May, 22 2009, 02:25pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tom Clements, 803-834-3084
Bob Guild, Esq, for comment on legal aspects, 803-252-1419, cell 803-917-5138
Nick Berning, 202-222-0748
Public Interest Group Appeals South Carolina Public Service Commission Decision Approving Nuclear Reactors to State Supreme Court
Friends of the Earth Asserts Decision in Error and Not in the Public Interest
COLUMBIA, S.C.
The environmental organization Friends of the Earth has today filed
an appeal with the South Carolina Supreme Court challenging the
legality of a South Carolina Public Service Commission decision
approving an application by South Carolina Electric & Gas to build
two new nuclear reactors. The filing is believed to be a first national
challenge to the type of state law which unjustly forces consumers to
pay for nuclear projects in advance, no matter if they fail.
Friends of the Earth, which made the filing this morning with the
Supreme Court in Columbia, S.C., contends that the Public Service
Commission order of February 27 that approved the reactor project and
the March 25 denial of a Friends of the Earth appeal were in error for
a number of reasons. Friends of the Earth also names South Carolina
Electric and Gas and the state's Office of Regulatory Staff in the
appeal.
"We strongly believe that the decision allowing this nuclear reactor
project to go forward is fraught with legal errors and does not serve
the public interest. Clener, safer and cheaper energy options were
ignored," said Tom Clements, Southeastern Nuclear Campaign Coordinator
with Friends of the Earth. "The Public Service Commission made an
incorrect decision which gives the utility a blank check for its
expensive and dangerous nuclear project and we are thus seeking a legal
remedy in the interest of South Carolina consumers that will lead to a
cleaner energy future for the state."
The Friends of the Earth filing, which will be followed by a more
substantive brief, is based on a number of issues, including that the
Public Service Commission erred in allowing the project to proceed
under the state's Baseload Review Act (the Construction Work in
Progress law passed in 2007). That act, which allows electricity rates
to be levied for reactors far in advance of their demonstrated use, is
unconstitutional as it deprives electricity consumers of property
without due process of law. The filing is the first legal challenge to
the Baseload Review Act and a decision made under it and is also
believed to be the first national challenge to a Construction Work in
Progress law.
Further, Friends of the Earth charges that the Public Service
Commission was incorrect in not properly analyzing recent developments
in the economy and financial markets and that the reactor project was
allowed to go forward without an energy efficiency and demand side
management plan to reduce the need for new capacity. The Commission
also erred in approving the application without placing conditions on
the utility's recovery of costs.
Well-known environmental lawyer Bob Guild is serving as attorney for
Friends of the Earth, as he did in the organization's initial
intervention against the license application, filed May 30, 2008. On
December 1, a three-week hearing was held on the application before the
Public Service Commission.
South Carolina Electric and Gas is planning construction of two
Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at its V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville,
S.C., 25 miles north of Columbia. The reactors are of a design that has
never been built before. Site clearing has begun in spite of the fact
that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is two years from a
decision approving the reactor design and authorizing the construction
permit. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing
"Revision 17" of the design and many key issues remain.
In a required filing with the Public Service Commission on May 15,
SCE&G admitted that large cost uncertainties hang over the project
and presented one scenario whereby the cost for the overall project had
increased by more than $1 billion. And, the company admitted in its
filing with the Public Service Commission that the construction
schedule has slipped three months since the project was approved in
February. The South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper)
holds 45 percent interest in the project but is not subject to Public
Service Commission regulation. SCE&G has failed to reveal if it has
secured private financing for this risky project.
NOTES:
Friends of the Earth filing with Supreme Court available on request from attorney Bob Guild
To contact the S.C. Supreme Court to review filings - ask for Betty
Sheely, who handles filings of "original jurisdiction" (not originating
in lower courts), 1231 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC, 803-734-1080, https://www.judicial.state.sc.us/supreme/
PSC docket (2008-196-E) in the SCE&G reactor application case,
including links to the order approving the reactor application and a
host of Friends of the Earth filings:
https://dms.psc.state.sc.us/dockets/dockets.cfc?Method=DocketDetail&Docke...
SCE&G filing of May 15, in which the cost is shown to be uncertain:
https://dms.psc.sc.gov/pdf/matters/53E587E3-0DCA-2AE3-BC77BF46C8C8EEE4.pdf
Baseload Review Act (CHAPTER 33, Article 4 of Title 58 - UTILITY FACILITY SITING AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION) -- https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t58c033.htm
Nuclear Regulatory Commission website on new reactors:
https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors.html
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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