Pinewood dump seen as possible site for solar farm

COLUMBIA, SC An old toxic waste dump at Lake Marion is being looked at as a site for a solar farm that could help reduce the nearly $4 million public cost of maintaining the landfill each year.

The state House of Representatives approved a solar energy bill Tuesday night that included an amendment specifically intended to land a solar farm at the Pinewood dump. The amendment provides a 25 percent income tax credit for anyone to build, purchase or lease a solar farm at the closed hazardous waste site.

Rob Kerr, an executive with the landfill’s management company, said Wednesday that the state is seeking ways to defray the landfill’s maintenance cost. The site shut down about 15 years ago and its former operator filed for bankruptcy, leaving the state responsible for maintenance.

Without maintenance, the 279-acre landfill could leak industrial chemicals into groundwater, Sparkleberry Swamp and Lake Marion, state officials acknowledge. The state must manage toxic water that builds up in the landfill.

Kerr declined to name companies he has spoken with, but said the tax credit for a sun farm at Pinewood could help entice a solar energy company. The property includes areas away from toxic waste disposal pits that would provide ample room for a field of solar panels, he said.

“There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle,’’ Kerr said. “It is in a very preliminary stage and we have no promises. But it would certainly be much more viable’’ if the amendment passes the Legislature.

A version of the bill — which provides tax breaks for solar energy overall — has passed the state Senate. But the Pinewood amendment would need approval from the upper chamber. Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said he’s heard no opposition to his amendment from senators. The Legislative session ends Thursday.

Smith said he did not know the name of companies interested in a solar farm at the dump, but said he understands that “someone has expressed interest.’’

Using the landfill property for a solar farm is part of a push to re-use old industrial sites in South Carolina. The Legislature already has approved a bill offering incentives for companies to establish solar farms at Superfund cleanup sites, Smith said. The idea is to foster the growth of solar power in South Carolina, while providing some use for abandoned and polluted land.

The Pinewood dump, however, is not a Superfund site, so legislation was needed to encourage solar at the landfill that lies just a few football fields from Lake Marion, which is about a 45-minute drive southeast of Columbia.

Bringing a solar farm to the landfill could offset the $3.9 million annual taxpayer cost for the site, Smith said. A lease for the site could generate revenue, he said. “Even if it is a couple of hundred thousand dollars, that’s significant savings,’’ he said.

The Pinewood landfill has a colorful history. It opened in the late 1970s at the site of an old cat litter mine and was developed with the help of former state environmental regulators, who went to work for the dump. Before it closed in 2000, the dump accepted millions of tons of hazardous waste from sites across the South and East Coast.

At one point in the 1990s, the landfill’s operator, Laidlaw Environmental Services, wielded great influence in the Legislature and in South Carolina government. In the mid 1990s, the company succeeded in blocking a requirement that it post more than $100 million in cash for a cleanup one day. Environmentalists tried for more than a decade to force the landfill’s closure before they succeeded with a landmark court decision in 2000 against Laidlaw’s successor, Safety Kleen.

Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, said the bill approved Tuesday night gained bi-partisan support, which speaks well of the state’s commitment to solar energy and its effort to find ways to reduce taxpayer costs at Pinewood.

The legislation, S626, passed the House 54-36 after extended debate over whether to approve tax abatements for homeowners and business people who install solar energy. Opponents of the bill said the solar industry is being subsidized too greatly and it’s time for that to stop. Boosters of the bill said solar is a clean form of energy that South Carolina should help expand.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Pinewood dump seen as possible site for solar farm."