A Bad Deal for Clean Energy in South Carolina and for SCE&G Ratepayers, who get Stuck Paying for the V.C. Summer Nuclear Reactor Debacle for 20 Years
COLUMBIA, S.C. – On January 3, 2018, Dominion Energy and SCANA announced that Dominion has instigated a takeover of SCANA, a South Carolina-based utility. SCANA has been vulnerable to takeover as it’s facing financial and regulatory woes due to pursuit by its subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) of two nuclear reactors that were canceled on July 31, 2017, after a waste of $9 billion.
The take-it-or-leave-it deal falls far short of protecting ratepayers from absorbing the costs of the nuclear fiasco, while replacing the unneeded nuclear plant with unnecessary natural gas capacity instead of cheaper and cleaner energy alternatives. The deal proposes an initial rebate to SCE&G electricity customers for a small amount of the money already paid for the V.C. Summer nuclear reactor construction debacle. The proposal would then require that a typical customer continue to pay 13% of their monthly bill for a period of 20 years, with full profits on the remaining abandoned nuclear project costs. About 18% of customers’ current bill now goes to the nuclear project, with SCE&G collecting about $37 million per month from ratepayers.
SCE&G is still expected to file a formal abandoned nuclear project cost recovery petition with the South Carolina Public Service Commission on or about January 8, 2018, as the company announced last month. That petition will provide important details on Dominion’s proposed deal and draw engagement from public interest groups. Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club will respond aggressively to any proposal which fails to protect ratepayers and assure a clean energy future for South Carolina.
Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club currently have a complaint pending before the PSC which seeks repayment to customers of money wasted on the nuclear project and a future commitment to pursue cleaner, cheaper, alternative energy. In that on-going case Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club are actively seeking to compel discovery of documents from SCE&G that could hold evidence of fraud and imprudence on the part of the utility. While it is unclear how the merger proposal will proceed, the organizations will continue to fight at the PSC for a return of money spent on the nuclear fiasco.
VC Summer Nuclear Plant, May 2017 | Courtesy of High Flyer
CAYCE, S.C. – Barely two weeks after Fairfield County Council took South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) to court to request an injunction to prevent SCE&G from relinquishing its nuclear license for VC Summer Units 2 and 3, and before a judge could rule on the request, SCE&G filed a formal request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to withdraw the combined operating licenses (COLs) for the two VC Summer Units.
In addition, on Wednesday, Dominion Energy and SCANA announced that Dominion has instigated a takeover of SCANA which has been vulnerable to takeover as it’s facing financial and regulatory woes due to pursuit by SCE&G of two nuclear reactors that were canceled on July 31, 2017, after a waste of $9 billion. (For the complete breaking news on this announced takeover, go to blythewoodonline.com.)
SCE&G is still expected to file a formal abandoned nuclear project cost recovery petition with the South Carolina Public Service Commission on or about Jan. 8, 2018, as the company announced Dec. 28. That petition will provide important details on Dominion’s proposed deal.
“This notification (Dec. 28, 2017) is consistent with our plans for abandonment and helps to ensure we qualify for a tax deduction in 2017 so that we can capture approximately $2 billion for our customers to offset the costs of the new nuclear project,” said incoming SCANA CFO Iris Griffin.
In its notification to the NRC, SCE&G stated that it has irrevocably abandoned its interests in the VCS Units 2 and 3, ceased all completion and preservation activities, and has limited work at the plant to only those actions required to place the site in a safe condition, terminate construction and close active permits.
SCE&G has offered to cede its abandoned interest in the VCS Units 2 and 3 to Santee Cooper, for no consideration. If, prior to the NRC approval of this request to withdraw the COLs, Santee Cooper chooses to seek to become the sole licensee for the project, SCE&G officials said they will support an application to the NRC to transfer the licenses to Santee Cooper.
“Fairfield County is aware of SCE&G’s desire to withdraw the licenses for VC Summer Units 2 and 3 so it can take a tax write-off for 2017,” said attorney John McKenzie, one of two law firms representing the County in its legal action against SCE&G.
“The County is also aware that Santee Cooper, by letter of December 15, 2017, has yet to consent to the surrender of these licenses, and apparently cannot do so until its board meets in late January,” McKenzie said. “We also understand that there are interested parties who might purchase Santee Cooper. We would hope that SCE&G would not return the licenses in question until all options to restart this project have been explored. Otherwise, SCE&G will have taken additional steps to show its bad faith toward both the citizens of Fairfield County and Santee Cooper, which also furnishes power to electric cooperatives serving the citizens of Fairfield County.”
