How a map of a secret gas pipeline route through South Carolina was revealed at a barbecue joint

The mystery map surfaced at Dukes Barbecue in Walterboro.

For at least two years, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper have been working on plans to build a new gas-fired power plant in the crossroads community of Canadys near St. George.

But the utilities had kept one key aspect of this high-stakes project under wraps — the route of a new gas pipeline to fuel it. 

Then, on Aug. 7, conservation groups held an event at the Dukes Barbecue. The smell of pulled pork and fried chicken wafted through the room. About 80 people showed up, including three members of county council. One of the three, Steven Murdaugh, carried a manila folder.

And there on the folder was the map of the proposed pipeline.

A red line on the map showed a future pipeline stretching from Georgia across the Savannah River and through the upper reaches of South Carolina’s ACE Basin to Canadys.

“I was surprised,” said Taylor Allred, energy and climate program director for the Coastal Conservation League. “We’ve been trying to get that map for a long time.”

“I was really shocked to see it there, in that kind of setting,” added Robby Maynor, a climate campaign associate for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The unexpected release of the pipeline route is the latest wrinkle in the ongoing push to generate more power in South Carolina amid population gains and a fast-growing industrial load driven by energy-hogging data centers and crypto-mining.

Opponents also say it’s a reminder of how important parts of this massive project have been cloaked in secrecy, despite its potential impacts to ratepayers who will pay for it and property owners along the pipeline route.