WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) — Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper have requested an air permit from the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services for a new natural-gas plant in Colleton County, and the public can weigh in on the request Tuesday night.
An air permit allows a power plant to release certain pollutants into the air.
Canadys is a 2,200-megawatt natural-gas plant built to boost electricity supply in the region.
The equipment includes three combined-cycle power trains, cooling towers, emergency diesel generators and fuel storage tanks. All are potential pollution sources.
One of the biggest pollutants listed is formaldehyde.
The filing estimates up to 7.9 million tons of greenhouse gases released every year, along with thousands of tons of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and soot.
Dominion and Santee Cooper say low-emission burners and catalysts would help curb those emissions.
However, some conservation groups say those controls don’t go far enough.
“The level of flexibility overall that DES has put in the draft permit is a little bit problematic and I would like to see a little bit tighter requirements for things like the different monitoring methodologies for the amount of emissions that are coming out of the plant,” Taylor Allred, the state energy and climate program director for CCL, said.
The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services is hosting a public hearing at 6 p.m. at the Walterboro Wildlife Center.
Officials there will provide an in-depth explanation of the air permit and answer questions.
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