SC power plant fined for repeatedly releasing air pollution. Here’s where
South Carolina’s environmental agency has fined the state-owned Santee Cooper power company $99,000 for allowing harmful air pollution to escape multiple times from an aging coal-fired power plant on the coast.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s enforcement action against Santee Cooper centers on the company’s failure to control sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that can irritate people’s lungs and cause hazy skies if not kept within federal and state limits.
All told, sulfur dioxide exceeded government limits on more than 130 days, beginning in early 2021, according to an Aug. 7 enforcement order made public this week.
The action brings to at least $144,450 the amount of fines levied by DHEC against Santee Cooper for air pollution violations involving its Georgetown County coal plant since 2005, according to information released by the environmental agency Wednesday evening.
In 2021, DHEC fined Santee Cooper $22,950 over a failure to control particulate matter, another type of air pollutant, records show. Particulate matter, or soot, can be embedded in people’s lungs and make it harder to breathe.
The agency in 2018 hit Santee Cooper with a $8,500 air pollution fine for monitoring violations. A 2005 fine of $14,000 involved failed tests for particulate matter, DHEC said.
All of the problems involved the company’s Winyah coal-fired power plant, a more than 40-year-old Georgetown County facility that Santee Cooper said it will eventually close.
It was not clear whether Santee Cooper’s past problems at Winyah contributed to the hefty $99,000 fine, which is a lot for DHEC. But in a statement Wednesday evening, the agency said “The potential harm to public health and the environmental (sic) is a key factor in determining civil penalties.’’
The department went on to say sulfur dioxide, depending on the concentration and a person’s exposure, “can negatively impact people’s health and the surrounding environment.’’
The agency found the sulfur dioxide violations in March 2022 after reviewing a series of company reports, according to the most recent enforcement action.
Santee Cooper blamed the excess sulfur dioxide pollution on a computer error from two years ago. Software programming from 2021 omitted a key calculation that would have flagged rising air pollution levels, the company’s Mollie Gore said in an email. Unknown to the company, a software vendor “inadvertently switched off a key calculation,’’ meaning the air pollution went unnoticed, the email said.
“Santee Cooper takes any violation seriously and strives to achieve compliance at all times,’’ according to the email from Gore. “We are confident we have addressed the circumstances that led to the 2021 issue. We have created additional tests and controls to ensure compliance with the emissions rule, and we have received DHEC approval to use a different compliance strategy.’’
The company has paid the $99,000 fine. Gore said the issue involving the previous fine of $22,950 occurred during a test and was not related to the most recent problem.
Despite the assurances from Santee Cooper, one leading environmental attorney said the pollution violations show why it’s important to shutter the Winyah plant as soon as possible and move to cleaner forms of generating energy, such as solar. Coal plants are known for fouling the air and polluting rivers and groundwater.
“This is an old coal-fired plant that has been struggling for a long time,’’ said Frank Holleman, a Greenville attorney who has fought Santee Cooper in court over pollution from coal plants.
“This plant is expensive to operate and it has been polluting for years. It’s time to move on. The latest DHEC findings indicate that it is polluting the air that people in the surrounding area are breathing.’’
According to DHEC’s most recent enforcement action against Santee Cooper, the company failed for 137 days in 2021 to meet government limits on the amount of sulfur dioxide that can be released from the Winyah power plant.
All told, the company failed to meet the limits for 97 days in the first six months of 2021 and for 40 days in the second half of 2021, the enforcement order said.
In addition to the $99,000 fine, DHEC’s most recent action against Santee Cooper requires the company to “maintain compliance with all applicable emission limits.’’
Santee Cooper, founded in 1934 to bring electricity to rural parts of South Carolina, provides power to more than 2 million people, many in the eastern part of the state. The company, also a regional water provider, operates lakes Marion and Moultrie.
At one time, it operated multiple coal plants across eastern South Carolina, but it has moved to close many of them.
Those include the now shuttered Grainger power plant in Conway. The more than 1,000 megawatt Winyah plant is scheduled to close by 2030, but Santee Cooper indicated earlier this year that it may delay the closure as it looks for alternative power sources.
This story has been updated with information from DHEC.
This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 5:29 PM.