BLYTHEWOOD – After approving a three-month extension in November on the Holly Bluffs surety bond at the request of developer DR Horton for storm water work, Horton came back to Council on Dec. 19 requesting an additional six-month extension so it could make additional repairs to the storm water facilities (inlet/catch basin) at the same intersection – the corner of Bumble Bee Court and Summers Trace.
In a letter to Town Hall, Brian Hallman, Land Development Project Manager for DR Horton, stated that the developer had been on track to complete all necessary repairs within the first three-month extension but that other work is now required.
“Since then, we have learned that Richland County wants us to redesign the intersection of Summers Trace and Bumble Bee Court,” Hallman wrote. “There is an issue with the original design that is causing the intersection to hold water during rain events. We are currently working with our engineers and the county to come up with a design solution to fix this problem.”
Hallman told Town Hall that he didn’t believe Horton could complete the work by the end of January and asked for an additional six-month extension.
“We certainly want to see the work completed,” Town Administrator Gary Parker told Council, “and there is no harm to us in extending the time. We will either have to grant another extension of the surety bond or collect the bond amount.”
However, Michael Criss, the Town’s Planning Consultant, said he would favor another three months instead of six months to help press the developer to finish the project.
As it turned out, when DR Horton came to the council meeting on Dec. 19, Council discovered that Horton’s paper work was lacking in details about the work to be performed and tabled the item until the next town council meeting which is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2018, at 7 p.m., at Doko Manor.
RIDGEWAY – Following executive session at the Dec. 14, 2017, Town Council meeting, Ridgeway Council voted 3-1 to purchase the Cotton Yard property from Norfolk Southern Railroad for the contracted price of $73,000. However, that price does not include surveying, attorneys’ fees and other fees that could bring the total cost of the property closer to $90,000, a source with knowledge of the transaction told The Voice.
Councilman Cookendorfer voted against the purchase, and Councilman Donald Prioleau left the meeting prior to the vote. Mayor Charlene Herring, Councilwoman Angela Harrison and Councilman Doug Porter voted for the purchase.
The approximately 1/2 acre Cotton Yard lies just off Palmer Street and between Olde Town Hall Restaurant & Pub and Ruff Street. | Graphic/Ashley Ghere
How the Town came to be staring down the barrel of a $73,000+ purchase price of a property that it had utilized for free for decades dates back to 2014, when then-Councilman Russ Brown and other council members accused Mayor Charlene Herring of officially contacting Norfolk-Southern about a company parking trucks on the lot without notifying Council. The lot is directly in front of her residence.
Rufus Jones, former mayor of Ridgeway and a political opponent of Herring told The Voice that he sometimes parks his sod truck on the lot.
Herring said she had received questions from members of the community about trucks parking on the lot. She did not identify those community members.
“But there were also citizens who were against contacting Norfolk-Southern, and Council members here were against contacting Norfolk-Southern,” Brown told Herring.
It was reported in the Dec. 19, 2014 issue of The Voice that Cookendorfer said that Council had, indeed, agreed to break off discussions with the railroad at a previous meeting.
Mayor Accused of Poking Giant
“We were done with it,” Cookendorfer said, accusing Herring of contacting Norfolk-Southern against council’s wishes.
“That’s what woke the sleeping giant to where we’re at today with basically [Norfolk-Southern’s] demand to take on [a] lease. That’s something we should have discussed as a council,” Cookendorfer said.
Herring countered that she made initial contact with Norfolk-Southern several months earlier after unnamed citizens came to her with concerns about cars for sale parked on the property as well as a truck on the lot.
“If citizens contacted you, under protocol you should have brought that to the council and council would say if we were going to contact Norfolk-Southern,” Councilman Donald Prioleau said.
Herring said that in the future, she would adhere to protocol, but followed that by asking, “As a right of a citizen or a mayor, why can’t you contact the railroad? This is in the heart of our town.”
“September [2014] it was brought up in this room we said ‘do not bother Norfolk-Southern anymore, because they will put up a fence’.” Brown said. “They’ve threatened to do it before, and they’ll still do it if you bother them. Don’t toy with the railroad.”
Herring said she told Council at the September meeting that she would be pursuing questions about leasing the property from the railroad and no one objected.
“In September you didn’t have the lease,” Brown said. “The lease was presented in October. But that had already got to the point where Norfolk-Southern sent a lease because there was communications back and forth.”
Herring said the Town had to have a copy of the proposed lease in order for the document to be reviewed by an attorney.
