"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." This was my father's response to my teenage requests for extra privileges or a later curfew right after I'd taken advantage of his leniency and good faith by taking a mile when I was given an inch. It was also all I could think of after reading a recent article on the Santee Cooper power company's proposed dirty coal plant on the Pee Dee River.

With no Public Service Commission review or shareholder accountability, comparing Santee Cooper to an unsupervised teenager is not very far off. All you have to do is look at the company's current permit applications before the Department of Health and Environmental Control to see a history of what can only be described as corporate hubris.  

The power company is applying for a federal license to operate two hydropower dams on the Santee Cooper lake system. As part of that application, DHEC has to certify that dam operations will not hurt water quality, public uses and endangered species, and will protect a healthy aquatic community.

The Santee River basin is the second largest basin on the east coast. Dams forming Lakes Marion and Moultrie control the water flowing to the Santee and Cooper rivers. Ninety miles of the Santee River have been severely impacted by the dams. The project is remarkably complex, to say the least, and DHEC has been working hard to get the information necessary to do its job. Unfortunately, getting basic information out of Santee Cooper has been like pulling teeth. Instead of the straight answers required in the company's permit applications, the company has ducked and dodged, and then had the gall to say DHEC should give them the green light anyway.

Despite at least three formal requests over the past three years for information regarding important issues like water quality, endangered species, coastal sediment and erosion impacts, Santee Cooper has stonewalled. They have had to withdraw and reapply for their permit at least two times because they've failed to provide required information. In its Sept. 26, 2006, letter, DHEC lays out what information is outstanding and what needs to be provided for compliance. Instead of cooperating, Santee Cooper replied that it didn't really need to comply. An overworked and understaffed DHEC is now in the position of responding yet again to evasive tactics by Santee Cooper.

Now Santee Cooper is saying "trust us" to supply essential information after DHEC grants the air pollution permit for a new coal-burning plant on the banks of the Pee-Dee River. Give us our permit, the company says, and sometime later we'll get around to the required Environmental Impact Statement.

I was appalled to read that DHEC was considering Santee Cooper's request. That EIS is intended to lay out the possible impacts to human health and the environment of the new plant. If the air pollution permit is already issued and the EIS later shows impacts of the new dirty coal burner are too big, it's too late.

Granting Santee Cooper's request for the air pollution permit is like handing your car keys to the neighborhood kid who you know to be trouble, just because he says "trust me.'' I don't, and neither should you. Let DHEC know that the air you breathe is not up for negotiation and encourage a full impact analysis before any permits are granted.

Gerrit Jobsis works in Columbia as director of Southeast Conservation for American Rivers, the nation's only conservation organization dedicated solely to the protection of rivers.

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