Tom Ervin, a member of the South Carolina Public Service Commission, resigned Wednesday (Mar. 13), protesting utility-friendly legislation moving forward in the state legislature. Ervin warned that the bill could set up a repeat of the catastrophically-failed V.C. Summer nuclear project in 2017.
The bill in the state House would clear the regulatory path for Dominion Energy – the successor to failed SCANA Corp., which evaporated in the Summer fallout – to build a large new gas-fired generation plant, along with the state-wide public power agency Santee Cooper. The 1,360-MW gas plant – estimated to cost over $1 billion and be in service in 2029 – would be built on the site of the retired 420-MW Canadys coal-fired plant. SCANA and Santee Cooper worked in tandem on the failed Summer project.
In an interview with The State, Ervin said, “It’s of utmost importance to get this right. We are on a path to repeat the mistakes that were made with V.C. Summer and all the fallout that resulted from that nuclear debacle. It can be avoided. Just let the Public Service Commission do their statutory job.”
Former state legislator Ervin, who has been on the regulatory commission since 2018, said he resigned because he was unable to speak out about the legislation as a member of the commission. The bill has a lot of heavy legislative support, with Republican House Speaker Murrell Smith the key sponsor.
The legislation to fast-track the gas plant, House Bill 5118, has come under severe criticism from local environmental and clean energy groups. The Sierra Club commented recently that the bill “practically writes a blank check allowing them to build a massive methane gas plant on the Edisto River in Canadys — without having to disclose the costs of the project and the locations of pipelines for the project.”
On Feb. 27, opponents showed up at legislative hearing on the measure. According to the Sierra Club’s Paul Black, utility representatives dominated the event. “We had a dozen community members show up to testify between Tuesday and Thursday morning and not a single one was able to speak to the committee. Folks drove from out of town, flew home early, and took time off work only to have the corporate greed prioritized once again. It’s shameful.”
The legislation would ravage the regulatory commission, which currently consists of seven elected members from across the state. Under H.R. 5118, the commission would be slashed to three members, selected by the General Assembly. It would also remove the commission’s authority to review upgrades and any changes to existing facilities, such as the Canadys replacement. The amputated commission would be unable to review “any facility that represents the rebuilding…rerouting…increasing…or otherwise reconfiguring of an existing transmission line or other transmission facilities.”
In a letter to the legislature, Ervin said the bill “is a brazen attempt to undermine the ability of the commission to fairly decide what weight and credibility to give to all the testimony and evidence presented at the hearings.’’
John Tynan of Conservation Voters of South Carolina said, “I can certainly see why a commissioner would not want to be forced to make those one-sided decisions. hey would not have any decisions to make. The Public Service Commission is supposed to protect ratepayers against utility monopolies.’’
Ervin, 71, has had a varied political career. A lawyer, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1978, a year after he graduated from law school. After two terms, he left office in 1983. He served on the state’s Workers Compensation Commission and then 14 years as a circuit court judge.
In 2005, he ran as a Republican in a special election to replace the state’s House speaker, who was named U.S. ambassador to Canada, and lost. He remained a Republican until 2014, when he emerged as an independent. He won the PSC seat from the state’s 4th Congressional District in July 2018.
Billy Pizer moves up to CEO at RFF
Dr. William “Billy” Pizer is the new head of the noted Washington-based environmental and energy think tank Resources for the Future, effective May 1. He replaces Richard Newell, who will stay on as a senior advisor to Pizer. Pizer is currently vice president for research and policy engagement at RFF, having joined the organization in 2021.
Pizer is a nationally known environmental economist with a background in government and academia. He was an endowed professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy for a decade. From 2008-2011, he was deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Pizer holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in economics from Harvard University and a B.S. in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kennedy Maize