“Again, in the capacity of mayor, you went to an attorney without Council (knowing about it),” Brown said.
But Herring said she also informed Council that an attorney would be reviewing the lease, and no one had objected to that either.
Don’t Bother Norfolk-Southern
“But this conversation came from you, in the capacity of mayor, (talking) to Norfolk-Southern, which led to them providing a lease,” Brown said. “We, at every single meeting when Norfolk-Southern was brought up, we all said don’t bother Norfolk-Southern.”
Brown said the proposed lease had sat idle with the Town for a month. Then, during the October meeting, Council reviewed the document and opted to not move forward with the lease. The day after the meeting, Brown said, Herring contacted Norfolk-Southern via email.
“Telling them we were not going to pursue a lease,” she said.
“After we said not to communicate,” Brown said. “And then they sent their email back, basically giving the Town the ultimatum that if we do not lease the property, accept responsibility for the lot, accept liability for the property, then they will have the lot fenced off and the buildings removed.”
Herring said Norfolk-Southern is currently reviewing all of their properties, and eventually Ridgeway would have been forced into an official lease. Several buildings, including the world’s smallest police station and the fire station, had been constructed on the property without permission from the railroad, and Herring said it simply was not right for the Town to continue to use the property without the blessing of Norfolk-Southern.
“Eventually this would have happened,” Herring said. “And this came sooner because I did ask some questions. But eventually it would have happened.”
Herring said the railroad company needed an answer as to the Town’s choice of direction on the lease, and she was only doing the courteous thing by letting them know Ridgeway was not interested in signing a lease.
“Again, back to the form of government discussion we just had,” Brown said, “we’re not a strong mayor form of government, and as a council we chose to let it lie.”
Cookendorfer said it would have been preferable to let the railroad force the issue instead of the Town taking the lead.
“I think ya’ll are making the issue at the wrong point,” Herring said. “You made an issue about the form of government and I understand that, and I will tell you sometimes Charlene Herring errs because she is very compassionate about this town and wants to get things done. And I agree, we are a council and we will act as council. I think you’re pulling at straws now and you’re trying to blame (me) instead of doing the right thing. I’ve got the point and I think we need to move on. If you don’t want to sign the lease, don’t sign the lease.”
“You call it compassion, I call it total disregard for Council,” Brown said. “It’s not the end of the world that we’re going to have to lease the lot, but how it was handled…”
Herring reiterated her point that had she not received questions from citizens about the lot she never would have contacted Norfolk-Southern in the first place. But Brown once more pointed out that an entirely different group of citizens had urged the Town to keep mum on its use of the property. At that point, Roger Herring had heard as much as he could stand from his seat in the audience.
“The Rufus Joneses of the community!” Roger Herring, a former Council member and husband of the mayor, erupted. Brown told Roger he was speaking out of order, but Herring continued his defense of the mayor.
“You don’t do the community organization she does,” Roger Herring said, even as the mayor brought down the gavel. “You (Council) don’t do what you’ve already agreed to do!”
As the mayor attempted to restore order to the small Council chambers, Roger Herring stormed out, slamming the door of the Century House behind him.
“Now, do we need any further discussion on it?” the mayor asked.
“I just wanted to bring it up now,” Brown said, “so the people who are going to be paying for that insurance and paying for that lease when they pay their taxes and their water bills, they know where their money is going and why.”
From Lease to Purchase
Since 2014, the Town has paid Norfolk-Southern $1,000 annually for insurance and lease of the Cotton Yard. Recently, however, Council changed its position on the Cotton Yard. It hired an attorney last year to approach Norfolk Southern about purchasing the front portion of the Cotton Yard property where the police and fire stations are located.
The railroad company’s answer came in the form of an email on April 12, 2017, from a Norfolk representative to the Town’s attorney in the matter, Jim Meggs.
“Would the Town of Ridgeway be interested in purchasing the whole parcel shown on the attached [exhibit]? It is not in the best interest of Norfolk Southern to sell only the front of the parcel, losing the street frontage. We could agree to letting the whole parcel go for $35,000,” the representative wrote.
After considering the offer during executive session on April 13, 2017, Council voted in public session to go forward with the offer. However, while it was noted in the June, 2017 Council meeting that the town had allocated $40,000 for the railroad purchase, survey and legal fees, the sale has never materialized.
Purchase Price Jumps
The railroad company has now jumped the price to $73,000 and it is estimated that legal fees, surveying and other extras could increase the total cost of purchasing the property by another $15,000 – $20,000.
