Proposed S.C. coal-fired plant fires up conservation groups

[jpak]

http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/159274.html

COLUMBIA -- Conservation groups are using two recent utility studies to argue against a nearly $1 billion coal-fired power plant in Florence County.

The studies, completed in September for the state's electric cooperatives, bolster arguments that South Carolina and its cooperatives could produce enough electricity -- through renewable energy sources and efficiency programs -- to offset the need for the plant, representatives of major environmental groups said last month.

One of the cooperatives' reports contain data showing that small rural utilities could collectively save 980 megawatts of electric capacity through efficiency programs in the next decade. The other study shows the state could generate up to 655 megawatts from renewable energy sources by 2017.

"These are real numbers," said Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "What they show is that in South Carolina, the stated need can be met through cleaner ways."

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