Bartram Group Sierra

Upcoming Program:

Mark your calendars for September 17 when Patrick McMillan will present a program entitled Nature on the Move about how plants and animals cope with climate and development. Patrick has his own nature program, Expeditions, each Sunday evening on ETV. This is definitely a program that you will not want to miss.

Spartanburg Sierra Club Meeting: TBA

Proposed Nuclear Power Plants in Gaffney

Thursday, May 1, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a meeting as part of the formal process of considering the 2-unit nuclear power plant, Lee Station, proposed by Duke Power for Gaffney. The stated purpose of the meeting was to get input from the public on what the scope should be of the environmental impact statement (EIS) as prepared by the NRC.

Briefly, NRC process and procedures were explained, repeating and emphasizing the desire for input from the public. Following a few questions on the process, the floor was opened to general comments that were supposed to focus on suggestions on what the scope of the EIS should be. Supportive comments ranged from how badly Cherokee County needed jobs to how wonderful a neighbor Duke Power has always been.

More critical comments were highlighted by Sara Barczak, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (www.cleanenergy.org ), who pointed the full range of environmental issues in her brief statement, particularly focusing on asking why Duke’s application failed to mention a number of key issues (e.g. using baseline water availability figures from rather “wet” years, and not considering the possibility of drought years such as now). Another group active in this is the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (www.BREDL.org)

Opportunities for the present opening for input continue until May 20, by contacting the NRC (by email: lee.colaeis@nrc.gov; or by mail: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mailstop T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001). There will be more opportunities for public comment on the actual EIS, and there is a process to be a formal part of the hearing (though a bit more complicated to get into).

More information can be had at www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col/lee.html for the NRC process, or from the organizations listed above. Of course, Sierra Club has an interest, and general information can be found at http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/energy.pdf (both Bob Guild and Trey Fouche have been watching this issue).

Bottom line….yes, momentum for big investments is a tough force, particularly as the slow but real shrinking availability of a finite resource, oil, enters the psyche of everyone. However, it is even tougher if nobody stands up to ask appropriate questions of a legacy that will be here through our stay (that is, Homo sapiens).

Chip Green

Spartanburg

Six people have committed to looking at their energy consumption and will work to reduce the CO₂ emissions for themselves and their families. Each person has already made some lifestyle choices that reflect a commitment to a cleaner environment but all are ready to take a closer look at what pollution they produce.

Let’s take a look at these folks: B built an energy efficient home which involved upfront costs for long term energy savings. L lives in an apartment and faces the challenge of limited control over the physical structure and appliances. A is an urban professional who chose to live in the city and has the option of biking to work. M is a busy mother of two who lives along the Saluda and wants to protect the river and keep her kids in clean clothes. T and R live in the suburbs, with a commute to work, a lawn to mow, and a lot of square feet to heat and cool.

Follow these folks in the months to come as they face the reality of their environmental foot print and try to reduce their energy consumption.

On Thursday, May 1, DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) held a meeting in Greenville County seeking input into how DHEC interfaces with the public. DHEC has been holding these meetings throughout the state to obtain citizen input. DHEC wants to improve its methods of communicating with the public.

Kathleen and I attended the meeting representing the League of Women Voters and Sierra Club respectively. There were representatives from other environmental groups, such as Upstate Forever, local citizen groups, interested citizens, developers and industry. Different tables were set up for different discussion topics. Each table had DHEC staff members to guide the discussion and take notes. The citizens rotated from table to table.

As a representative for Sierra, I tried to emphasize 3 issues as I circulated. First, DHEC often appears too close to the people they are regulating. There are several possible explanations for this. Developers have more money and staff to get their issues to the front. Environmental groups such as Sierra are totally grassroots with no paid staff in the upstate. Another problem is simply the number of permits generated. It is very difficult for individuals to know enough about a permit to have an effect on the process and so the process seems slanted to industry who is there from day one.

This leads to the second issue I raised. For grassroots organizations to be effective in the process, we must have an easy way to review permits. Currently the DHEC web page is complicated. I suggested that they develop an effective search mechanism to navigate their website. Often there are certain developers and certain locations that we are particularly concerned about and we would like a way to search based on who is applying for the permit and where will the affected area be.

This leads to my third point. DHEC asked if there was any authority we thought they needed to more effectively do their job. I suggested that the legislature give DHEC the authority to check the past compliance history with environmental laws for persons and industry seeking permits, This would give DHEC authority to do background checks (both within and outside of South Carolina) on individuals applying for permits. DHEC also needs to have the authority to use this information in deciding whether to grant the permit.

This was a very constructive step on DHEC’s part to improve public input in their permitting process. I look forward to what changes DHEC makes to their system.