Another Coal Plant Goes Down

This Time in South Carolina
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Today rate-payers and oxygen users can breathe a little easier, as the Santee Cooper company nixed its plans to build another coal plant in the state.

A committee of the state-owned utility voted this morning to suspend an effort to secure permits for the $2.2 billion plant in Florence County along the Great Pee Dee River. The full Santee Cooper board is expected to ratify the vote at noon today.

The agency’s action makes it unlikely the plant will ever be built, said Santee Cooper board Chairman O.L. Thompson.

South Carolina is one of the top 10 users of mountaintop removal coal. Its also pays the second highest price for coal in the US, behind New Jersey.
There are currently 12 coal-fired power plants in the state. The website SCsaysNO.com has more info on the impacts that this plant would have had on the health, economy, and environment.

About JW Randolph

Raised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.