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Thread: Dominion and Murray

  1. #1
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    Default Dominion and Murray

    COLUMBIA, S.C.

    Now that S.C. regulators have given the green light to Dominion Energy to buy SCANA, more than electric rates are at stake.

    Dominion will assume responsibility for overseeing the Midlands’ huge Lake Murray and its hydroelectric dam, including managing the lake’s water level, a public beach and dock permits.

    The Virginia-based utility also will have a say in how the lake’s shoreline is developed and maintained, and it could give up ownership of 45 acres of undeveloped land on the lake.

    However, Lake Murray would not be the first huge lake managed by Dominion, which oversees similar lakes in Virginia and North Carolina, where a residents’ group gives the utility high marks for its stewardship.

    Both Dominion and SCE&G, as well as a Lake Murray watchdog group, say Midlands residents should not be concerned by the change in ownership.
    Dominion will manage Lake Murray the same way the lake always has been overseen, leaving its operations in the hands of SCANA subsidiary SCE&G, Dominion spokesman Ryan Frazier said.

    SCANA spokesman Eric Boomhower added the utility has “been given no indication (from Dominion) that completion of the merger will lead to any significant changes” in how the utility manages the lake.

    The closing of Dominion’s buyout of SCANA also will not change the requirement that the utility comply with a shoreline management plan and other aspects of a federal operating license for Lake Murray and its dam, he said.

    Lake Murray Dam

    SCE&G still is awaiting approval of its application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for relicensing of the dam, formally known as the Saluda Hydroelectric Project. A related, comprehensive settlement agreement was filed in 2009, with various environmental and interest groups signing on as party to that agreement.

    The license governs a broad array of issues, including lake levels, how much water is released downstream into the Saluda River, recreation, and fish and wildlife management.

    “That can’t change without federal review, and I don’t think Dominion would want to mess with that,” said Steve Bell, a founder of Lake Murray Watch, a 450-member lake watchdog group. “That’s pretty much set in stone.”

    Reaching that agreement “took three years of meetings with stakeholders, and it’s a good license for the lake and Midlands stakeholders,” Bell said. “I don’t think Dominion will come in here and mess up anything related to the lake. I think there are people out there, not sure what’s going to happen, because they don’t understand the federal license that’s in place.”

    Pine Island retreat won’t be sold

    The roughly 50,000-acre reservoir, created in the 1920s, has become a popular playground for the Midlands. Today, thousands of homes and docks also line what once was a forested shoreline.

    Dave Landis, president of the Lake Murray Association, too, said property owners have little to be worried about.

    “Meeting with both SCE&G and Dominion, we feel confident they’re going to continue to manage the lake as they have been,” Landis said. “I don’t see any major changes of the daily operation of the lake, lake levels and water quality. Some areas of concern are the lands that are owned by SCANA around the lake.”

    The Cayce-based utility plans to offload several properties as part of a settlement to refund a fraction of the $2 billion that SCE&G’s 730,000 electric customers already have paid for two unfinished nuclear reactors that the utility abandoned in 2017.

    Pine Island, a SCE&G recreation area on Lake Murray, will not be sold as part of that settlement, according to Dominion’s Frazier.

    But attorneys representing SCE&G customers could choose to swap some land, now included in the deal, for other nonessential SCANA properties, including 45 acres of undeveloped land off Lake Murray’s Lake Tide Road, valued at $350,000.
    \
    ‘They’ve done a good job’
    Dominion already oversees lakes in Virginia and North Carolina, including the 20,300-acre Lake Gaston, a popular recreational destination on the Virginia-North Carolina border that — like Lake Murray — also produces hydroelectric power.

    “They’re very cooperative, and they’ve done a good job,” Wally Sayko, chairman of environment committee of the Lake Gaston Association, said of Dominion.

    Sayko credits Dominion for staying with its federal licensing requirements for the lake and adopting an ecologically responsible shoreline management plan.

    “They do put forth, we think, a strong effort on the ecology (front), working with us” on re-establishing native vegetation around the lake, controlling invasive weeds and regulating water flow, Sayko said.

    https://www.thestate.com/news/politi...223263400.html

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    We shall see. Told you it got sold.
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

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    Grass Need more grass.
    Quote Originally Posted by BOG View Post
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    “They do put forth, we think, a strong effort on the ecology (front), working with us” on re-establishing native vegetation around the lake, controlling invasive weeds and regulating water flow, Sayko said."

