Legislative subcommittee votes tomorrow at 9 Tomorrow (Feb. 7) at 9AM a legislative subcommittee holds a hearing on H.3659, the “South Carolina Energy Freedom Act”. Below are the legislators you should contact to support solar energy and energy efficiency in our state. H.3659 would protect the rights of customers—residential and…
SC Business Reasons for Opposing Offshore Oil Drilling/Seismic Testing
When you drill, you spill. The federal government admits that oil spills are inevitable predicting one spill a year for every 1,000 barrels of oil produced. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reports 2,440 oil spills in the Gulf between 1964-2015 and 497 oil “accidents” in 2016. Federal records show…
Oil companies curtail offshore exploration where natural gas and oil was to be plentiful
In 2012 BP bid $1 billion for the oil exploration rights off Canada’s Nova Scotia. It was estimated that the Nova Scotia basin held up to 121 trillion cubic feet of gas and 8 billion barrels of oil. On its website, BP brags about its oil development expertise. “Exploring offshore…
SC Business Reasons for Opposing Offshore Oil Drilling/Seismic Testing
SC Business Reasons for Opposing Offshore Oil Drilling/Seismic Testing When you drill, you spill. The federal government admits that oil spills are inevitable predicting one spill a year for every 1,000 barrels of oil produced. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reports 2,440 oil spills in the Gulf between 1964-2015…
Electric Utility Competition — In South Carolina?
By Jerry Ellig January 28, 2019 Retail electric competition has recently become a hot issue in an unexpected place: South Carolina, where I currently live. Two of the state’s major utilities – investor-owned SCE&G (recently purchased by Dominion Energy) and state-owned Santee Cooper – spent $9 billion on a nuclear…
Partial federal government shutdown ends but political impasse remains
MULTIBRIEFS January 28, 2019 By Seth Sandronsky Last Friday, President Trump signed a bill in effect through Feb. 15 that ends the 35-day partial federal government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. What is likely to or could happen over the next three weeks as border security talks between the…
Judge bars seismic permitting work during shutdown
Charleston Regional Business Journal January 24, 2019 By Liz Segrist A federal judge has barred the government from moving forward with seismic permitting and halted litigation surrounding the permits during the government shutdown. The Trump administration ruled to allow companies to perform seismic air gun surveying to determine whether oil…
Citing son’s influence and Trump’s triumphs, Joe Wilson now opposes offshore drilling
The State January 23, 2019 BY EMMA DUMAIN Washington Rep. Joe Wilson always favored drilling and testing for oil in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of his state of South Carolina. Now the Republican lawmaker supports a moratorium on the practice. He acknowledged Wednesday the influence of his son,…
Once deregulated, utilities will compete for customers
Lexington County Chronicle January 24, 2019 By Jerry Bellune Lexington County residents will save an average $220.28 a year with competitive electric rates. That’s the prediction of Dr. Kathleen Grace, a Wofford College professor and expert on the SCANA-Santee Cooper nuclear fiasco. Grace said the average SC residential electricity bill…
ACTION ALERT!! Contact the House Rules Committee Now
On January 23rd at 9AM, the House Rules Committee will have on its agenda House Resolution 3506. This Resolution would give the Speaker of the House absolute authority to unilaterally “initiate or intervene in any action on behalf of the House as an institution or in his official capacity…”. The…