Electric power lines to be buried

***image1***The South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) power transmission lines connecting the St. Thomas Island substation with the Mt. Pleasant Longpoint substation will be buried under ground. The decision to bury the lines, as opposed to installing overhead lines, was announced by Mayor Joe Riley at a press conference held Tuesday outside the Daniel Island Municipal Building on Seven Farms Drive.

The reality of the underground lines was a direct result of land donations that offset the cost differential of overhead lines, SCE&G officials said.

Also on hand to make the announcement were representatives of SCE&G, former Daniel Island Neighborhood Association president John Dietz, DINA Power Line Committee member Peter Ricciardi, and representatives of The Daniel Island Company.

The Daniel Island transmission lines are part of a three-phase project to bring a third independent source of electricity to the Charleston area. SCE&G currently has two main power transmission systems serving the Charleston area. According to Robin Montgomery, an SCE&G spokesman, the third system was implemented to address the increased energy use in the East Cooper area. Montgomery said that power usage in the area has increased "almost 50 percent in the last five years."

The third transmission line also creates a redundant system in the area so that power can be restored more quickly in the event of an outage, Montgomery said.

The Daniel Island Company COO Matt Sloan, in an interview prior to the press conference, offered high praises for the electric company. "We are very grateful to SCE&G and particularly Danny Kassis for working with us and helping us get to an economically viable solution. Dan took a personal interest in this effort and made it a priority to come up with a solution that works for everyone."

Sloan also credited Rep. Jim Merrill and Mt. Pleasant town council as instrumental in making the underground option a reality.

Kassis, General Manager of Electric Service Coordination for SCE&G, said that The Daniel Island Company, Mt. Pleasant, the City of Charleston and other landowners donated the land for the easement of the power lines, thus offsetting any increased costs
that would be associated with burying the
lines, "The right away that was given us . . .
those dollars helped offset any additional costs for underground lines so there won’t be any additional cost to our customers."

Kassis described The Daniel Island Company’s contribution as "significant" because much of the property could have been developed at market value, including frontage property. "This was so unique because of the value of the land . . . I don’t think you will see one like it again."

Mayor Riley also credited Kassis as being instrumental in the process and praised the total effort as a cooperative endeavor. The mayor held up "the residents of Daniel Island, leadership of DINA, The Daniel Island Development Company (Matt Sloan and Frank Brumley), representatives of SCE&G, our city staff . . . and city council as a wonderful example of citizens coming together and making something that looks impossible to achieve a reality."

The mayor further explained, "All citizens of this community and the citizens of our city will benefit in all the years to come."

Dietz, who followed Art Hartung and Anne Medio as president of DINA and was involved during an initial petition drive to urge underground lines, said he was very appreciative of the cooperative efforts put forth by all those involved.

Ricciardi described the community effort to bury the lines as "a positive effort on the part of residents to get it done."

Construction on the Daniel Island phase, phase three of the overall project, won’t begin until later this year, with a completion goal of the summer of 2007. Kassis said that construction will have limited impact on residents and businesses because the digging technology allows the lines to be placed under the road contours with only limited open trench digging.

Phase one of the project, the Mt. Pleasant portion of the project, was completed in early 2001. Phase two of the project is near competition and involved connecting the North Charleston substation with the St. Thomas Island substation across the Cooper River.