SACE Among Environmental & Citizen Groups Asking SC PSC to Reconsider Valara Data Center Decision

A group of environmental and citizen organizations is pushing back against a South Carolina regulatory decision involving a data center's power plant in Spartanburg County. The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, has asked the South Carolina Public Service Commission to reconsider a ruling that exempted a 460-megawatt gas power plant at the Valara data center from the state's Utility Facility and Environmental Protection Act. That law normally requires commission review of power plants larger than 75 megawatts, but on September 14 the commission decided this plant doesn't count because it will supply electricity to the private data center rather than the public grid.

The groups argue this reading of the law is wrong and warn it could let other large private power plants, including future data center projects, skip the environmental and community review process that's applied to power plants in South Carolina since 1971. They say the Valara plant could become one of the biggest sources of pollution in Spartanburg County if it moves ahead without that oversight. The commission has 30 days to decide whether to reconsider its decision.

For homeowners, this case doesn't involve any rebate, program, or upgrade you can act on directly. It's a dispute over how much environmental scrutiny large private power plants get in South Carolina, particularly ones built to serve data centers rather than homes and businesses on the public grid. The outcome could matter if you live near proposed data center or gas plant projects, since it affects how much public review such projects face going forward.