Americas News
Battle Over Cruise Terminal/Shore Power Sent to Appeals Court
The South Carolina Supreme Court has declined to hear the long-standing battle to develop a $35 million cruise terminal in Charleston, which means the case will now be heard in the lower court of appeals, local media reports.
Although officials with the South Carolina Port Authority said they look forward to the appeals court resolving the issue, the Authority is understood to have originally applied to the high court in order to reach a resolution sooner.
A hearing date for the appeals process has not yet been set.
Katie Zimmerman, program director for the Coastal Conservation League, also expressed hope that the matter would be settled in appeals.
"There is a place for cruise in Charleston, we just need to make sure that we are exploring all of the options to accommodate both cruise and protect people's health, protect the environment, and protect people's quality of life," she said.
Zimmerman's group wants the Authority to address concerns about air pollution and traffic as well as guarantee the provision of shore power:.
"Use shore power at the new cruise terminal and make sure that the home ported ship is shore power capable. So that means the ship plugs in to the electricity grid instead of idling and burning diesel fuel all day long," said Zimmerman.
The ruling comes after earlier this year the benefits and relevance of shore power as an emissions reduction technology have been brought into question.
In May, James Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority, said shore power technology "has really been rendered as a last-generation solution at most major ports" and that it would cost about $20 million to build shore power into the proposed cruise terminal - nearly four times what a contractor for the State Port Authority said it would cost.