While Council has held numerous executive sessions on the purchase of the Cotton Yard, there has been no public comment about why the price has more than doubled.
Councilwoman Angela Harrison reported to The Voice in an email on Thursday that no further vote, ordinance or resolution is needed on the purchase, that the vote on Dec. 14 was the final vote. The next Council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 11 at The Century House.
NOTE: This story includes excerpts from another story that appeared in a December, 2014 issue of The Voice.
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate a domestic violence-related incident that occurred in the 2200 block of SC 200 near Winnsboro on Dec. 28 at approximately 9:45 a.m.
Charles ‘Chuck’ Gaddy, Jr. 48, was found dead at the scene. According to the Sheriff’s report, Gaddy died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Gaddy’s wife, Jane Porter Gaddy, 51, who was shot multiple times, was transported to the hospital where she later died from her injuries.
Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said his office is working with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office to determine the circumstances leading up to the incidence.
“We are saddened by the death of Mrs. Gaddy and our prayers are with their family,” Montgomery said.
WINNSBORO – With five fire fatalities this year in Fairfield County, and two of those during the Christmas holidays, interim Fire Director Gregory Gerber said the number is above normal.
Jimmy Ray Douglas looks over a burned out unit at the Lamplighter Apartments (behind Bi-Lo) that he and his sister Gloria Blackwell own. The apartment burned Saturday at 2:45 a.m. | Barbara Ball
A man died in a fire in Blair on Dec. 16, and the body of Sharon Sapp, 55, was found by firefighters in her residence after it burned about noon on Dec. 28.
“On Saturday morning, a woman and two relatives escaped unharmed from their apartment in the Lamplighter Apartments after what began as an early morning kitchen fire gutted their apartment.” Gerber said.
Jimmy Ray Douglas, who, with his sister, owns the apartment complex, said the total damage is between $120,000 – $140,000.
On Tuesday, another home burned in Jenkinsville.
“We’re just having an unusually high number of fires,” Gerber said.
To help combat structure fires. Gerber said Fairfield firefighters are handing out smoke detectors the County acquired through the Fire Marshall’s office.
“So far, we’ve given out 1,000 smoke detectors this last year,” Gerber said. “And if anyone in the community needs a smoke detector, let us know by calling 712-1070.
BLYTHEWOOD – Recycle your live Christmas trees through the annual Grinding of the Greens program offered by the Keep the Midlands Beautiful! program. Trees can be dropped off at any of 21 locations between Dec. 26 and Jan. 11. Locations can be found at www.keepthemidlandsbeautiful.org or by calling 733-1139.
Before dropping off trees:
remove all lights, tinsel and ornaments and the stand from the tree
drop off trees only. Wreaths, garland and other greenery are not accepted
remove tree from bag
remove any string, wire or ties on the tree
Christmas tree drop-off locations nearest Blythewood:
Clemson Institute for Economic & Community Development – 900 Clemson Road.
Richland County Tennis Center-7500 Parklane Road, Columbia M-TH, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Fri, 9: a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. -3 p.m.
City of Columbia Compost Facility –121 Humane Lane, Columbia. (off Shop Road across from SPCA). M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Free mulch made from the recycled trees will be available to the public at the following two locations on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 8:30 a.m. until the mulch runs out: South Carolina State Farmers Market (3483 Charleston Highway, West Columbia) and Seven Oaks Park (200 Leisure Lane; near the intersection of St. Andrews & Piney Grove roads).
WINNSBORO – More than 700 students, friends and family members attended the funeral for a 15-year-old Fairfield Central High School student that was held on Tuesday at the high school.
Beaufort
Mykel Rodriqus Hampton Beaufort died when the car he was driving collided with another car on Highway 34 near Pine Top Road on Dec. 26, around 5:20 p.m.
“I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Mykel in the Griffin Bow Tie Club,” School Superintendent J. R. Green said. “Two words exemplify Mykel – humble spirit. He was a very respectful young man. His parents did an exceptional job raising him.”
Green said Beaufort was also a member of the band and played football, soccer, basketball and baseball.
“It is very hard to say goodbye to a student. I love every one of them,” FCHS Principal Tracie Swilley said. “Mykel was a model student who exemplified Griffin P.R.I.D.E. in the school, on the court, on the field and in the community. We will miss him terribly and will never forget him.”
BLAIR – America lost a powerful man of God and a talented gospel singer on Dec. 27 when Rev. Norris B. Turner passed away. Rev. Turner served as pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Blair for nineteen years before retiring in February of 2017.
