PECI News

Senator honors cooperative for spurring progress

	DeMint tells the Sun City audience that energy challenges put national security and the American economy at risk.

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint came to Sun City August 13 to present a South Carolina on the Move Award to Palmetto Electric Cooperative. The award, given during an “Energy Independence Town Hall” at the cooperative-served community, recognized Palmetto Electric for spurring progress in the Lowcountry.

Presenting the honor to co-op CEO Tom Upshaw, DeMint cited the importance of the electric co-ops to the state. “The fact that we do have low-cost, reliable electricity has attracted many businesses to our state and helped to make it a better place to live,” he said.

DeMint said Palmetto Electric has played a key role, including helping attract developments such as Sun City. “We probably wouldn’t have all of you great new South Carolinians here if it had not been for some of the economic spade work that Palmetto did,” he said.

Threats to economy

The junior senator’s fourth annual South Carolina on the Move Tour included stops in 14 cities around the state, where DeMint discussed the need to increase American energy supplies. At Sun City, he noted that high gasoline prices hurt the economy, particularly working people who live in rural areas and commute to jobs. Rising power costs will increase their burden, he said. “It’s not even cold season yet and the price of electricity is going up,” he noted.

He blamed poor political decisions over the last few decades, including shutting down the development of new nuclear generation in the late 1970s. Efforts to protect the environment have actually hurt it, DeMint said. “What we did is burn more and more coal — since then, 60% more coal than we did at the time,” he said. DeMint noted how, since that era, the French have learned how to recycle nuclear waste and now rely on nuclear power for 80% of their electricity generation. “They burn about 40% of the coal [they did] in the ’70s,” he said.

The senator said the failure to develop domestic oil and natural gas resources hurt the environment and increased dependence on foreign sources. He said energy challenges put national security and the American economy at risk. “OPEC could probably bring our economy to its knees within a matter of a few months by just reducing its supply, which it did a couple of years ago,” he said. “This is a dangerous situation.” DeMint said he now supports drilling off America’s coasts to lessen dependence on foreign oil.

Promoting nuclear power

Quoting Upshaw, DeMint said America has significant wind and solar resources in the Midwest and West, but more nuclear generation is needed for South Carolina and the Southeast. The senator noted that he also gave an On the Move award to Santee Cooper for being one of the first utilities in the country to get a permit through for a new nuclear plant. The state-owned utility is the chief power supplier for Palmetto Electric and other independent, consumer-owned S.C. co-ops.

Nuclear power, DeMint said, is “the key, long-term for reducing our dependence on foreign oil and coal and generating electricity without any damage to the environment.”

Palmetto Electric given "South Carolina On The Move" Award

Residents urged to give leaders input on energy

At the senator’s invitation, Palmetto Electric CEO Tom Upshaw made a presentation at the Sun City event about power supply and cost challenges affecting co-ops across the state.

Upshaw told the crowd that South Carolina power supplies are tightening and new generation is desperately needed to keep up with growth and rising energy use. Without new power plants, brownouts and blackouts could occur within a few years, he warned. “That’s real, folks,” Upshaw said. “We’re not exaggerating.”

To keep leaders focused on the issue, attendees were urged to participate in the co-op’s “Our Energy, Our Future” campaign. Many filled out dialogue cards, which Palmetto Electric will forward to the state’s congressional delegation. Upshaw said the delegation recognizes the problem but needs more input from South Carolinians.

Co-op members can also take part in the campaign by clicking on the Our Energy link.