Stop House Bill 5118

This legislative session, the South Carolina General Assembly considered bill H.5118, which would green-light building huge new fossil fuel projects and then turn a blind eye to the implications it would have on ratepayers and natural resources.

We have expressed concerns about many of the provisions in House Bill 5118, which passed in the House on March 28. Among other things, it could fast-track the development of an expensive new gas plant and pipeline in the ACE Basin, which is one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems on the East Coast.

Shortly before the end of the legislative session on May 9, a significantly scaled-back version was passed by the Senate and the bill was referred to a conference committee of senators and representatives that could meet to consider potential compromises in the coming months.

Put simply, this bill is bad for ratepayers. It’s bad for our land, waterways, and vulnerable communities. And it’s bad for our transition to cleaner energy sources.

In addition to increasing South Carolina’s unstable reliance on fossil fuels over clean energy alternatives while putting South Carolina ratepayers, the environment, and clean energy future at risk, Bill H.5118 would also essentially direct the Public Service Commission (PSC)–our state’s energy regulator–to blindly approve a large gas-fired plant on the Edisto River in rural Colleton County near Canadys, which would also require a new pipeline to be constructed through the ACE Basin, one of the largest areas of undeveloped wetlands/uplands ecosystems remaining on the Atlantic Coast.

You can find more information about this proposal here and below, or online at palmettopowergamble.com