation that fast-tracks the new gas plant nor does it allow the utilities to collect money upfront to pay for it. Utility executives also swore they don’t intend to skirt regulatory review. But those reassurances have not quelled concerns.
Rep. Jay West, R-Belton, who chairs the legislative panel handling the legislation, said the group will likely take up amendments next week to remove “items in the bill that were counter to our intent originally and things that need to be fixed.”
One major worry has been language that opponents say “signals” utility regulators, who are elected by the Legislature, to push the gas plant through by deeming it in the “public interest.”
Ervin’s resignation
“The legislative endorsement of this project makes it so that you couldn’t argue that customers shouldn’t cover major cost overruns or potential abandonment,” Ervin, the former utility regulator, wrote in his resignation letter Wednesday.
The former circuit court judge, who’s been on the Public Service Commission since 2018, said the legislation bypasses the board’s “statutory mandate to make a determination that an expensive combined cycle gas plant on the proposed Canady site is in the state’s best interests.”
This, coupled with removing a requirement added in the wake of V.C. Summer that Santee Cooper disclose the cost of its projects during regulatory hearings, is what has prompted opponents to dub the legislation a “blank check” for utilities.
Ervin plans to testify against the legislation now that he no longer sits on the regulatory commission. He plans to warn lawmakers they are again putting their “thumb on the scale of justice.”
“We all should have learned important lessons from the V.C. Summer nuclear debacle,” he wrote. “Our state’s ratepayers cannot afford a repeat of those same mistakes again.
“A new natural gas plant will need new transmission lines and new natural gas pipelines which will adversely impact private property owners and cost billions of dollars,” he continued. “You know who will have to pay for all these things! Yep, it’s going to be the ratepayers.”
He also worries about the bill allowing utility executives to meet privately with regulators.
“We need to preserve the (Public Service Commission’s) independence and integrity. As you know, our current law prohibits backroom deals and provides a statutory right for all stakeholders to participate in a transparent hearing in public view,” he wrote.
West, a co-sponsor, said clearing that up will be among the changes his panel will take up.
The bill will specify that public hearings need to be held to “allow intervenors and experts to battle it out” and that regulators should make their own independent finding despite the Legislature’s endorsement, he said.
“We want to clarify that this legislation would not limit consumers from addressing the commission nor would it limit the commissioners from considering what the consumers say in public hearings,” West said.
West said amendments will also remove language requiring regulators to give “substantial weight” to utilities when those companies seek approval of their long-range plans for meeting the state’s electric needs.
But those proposed changes have yet to be made public.
He said lawmakers will also close what opponents see as a potential loophole in the bill.
The legislation inserts language about “like facilities.” The concept has historically applied to replacing power generators that are being shut down, allowing installation of a new model without going back through months of stringent review.
Because the proposed Colleton County gas plant would be replacing a coal plant, environmental and consumer groups worry it could go through without being certified through the Public Service Commission, despite needing upgrades to at least 100 miles of natural gas pipelines that feed the site.
West also pointed out that, in addition to regulatory approval, state-owned Santee Cooper will need the OK to raise funds for the project from a special legislative panel that monitors government spending.
“Still looking for the blank check,” West said. “But if someone could point out a blank check, we would certainly remove that also.”
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the S.C. Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
