FAIRFIELD COUNTY – State Senator Everett Stubbs, who was recently elected to represent Fairfield, Chester, and parts of York and Lancaster counties, has hit the ground running since he was sworn in on Oct. 4.
“Of the four counties I represent, I probably have the least knowledge about Fairfield, partly because not much has been going on in Fairfield in the last two to three years,” Stubbs said. “But a bill I’ve signed on to – S.51 – could make things start happening, things that would bring exponential new revenue to Fairfield County.”
He’s talking about an in-depth study that has come out of the Governor’s office recently to determine the viability of restarting VC Summer’s units 2 and 3, at least the one that’s 48 percent finished.
“Senate bill S.51 is primarily sponsored by Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), but it is of particular interest to me for two reasons:
“One – our state is in an energy crisis. We’re having to buy a lot of our energy from out of state,” Stubbs said. “And the states we’re buying energy from are getting to the point they aren’t going to have enough capacity to continue serving us because of their own growth. And, two, the completion of units 2 and 3 could not only bring energy relief to the state, but could also greatly increase Fairfield County’s tax revenue stream.”
The 2017 collapse of the V.C. Summer nuclear power project sent several utility officials to prison and left ratepayers on the hook for $9 billion. After a state panel determined earlier this year that the project could in theory be restarted to allow the state to generate much-needed power, this bill would direct state-owned utility Santee Cooper, which would not pay taxes, to invite proposals from private companies to complete the project using non-public funds.
“The state should not fund this,” Stubbs said, “especially since we’re becoming a hotspot for technology centers that run 24/7 and are basically cloud storage facilities,” he said. “These facilities – technology storage centers owned by companies like Google – need a ton of energy to run, but are relatively low wastewater users. These storage centers don’t create a ton of jobs, but they also don’t suck up a lot of needs for services such as schools and fire services. But, if VC Summer could sell them a lot of energy, Fairfield would reap big benefits,” he said. “These technology centers would be the ideal industry for Fairfield.”
“To do this, we are proposing private ownership of the nuclear plant – basically we need to find equity partners that would have ownership in the nuclear reactors,” Stubbs explained. “And those partners would have to pay property taxes like everyone else.”
Who are these prospective investors?
“We think there could be many,” Stubbs said. “But we won’t know until Santee Cooper puts out an RFP (Request for Proposals). This bill is basically allowing Santee Cooper to explore the options for utilizing potential investors. It might just be investors who want to invest in the electrical grid because it’s a sound investment. But partially owning a nuclear power-gathering facility can’t be bad for long term investment.”
Stubbs says there have been some advancements in the construction of nuclear reactors since construction was shut down on units 2 and 3 at VC Summer.
“We know the two in Georgia are online now. And a couple in China have come online. That’s where things are moving ahead now,” Stubbs said. “If we can make fiscal, responsible sense and help with our state’s power deficit, and at the same time see a tax benefit for Fairfield, then I think we have the responsibility to explore the options.
“The push to re-start construction on units 2 and 3 is currently at the state level,” Stubbs said. “A lot of players not in Fairfield County are driving this bus right now. I’m going to keep working hard on this bill. It’s pre-filed right now. It’s very early on, very preliminary. It’s months down the road, but I do think it’s going to get some traction early and should come up this session,” he said.
“I’m a rookie, but I’m definitely going to be in on the conversation,” he said.
