PSC Approves Canadys Gas Plant with Cost Reporting, Not Limits

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Yesterday, the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Convenience and Necessity for the proposed Canadys Gas Plant, a project of Dominion and Santee Cooper. Advocates, including the Sierra Club, have raised serious concerns about the runaway costs of the project, which has already doubled in cost from $2.5 billion to $5 billion since its original proposal in 2024. Yesterday’s approval from the PSC responded to these concerns not by capping construction costs, but by modifying the proposal to require quarterly reporting on the cumulative costs of construction.

The site for the gas plant is located in the heart of the ACE Basin, one of the largest undeveloped estuaries along the Atlantic Coast, on the banks of the Edisto River. Burning gas at the Canadys site would require the expansion of hundreds of miles of gas pipeline. Expanding the pipeline will likely encourage additional industrial and data center development along the pipeline, introducing additional pollution and changing the character of surrounding rural areas. The proposed gas pipelines associated with the gas plant introduce further unknown timeline details and cost factors that could drive the costs up since those projects haven't started yet. 

There also still remains the issue of continuing to operate three aging coal plants - Wateree, Williams, and Winyah. The utilities had previously discussed retirement dates for these three costly coal plants in connection with construction of the Canadys plant. Now, even with the approval of the gas plant, they have not made commitments for coal retirement, introducing further concerns about unaffordable costs and increased pollution for residents across the state. 

In response, Paul Black, Sr. Campaign Organizer for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in the Carolinas, released the following statement:

“Addressing cost concerns with more reporting is like a car salesman trying to sweeten the offer with an itemized receipt. It gives no guarantees. It doesn’t change build costs, maintenance, gas prices, or hidden fees, it just ensures that you know more frequently how much money will be going up in smoke. The Canadys proposal has already ballooned in cost. Dominion and Santee Cooper customers deserve a guarantee that construction costs will stay on target, and that when the plant is finished, the utilities will follow through with retiring old and increasingly expensive coal plants like Wateree, Winyah, and Williams.”