    Re establishing native vegetation? I wouldn't count on it. 2017 and 2018 we had MAJOR growth of native SAV and SCEG and SCDNR are doing their best to destroy it on Murray. Adding carp and dropping the lake 10 feet......sucks. I don't expect anything different.
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

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    Dropping the lake is gonna make it worse. Look back at the last time they did it and that is when it really started getting bad and last year took the cake.
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

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    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    “They do put forth, we think, a strong effort on the ecology (front), working with us” on re-establishing native vegetation around the lake, controlling invasive weeds and regulating water flow, Sayko said."

    Re establishing native vegetation? I wouldn't count on it. 2017 and 2018 we had MAJOR growth of native SAV and SCEG and SCDNR are doing their best to destroy it on Murray. Adding carp and dropping the lake 10 feet......sucks. I don't expect anything different.
    Meeting with SCDNR on just that this month. I have already told the Dep Director that things must change. I expected kick back, none given.
    Last edited by Strick9; 12-25-2018 at 02:57 PM.
    Genesis 9;2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Strick9 View Post
    Meeting with SCDNR on just that this month. I have already told the Dep Director that things must change. I expected kick back, none given.
    You The Man David!
    "I'm just a victim of a circumstance"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Strick9 View Post
    Meeting with SCDNR on just that this month. I have already told the Dep Director that things must change. I expected kick back, none given.
    We appreciate all your efforts David. Look forward to hearing how this meeting goes.
    E T

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    I have asked the question to some state DU guys I know but haven’t gotten a response. DU is all about habitat where are they fighting for the habitat in our lakes.
    cut\'em

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    Bring back the Buttonbush.... quit letting landowners adjacent to the lake clear the natural vegetation and install rip-rap. Establish a set back all the way around the lake from the 360 level that is enforced. ENFORCED. Not that BS enforcement that goes on now.... It the same logic as not installing a concrete driveway over a 100 year old oak tree roots, oak tree is going to die. Habitat has dwindled in the name of lake front yuppies thinking they gotta be able to see the water. Nothing wrong with being lakefront but have some respect for the animals, not the view. I am not just talking about the big trees, the underbrush too. I wish I could have seen lake Murray in the 1960s......

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    Can't have a buttonbush due to beaver's up this away. You are correct on a lot of your statement. It is BS.
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

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    With the consistent water levels lately I’ve been seeing more button bush around home. I wish they would hold the lake at 358 or so instead of 360 like they’ve been doing though.

    And I don’t mind the winter drawdown - I catch my best fish in the years after a drawdown. And I don’t have to deal with half the number of high school hey bo’s slinging steel at sea gulls during duck season.

  13. #13
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    I feel like we're rushing into this deal with Dominion.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Strick9 View Post
    Meeting with SCDNR on just that this month. I have already told the Dep Director that things must change. I expected kick back, none given.
    Thanks Strick! You know I'd be happy to attend any meeting with you regard to restoring native SAV in SC lakes.
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

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    Quote Originally Posted by CreekGeek View Post
    With the consistent water levels lately I’ve been seeing more button bush around home. I wish they would hold the lake at 358 or so instead of 360 like they’ve been doing though.

    And I don’t mind the winter drawdown - I catch my best fish in the years after a drawdown. And I don’t have to deal with half the number of high school hey bo’s slinging steel at sea gulls during duck season.
    They hold the lake around 358/msl, 360/msl is the max. allowed
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by DRDUCK View Post
    They hold the lake around 358/msl, 360/msl is the max. allowed
    You’re right. I liked it better when they used to hold it at 356.

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    Meeting now set with Santee Cooper as well Cajun.
    Genesis 9;2

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    I believe Dominion is a large donor to DU. Maybe they will actually do something for duck habitat around here.

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    I bet Santee Cooper was too
    cut\'em

  20. #20
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    On paper habitat conservation and real habitat conservation are two very different things.

    Think Potato Creek Hatchery.

    “Look what set aside for waterfowl hunting.”

    They don’t tell you they actively kill any food source for waterfowl in there.
    Be proactive about improving public waterfowl habitat in South Carolina. It's not going to happen by itself, and our help is needed. We have the potential to winter thousands of waterfowl on public grounds if we fight for it.

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