Santee Cooper Focus on Wind and Nuclear
William Finn recently wrote “Santee Cooper commited to nuclear power” . Read his article below.
As a Santee Cooper board member representing Charleston and the 1st Congressional District, I feel compelled to respond to last Friday’s editorial regarding wind power. While we appreciate your support for wind power, you implied Santee Cooper should consider more nuclear power, as if we were not already aggressively pursuing it.
I am bewildered by your editorial, as your own reporters and editors themselves have written favorable reports and editorials regarding our nuclear efforts with SCE&G.
Several years ago, the Santee Cooper board committed to additional nuclear capacity, and today we are well into the four- to five-year permitting process. In fact, we are likely to be one of the first new nuclear plants to come online in the country, barring any roadblocks. Santee Cooper has already spent $100 million on advancing our nuclear power efforts and the total cost to Santee Cooper will be roughly $4.5 billion. These new nuclear efforts directly correlate to two strategies: First, our plans to meet the state’s future energy needs through a balanced solution of ongoing energy efficiency, renewables and conservation and traditional generation, and, secondly, to achieve our aggressive goal of generating 40 percent of our energy by 2020 through non-greenhouse gas emitting resources, biomass fuels, energy efficiency and conservation. Nuclear power is a major contributor to this goal.
The governor and Santee Cooper have held numerous discussions about new nuclear power and we have common ground. We appreciate his support of our nuclear efforts.
It is important to note, however, that we are not being supported by the environmental advocacy community. Even with the governor’s urging for them to support nuclear, they steadfastly refuse to offer their support. At some point, “Just Say No” no longer works. You could look into why these advocacy groups do not have and offer other viable solutions.
While we will listen carefully to those with concerns and ideas about our future energy generation plans, what worries us most is the possibility of not being able to provide affordable, reliable power in an environmentally sensitive manner to improve the quality of life for the people of South Carolina.
WILLIAM A. FINN
Board member
Santee Cooper
Murray Boulevard
Charleston
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