“Part of this story is that (Dominion and Santee Cooper) have been selectively sharing this map with some people but not with stakeholders like environmental organizations,” Allred said.
Murdaugh did not respond to requests for comment.
“A lot of sensitive areas”
Opponents say the map demonstrates the regional impact of the pipeline, which could ripple through Georgia and Alabama, along with property owners in South Carolina.
“It’s going to be crossing a lot of potentially sensitive areas, including the Savannah River, the river basins of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto,” Allred said.
The South Carolina Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulator, still needs to vet the pipeline project, including it’s route. But because it is an interstate pipeline, some components of the regulatory process likely will play out at the federal level, while other components at the state level will now take place on an expedited timeline critics say limit the amount of time the public could provide feedback on the project.
“Dominion Energy remains committed to working with stakeholders through the rigorous regulatory process conducted by independent oversight agencies,” Rhonda O’Banion, a spokesperson for Dominion, said in a written statement.
Future power station?: Dominion and Santee Cooper said South Carolina’s electric grid is straining amid growing demands from data centers and manufacturers. They want to build a new gas-fired power plant at the old Canadys coal-fired power plant. A new pipeline would need to be built, with two potential connections near Savannah and Augusta. (Source: Esri)
Boosters of the project argue there is little to worry about. Summerville Republican Rep. Gil Gatch, who shepherded the 2025 energy legislation, said in an interview that he had faith in the utilities and companies performing the work.
“You want to make sure that the work is done excellently, no shortcuts or anything like that,” he said. “And these companies have a track record of doing everything with excellence, so I’m encouraged by that.”
Others are more skeptical.
The scope of the Canadys proposal is already much larger than was originally proposed, critics note. The pipeline route also fails to follow the existing rights-of-way that would have allowed for the project’s fast-tracked approval under the 2025 reforms, raising new questions about an eleventh-hour decision by the House of Representatives to strip landowner protections against the seizure of their land under eminent domain. Lawmakers did this on the final day of debate during the most recent legislative session.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