Rev. Turner’s song writing ability was legendary in the gospel recording industry. “Give God a Chance” was one of his original compositions. Other successful songs r include “At the Cross Roads” and “Stop & Get Religion.”
A celebration of life for Rev. Norris B. Turner was held Saturday, Dec. 30 at Gethsemane Baptist Church. A funeral at Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Greenwood, SC followed on Dec. 31.
WINNSBORO – Okay, everybody get out a pen and paper – it’s time for class! Art class, that is… in a vibrant new community art center coming to life in Winnsboro. Fairfield County’s Dru Blair, an internationally recognized photorealist painter who also manages a popular art school in Blair, is renovating the former Winnsboro Furniture Building on Congress St. into an energetic hub for creativity and artistic expression.
“The concept we have right now is to make one side of it an art center that can be used by the community, and the other side a gallery to represent different artists,” Blair said. “It’s a large building – about 7000 square feet. So there’s plenty of room for many things.”
Blair Art Center & Gallery on Congress Street, Winnsboro.
Blair purchased the building five years ago, but because he was busy with other professional obligations and wasn’t able to start work on it right away, he allowed the STEM school to use the space free. He said the time has finally arrived, though, to start developing the art center, and he’s enthusiastic about the process.
“We don’t have an exact time frame yet,” he said, “but we do already have people who want to use it. So I’m trying to move it along as fast as possible!”
Blair said the new center will function as an extension of his art school in Blair, which he founded 20 years ago, originally in North Carolina.
“In 2008, I moved the school to Blair, which is my ancestral hometown,” he said. “We have students come from all over the world to this school, but it’s not a ‘community center’. I figured it might serve the community better to have a place in a more accessible area. The Furniture Building seemed like an ideal location, and the owner, John McMeekin, had decided to retire and sell the building. So it worked out really well.”
Blair said that community support for developing the center has been very encouraging.
“Terry Vickers and Don Bonds both contacted me about moving forward with the art center. Don is an artist himself, and he recently retired from a position in the county tax assessor’s office. He volunteered to do some of the heavy lifting as we make changes with the building, so I purchased some paint and he got it painted. Changing the color was a big step,” he said.
“I’ve also been working with Julianne Neal, the director of the arts in Fairfield County public schools. She works with the performing arts, and I’ve been talking to her for years about setting up something together. So we’re trying to make sure the building can accommodate not just visual arts but also performing arts.”
Blair intends for the school to include a wide variety of artistic media, including his own instruction in photo-realism and traditional brushwork. .
“We’re also planning to offer acrylic, watercolor, things like that,” he said. “And we’ll bring in guest instructors, even from around the world, who will come give classes or workshops in the building. What I’d like to see is a community center where people can explore a craft or an art, and where different art groups can meet. I think it will benefit Winnsboro greatly.”
Blair, who holds a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from USC, has received a plethora of awards and recognition over the years for his photorealistic painting. He’s interviewed regularly for magazines, television and radio, and was even featured on the Japanese television show, ‘Battle of the Experts’.
“That was about five years ago,” he said. “Two Japanese TV crews came to Blair to film the competition. The goal was for me to create a painting that would fool one of the world’s foremost photographic experts into thinking it was an actual photograph – and I won. Then I went over there and won again, against their champion. It was a great experience.
“I think people like realism, and I think that’s what brings the students to visit me. Even if they’re not photo-realists, they certainly can pick up new techniques to apply to their own art.”
Blair keeps a busy schedule of teaching workshops and classes around the world, and often receives invitations to over a dozen places a year. He just returned from teaching in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, Australia.
“I’m fortunate to have this life,” he said, “but I do get homesick – I miss Fairfield County. I always look forward to coming home after every trip.”
He said that helping students develop into artists is what makes it all worthwhile.
“Art is therapeutic,” he said. “A lot of my students are creative people who chose careers in other fields, like surgery or carpentry, and now they are realizing a creative outlet later in their careers and are taking great enjoyment from it. You’re never too old to learn, and anyone can improve and become a better artist.”
Blair has no shortage of ambitions for fostering a new era of artistic expression in Fairfield County. Some of his upcoming project ideas include planning an illusionistic art mural near the Town Clock in Winnsboro and setting up a children’s art camp in Blair within the next few years.
“And my ultimate goal is to bring a college – an art college – to Fairfield County. There’s a lot of support for the idea, but it’s not a small task. It takes money, of course, and the paperwork is probably 3 or 4 feet high just to apply for the license,” he said. “But everything begins with a dream!”
