Our Environment

From the mountains to the sea, South Carolina’s unmatched natural heritage is a joy for residents and a draw for millions of tourists and sportsmen annually. Unfortunately, pollution from coal threatens one of South Carolinas greatest assets: our environment.

The same pollutants that threaten human health also take a large toll on the environment. For instance, smog obscures scenic vistas and damages plants and crops. Sulfur dioxide acidifies lakes. Toxic metals poison wildlife.

Coal plants also produce huge volumes of waste in the form of ash and sludge. This waste accumulates in massive landfills that leak into surrounding wetlands.

A typical coal plant withdraws millions of gallons of water from the environment for cooling, sometimes permanently reducing the flow of rivers. Water is usually returned at higher temperatures, degrading the habitat of fish and shellfish.

Santee Cooper plans a coal plant for the banks of the Great Pee Dee River in Florence County, South Carolina. The Great Pee Dee River is a state scenic river and a high quality wildlife habitat, boasting 120 species of fish, at least 25 rare plant species, several endangered and threatened species, 17 species of duck, a number of wading birds, and abundant white tail deer and turkey. This valuable habitat would be permanently degraded if a new coal plant is built.

Global Warming

Perhaps the most ominous environmental impact of coal is global warming. Release of carbon dioxide is largely responsible for global warming, and coal releases more carbon dioxide than any other fuel making coal plants a leading contributor to the phenomenon.

If nothing is done about global warming, sea levels could rise, hurricanes could become stronger, temperatures could rise and droughts could become more frequent in our state, costing residents billions of dollars.

Global warming has the power to permanently change the environment in South Carolina. For instance, a sea level rise of just 5 feet would permanently inundate more than 1,000 square miles – about the size of Rhode Island -- of the coastline we value so much.

Santee Cooper’s coal plant will release 11,600,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year – more than some small countries. One of the surest ways to limit South Carolina’s risk from global warming is to stop building new coal plants.

Sea Level Rise in Charleston
Above, current Sea Level Below, 2 Meter rise
For more info and larger images, visit Architecture 2030.

Mountain Top Removal

Global warming makes clear the fact that the impacts of coal are not limited to the location of coal plants. The same is true for the mining practices that produce the coal burned in plants across our region.

Increasingly, coal mined from the Appalachian mountains of the Southeast is accomplished through a process called mountaintop removal. The tops of mountains are literally blown away using explosives so that mining companies can more easily get at the coal below.

Not only does this practice permanently deface mountains that are millions of years old, it results in huge volumes of waste that is most often deposited in valleys, destroying habitat in some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.

While there are no mountaintop removal mines in South Carolina, our state is a major contributor to this most destructive of mining processes. That is because the majority of the coal burned in our state originates from mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia.

All of our state’s major utilites, including Santee Cooper, rank among the top 20 consumers of coal from mountaintop removal mines. Most of the coal expected to be burned in Santee Cooper’s proposed coal plant would come from mountaintop removal mines.