MORNING NEWSBREAK | A South Carolina Senate committee voted Tuesday to fast-track a sweeping and controversial energy policy reform bill despite the public’s concerns that the process is moving too quickly.
Critics also worry the bill would create big, new power plants in habitats that are threatened. Some liken the impact of the measure to an energy policy from the 2000s that led to a failed $9 billion nuclear plant in Fairfield County that ratepayers still are on the hook for.
This year’s bill got through the S.C. House at a rapid pace last month, worrying members of the public – and some lawmakers – about the pace of the process.
State Sen. Wes Climer, R-Rock Hill, fought this week to recommit the bill back to a subcommittee, where policymakers could have more time to ask questions and develop a more comprehensive understanding of the bill’s contents, but his effort ultimately failed.
“We’re talking about a haphazard process on a bill that is ultimately going to touch, I would suspect, tens of billions of dollars in private investment and all five and half million South Carolinians,” Climer said.
State Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, heavily opposed Climer’s position and was unabashedly adamant about advancing the bill even while admitting he hadn’t read it.
“I think nobody has read this bill, nobody,” Malloy said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin, R-Horry, said he’s not rushing the bill, but that it was important his committee advance it in light of the state’s growing energy needs.
The bill, called the South Carolina Energy Security Act, includes provisions that seek to knock down a number of regulatory roadblocks to allow Dominion Energy and state-owned utility Santee Cooper to join to develop a gas-fired power plant at a former coal-fired plant in Colleton County as a response to the state’s burgeoning energy-capacity crisis.
In other recent news:
CP NEWS: Missing Mosquito Beach sign on its way home. A Mosquito Beach sign on James Island has been missing from a historic African American civil rights heritage area, but authorities say it is on its way back to Charleston County after being found in an Upstate dorm room.
CP NEWS: Ryan’s deep dive into the Murdaugh saga now available. South Carolina author Jason Ryan dives deep into the whole Murdaugh family’s closet — which is chock-full of skeletons — in “Swamp Kings: The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power.”
Charleston Co. sheriff candidate to sue after primary ballot denial. Alan Ali, a former lieutenant for the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, filed as a Democratic candidate to run against current Sheriff Kristin Graziano, but was not certified to be on the ballot. Ali, along with his lawyer, responded Tuesday, calling the action “discriminatory” and “undemocratic.”
Charleston Co. parks agency working on more disability-friendly accessibility. Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission received a $24,590 grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for ten beach wheelchairs across the county parks.
Whistleblower claims Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is flawed. Whistleblower Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, alleges Boeing took shortcuts when manufacturing its 777 and 787 jets, and that the risks could become catastrophic as the airplanes age.
North Charleston students to lead Holocaust exhibit Sunday. North Charleston High School students will act as guides for a Holocaust Remembrance event highlighting Anne Frank from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
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