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Study: New coal plant will power the economy
By Molly Parker
Staff Writer
Santee Cooper’s proposed $1 billion coal plant for rural Florence County will pump nearly $900 million into the economy and create 9,300 full-time jobs during a five-year construction period, according to a study the utility released in mid-December.
Santee Cooper CEO Lonnie Carter said the study bears out the utility’s claim that it would provide a “strong economic boost to the Pee Dee region and South Carolina.”
“With any project of this size, it is important to take a close look at the economic impact the project would have not only on the community but the state as a whole,” Carter said in a statement announcing the study’s results.
Santee Cooper offered the results of the study in the face of criticism from environmental groups and some nearby neighbors fighting the coal-plant proposal.
Coal-fired generating facilities are considered one of the dirtiest means of producing electricity, though Santee Cooper says the millions of dollars it plans to spend on environmental controls will make it one of the cleanest coal plants in the nation.
On top of the electric power and $900 million it would pump into the economy, the study conducted on behalf of the utility by researchers at Francis Marion University in Florence also found that the plant would equate to nearly $500 million in wages across more than 9,300 jobs.
The study estimates the plant would create an additional 3,200 spinoff jobs during the construction phase in food, service and related industries, and more than 200 direct and indirect permanent positions, with salaries averaging $50,000, once the plant is operational.
“The entire Pee Dee region—one of the most economically depressed areas of the state—will benefit greatly from this investment, as well as all of South Carolina,” said lead researcher Barry O’Brien, dean of the university’s School of Business.
Dana Beach, executive director of the S.C. Coastal Conservation League, responded by calling the study “the most pathetic excuse for an economic development impact study” he’s ever seen.
“And I’ve seen some bad ones,” he said.
Beach was particularly offended by the manner in which the perspective jobs were counted. Santee Cooper notes in its press release that the researchers collapsed the timetable of the study into one year, meaning that if even if one worker did the same construction job for five years, it was counted as five jobs for the purpose of the study.
“It’s crazy,” Beach said. “It’s such an amazing error it’s hard to believe they made it.”
Furthermore, the study points out that salary levels are low and unemployment high in the nine-county Northeastern Strategic Alliance, which includes Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Marlboro and Williamsburg counties.
The region’s average per-capita income is $21,635, which is $6,650 below the state average of $28,285, a difference of more than 23%.
The unemployment rate of the region is 7.8%, compared to the state’s rate of 5.6%.
In August, three of the counties in the region ranked among the top five in terms of unemployment compared to the state’s 46 counties. Dillon was at 9.8%, Marlboro at 10% and Marion and 11.1%, the study says.
After outlining the unemployment data, the study notes that about 50,000 jobs, nearly 26% of those available in the region, are credited to the areas manufacturing base, which relies upon competitively priced power to maintain and grow.
Santee Cooper delivers power to more than 2 million residential and business customers either directly or indirectly through the state’s 20 electric cooperatives.
The utility says it will face a 525-megawatt shortfall by 2013, about the amount needed to power 262,500 homes, and more than 835 megawatts by 2015, which would power 417,500 homes.
The study also points out that the Northeastern Strategic Alliance is one of the most rapidly growing regions of the state, and that the Pee Dee generating facility will be strategically placed to serve that population.
The growth over the last decade is largely credited to Horry County, where Myrtle Beach is located.
The Horry County population in 1990 was about 144,000, and in 2000 had increased 37% to 196,629, and is expected to grow another 77% to 348,330 by the year 2030, the study says.
The nine counties that make up the alliance grew in population from 534,316 in 1990 to 620,572 in 2000, a 16% increase, and the study estimated the population of that area will be 831,350 by the year 2030.
Molly Parker is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her directly at mparker@setcommedia.com.
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