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Santee Cooper Intervenes As The City of Goose Creek Seeks To Purchase Power On the Open Market for Much Less

Featured Image: ABC News 4

Goose Creek is exploring the idea of creating a municipal electric utility to serve areas annexed into the city. A driving factor in the decision is Century Aluminum which is located right outside of Goose Creek city limits where high costs of power are threatening the company.

Century Aluminum currently purchases 75% of its power on the open market and the remaining 25% from Santee Cooper. According to a Count on News 2 report, the power the company purchases from Santee Cooper is almost double the cost compared to that purchased on the open market. Due to the high power costs, Century Aluminum had to close half of the facility’s operations in 2015.

The high costs of power and the problems they created within Goose Creek led to City Council discussions regarding the creation of their own utility which would buy power on the open market at half the cost of the power purchased from Santee Cooper. The utility would serve the nearly 5-thousand acres owned by Century Aluminum annexed into Goose Creek including the company’s smelter site and an undeveloped part of an industrial park.

On September 10, Goose Creek City Council approved a referendum to ask voters if they want to begin operating an electric utility to serve Century Aluminium and to approve the annexation of the 5,000 acres of Century property. If approved, the company would pay the city property taxes and a business license fee. City Council members believe this is a great opportunity to bring in large amounts of revenue for the city.

Santee Cooper officials responded swiftly making the claim that what is being proposed by Goose Creek is illegal, citing a similar 2004 annexation case involving South Carolina Electric & Gas vs. the Town of Awendaw.

Another issue arises with the fact that Santee Cooper owns all of the substation and transmission lines at the property. Santee Cooper’s next steps are still unknown, but it is clear the state-owned utility doesn’t want Goose Creek purchasing its power on the open market for nearly half the price.

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Poll Shows That Informed Voters Want Santee Cooper Sold

Last week the South Carolina Senate decided to not move forward with the consultant responsible for the vetting and research for the possible sale of Santee Cooper, a move that could leave the 2 million direct-serve and co-op customers of Santee Cooper responsible for the $8 billion debt they owe.

Despite this decision, S.C. Club For Growth, a group of South Carolinians whose mission is to promote economic growth in the state, recently released a poll that showed overwhelming support for the sale of Santee Cooper among informed voters.

Nearly three-quarters of the state was more likely to support the Santee Cooper sale if a private company agreed to pay down the $8 billion debt and prevent customers from carrying the weight of paying down the debt.

However, the poll also found that a large amount of the state is still unaware of the V.C. Summer Project that caused a majority of the debt owed by Santee Cooper.

The poll showed that only 48.3% of the state is even aware of the debacle. And, when you look at just Santee Cooper and co-op customers, that number is even lower.

With news of the South Carolina Senate not wanting to move forward with ICF Consulting, the future of Santee Cooper continues to be unclear. And, as more South Carolinians become aware of the billion dollar problem and the effect it may have on them, frustrations will continue to grow and support for the sale will increase.

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Emanuel 9 Honored by Goose Creek High Basketball Uniforms

Goose Creek High Honors Emanuel 9 With New Basketball Uniforms

Featured Image Credit: Goose Creek High School Gators Facebook

When the Goose Creek men’s basketball team takes the court this season, there will be something different about their uniforms. The uniforms will feature a tribute to the nine people whose lives were lost at Mother Emanuel in June 2015.

Coach Blake Hall ordered the uniforms back in August and made sure all three versions of the uniforms incorporate Gil Shuler’s palmetto dove graphic honoring the Emanuel 9. Two variations have the symbol on the belts and the third has the symbol on the leg. Hall has been coaching the Gators for the past six years.

Image Credit: Goose Creek High School Gators Facebook

The new uniforms were partially inspired by how resilient Charleston was after the shooting. However, the biggest inspiration was a former Goose Creek High School basketball player, Chris Singleton, whose mother, Sharonda, died that evening at the church. Hall said he was impressed by how Singleton handled himself during the situation.

Singleton, who went on from Goose Creek High to Charleston Southern University and was later drafted by the Chicago Cubs in June 2017. Until he leaves for Arizona to attend spring training, he will be busy with speaking engagements. Singleton says he speaks on “forgiveness, overcoming adversity, and racial relations.”

His opinion on the uniforms? He thinks they’re “awesome.” He counts Coach Hall among the people he stays close to, highlighting his wisdom and coaching ability. For his part, Hall says that the uniforms honoring the Emanuel 9 will be used for the next few seasons.