Apr 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Gene Zaleski The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.

Orangeburg Sen. Brad Hutto says South Carolinians will have to learn to conserve energy because proposed federal emission regulations on the state's coal-fired plants could prove a "challenge" to the state's power infrastructure.

Hutto, during an appearance Thursday on S.C. ETV's "This Week in the Senate," said that the state does have a real possibility of running short on electric power in the future as its population increases, placing a greater burden on energy providers to keep up.

Officials estimate South Carolina's electric production capabilities are secure in the short-term but, looking ahead to the next decade, the state will need about 8 billion additional kilowatt hours to meet its energy load.

In light of this fact, Hutto says state officials and individuals must take it upon themselves to implement energy-saving measures to ensure the state does not reach a critical stage in energy shortages.

"We don't do as good job as we need to of conserving," said Hutto, who serves on the state's Public Utility Review Committee.

"We will not be able to conserve our way to the future. We will have to build some capacity also."

Hutto joined Dukes Scott, executive director of the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, on the half-hour program hosted by President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell.

Hutto said that the wave of the future will be nuclear power.

He said there are about five or six applications pending now before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction of nuclear power plants in the state. Even so, he says South Carolina would not see any such plants come on-line for another 10 to 20 years.

"In the meantime we will have to come up with potentially a few new coal-fired plants," Hutto said. "We will need to do it in an environmentally friendly way."

Santee Cooper currently has a proposal in place to build a new coal-fired plant in Florence using state-of-the-art technology, Hutto said. He said about one-third of the plant's cost will be spent on environmental systems.

And that is also the rub.

Currently, Congress is looking at a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system which would set limits on the amount carbon plants could emit, perhaps by 2020.

"In South Carolina, we think that is too short of a period in time," Scott said. He said 2030 would be a better goal.

Currently, the state's electric power generation breakdown is 51 percent nuclear and 42 percent coal. Around 5 percent is natural gas, with the rest coming from natural gas and renewal fuels.

Under a cap-and-trade system, companies are issued emission permits and credits representing the right to emit a specific amount of carbon.

Companies that need to increase their emissions must buy credits from those who pollute less. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed.

Scott said questions remain if the cap-and-trade system would be only related to industry or to the entire economy.

"Either one will raise the (energy) rates," he said.

"The question is how much will it raise the rates."

Scott said for South Carolina, the issue of cap-and-trade is heightened due to the state's reliance on coal.

"It may affect us maybe two or three times more than other states," Scott said, noting that local officials are going to Washington to help lessen the bill's impact on the state.

Hutto said that what South Carolina and the nation has to realize is that China is building coal-fired plants at a rapid rate due to lower environmental standards using 1950s technology. As a result, Hutto said about 85 percent of the mercury found in the state's waters comes from overseas.

"While it is important that the plants we build are not putting out large amount of gasses and toxins, realistically what we getting in our water and environment is not homegrown," Hutto said.

And what about the impact on those already struggling to make ends meet?

Hutto has co-sponsored a bill, which currently resides in the Senate Judiciary Committee, that would create a nonprofit entity under the Office of Regulatory Staff to provide financial assistance to low-income households. It aims to help households to implement conservation measures.

"We will have to do things to encourage that group of people to get into the conservation mode," Hutto said. "We may have to work with grants ... to supplement them to get out of these old appliances into the more energy-efficient appliances."

In the interim, he stressed the need for people to take commonsense approaches in their day-to-day living habits: shutting off lights when not at home, using energy-efficient light bulbs, not doing a wash during the heavy energy use times of the day and unplugging appliances that still use electricity when they're not in use.

Hutto said many people have asked him why the state does not go to more renewal fuels or solar, wind or biomass, but he said the South Carolina climate and geography is not easily attuned to all forms of energy.

"Nuclear is coming and we are working on that. Nuclear in the long run would be the cleanest and most efficient way for us to go as a state. In the interim we will have to rely on coal because we don't have any other alternative. Cap-and-trade is going to be important with us because we are sort of stuck with coal," he said.