SCE&G Constructs Barrier
Across Lower Saluda River

August, 2008.
SCE&G has constructed a barrier across Lower Saluda River just below the power station at the Lake Murray Dam with the purpose of keeping fishermen and boaters further downstream. A recent newspaper article in The State places the barrier 500 yards downstream. However, the permit for construction on navigable waters, issued by DHEC to SCE&G in 2004, states that the barrier will be placed 2,200 feet (.42 mile) downstream. That was the location of the old railroad trestle that crossed the river where SCE&G announced, and then cancelled, plans in 2006 to erect the barricade. According to the recent article the barricade was erected this summer at that same intended 2006 location. Of particular concern is the nearly 1/2 mile length of river closed that is out of proportion with the access allowed to the spillway, towers, and the dam itself. A second barrier will be placed on Lake Murray near front of the old spillway on the Lexington side of the dam.

The barrier, known as the Tuffboom barrier flotation system, consists of a polyethylene shell with a foam interior. Buoys are connected with either a continuous length of cable or individual sections of cable between each buoy and are typically placed from 15 to 25 feet apart. They are typically attached in a series to warn or restrict boaters or swimmers from dangerous areas such as spillways, dams, marinas and beaches. In the case of the SCE&G barrier on the Saluda, it will be used solely for the purpose of keeping the public at a far distance from the hydroelectric facility.

SCE&G cites Homeland Security as the reason for the decision to install the barrier, but there has been public outcry that the barrier has been placed much further downstream than is necessary, taking away public waters and land without a public hearing. According to the permit to construct the barrier, "The stated purpose of the proposed activity is part of the Homeland Security initiative and as such is for improved security for the electricity generation facility and for the Lake Murray Dam." The permit was approved by the SC Department of Natural Resources as a reviewing agency before SC DHEC issued it. The permit stated that in regards to public comments there has been no objection to the project; though the permit was not widely distributed beyond the commenting and permitting agencies.

Trout Unlimited first learned of the plans from an article in The State along with the public in 2006, just prior to a public relicensing meeting where the proposal was strongly objected to by many at that meeting. Attempts by Trout Unlimited to have the issue discussed with the relicensing stakeholders, including as agenda items of discussion for both Recreation and Safety relicensing committees were declined. Comments were made however during relicensing meetings that Trout Unlimited considered any barrier below the existing overhead warning sign to be excessive in that it would not provide further appreciable security to the facilities to justify the ‘taking’ of river from the public, especially when other areas are less secured. No plans on further perimeter measures have been announced to date.

With this river barrier in place, the public is effectively banned from entering an area that for decades has been important for its quality of fishing and a popular location for boating. It is the position of Trout Unlimited that any barrier across the Lower Saluda River below the SCE&G hydroelectric plant should be placed at the location of the current overhead warning sign. That is a more consistent location with the 100 ft. "exclusion zone" requirement of Duke Power in their FERC licenses below their Catawba and Wateree impoundments which should also be applicable to SCE&G for security.

It is notable that Duke Power is building public fishing and observation platforms for public access just below their exclusion zones --rather than totally banning the public from tailrace areas as SCE&G has done with the lower Saluda by erecting a barricade across the river this year and also closing off that area below the dam to vehicular access in the 1990s.