South-Carolina
If you think a small group of citizens can't get something done, look at Lake Conestee Dam
The dam at Lake Conestee, just south of Greenville, is getting replaced.
Four years ago, a sentence like that was nigh impossible.
It turns out that collective action (a.k.a. community-engaged democracy) is what got things going after years of inaction, frustration, finger pointing, and hand wringing over what to do about an antique dam holding back a passel of toxic metals flushed into the Reedy River over decades of Greenville’s Industrial Age growth.
And what got the collective action going were press stories (like this one that South Carolina Public Radio did four years ago) that served to inspire citizens like Ralph Cushing to bring attention to the possibility of an ecological catastrophe, and to spur state lawmakers from the Greenwood/Laurens region to get state funding behind a plan to head off such possibilities.
Cushing is a Greenwood resident who describes himself as a “type-triple-A personality” because he finds it too difficult to sit still. The problem was, he kind of had to because he was recovering from knee surgery and was relegated to haunting the internet. That’s where he came across news stories explaining what is at stake upriver in Greenville County.
To recap briefly: Lake Conestee Dam was built with a 50-year lifespan in mind in the 1890s, but is still standing. It is a genuine marvel of engineering, but its construction is a mystery today, as there are no known records of how it was built.
Without knowing the true nature of the dam’s construction, no one is really sure whether the structure could last another century or crumple under a stiff breeze – or an earthquake – by tomorrow morning.
Yet, for all the danger pressing up against that wall, Cushing had never heard of Lake Conestee Dam before his surgery. Neither had state Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, nor state Sen. Billy Garrett, R-Greenwood, despite that the water that flows downriver from Conestee ends up in Lake Greenwood – the freshwater supply for much of Greenwood and Laurens counties – and that a release of enough toxic sludge to fill a football stadium upstream could effectively kill a set of communities two counties to the south.
Cushing and McCravy learned about the dam and its potential dangers around the same time, about a year-and-a-half ago. Cushing put together a Facebook group, Save Lake Greenwood, where he laid out what was at stake and urged a letter-writing campaign to lawmakers to raise their awareness.
And it worked. Dozens of letters a week, Cushing says, landed in the email inboxes and on the desks of McCravy, Garret, and state Rep. Stewart Jones, R-Laurens, asking them to find a solution. Jones told Cushing that the volume of letters was “significant.”
To either fix the dam or build a new one a few yards downriver from the existing one would cost anywhere between $40 million and $60 million, by most estimates; and multiple entities had long argued over which of them is the most responsible and who should flip the tab for a largescale project.
A major hang-up in figuring out who would pay how much was that there was no plan to do anything specific. Did the dam need to be shored up? Reinforced? Replaced? No one knew –partly because no one had done any work to figure out what was the best solution.
Garrett and McCravy figured it was best to get state funding behind what they saw as a genuine emergency first, “and worry about the rest later,” McCravy says.
Garrett lobbied hard for $3 million to find out the best way to deal with Lake Conestee Dam. That exploratory project did not use all the money before it concluded that the existing dam needs to be left in place and a new, 100-year storm-and earthquake-resistant structure needs to be built a few yards downstream.
Once that was identified, McCravy says, state lawmakers made a line item in the state budget last year, which ultimately came to more than $40 million. Further private donations to the Lake Conestee Dam Restoration Project means the project has about $47 million to build a new retention wall dam that would catch and hold any spill from a break, according to Kelly Lowry, the president of the Lake Conestee Dam Restoration Project.
Lowry picked up a decades-long fight to get the situation at Lake Conestee looked at. He also spearheaded numerous public meetings that drew hundreds of concerned residents to venues at which he outlined the dangers of a dam break and the need to keep the pressure on state lawmakers to fund a replacement wall.
For Lowry, news that state money has gone towards the situation is akin to at least a few sips of warm milk.
“I wake up at two in the morning thinking about this,” Lowry says, referring to the potential for a dam break. He’s feeling much more at ease now that seismic test engineers are running ground tests and laying out where the new dam will go.
He’s aware that until the new dam is built, anything could still happen. But the fact that Lake Conestee Dam is now being dealt with officially makes this a gratifying time for longtime advocates. While many in the communities that would be affected by a break only found out about the looming dangers upstream a couple years ago, advocates like Dave Hargett and other leaders of the restoration project initiative have been sounding the alarm for decades.
And what got it addressed, finally, was information, a little moxie from citizens and state officials … and mail.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – An officer was injured, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has issued a Blue Alert for an “armed and dangerous” woman.
According to the Blue Alert, Cushman is wanted in connection with an officer being injured.
The location of the assault was Gardenia Road in Blackville, S.C.
On Monday night around 10:35 p.m., officials said they were looking for Lacey Cushman, 37, a white woman who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds.
According to SLED, she has brown eyes and an unknown hair color. Her hairstyle and clothing are unknown.
She was last seen driving a 2011 white Chevrolet Traverse with an S.C. tag, 706IRU, in Barnwell County.
Her last known direction of travel was toward Bamberg County.
If you see her or have information, call 911 immediately.
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