Dominion Gifts Sonar Device to SCDNR, Gov. McMaster on Hand for Lake Murray Ceremony

Posted 5/18/22

Dominion Energy is making an investment into South Carolina that will directly impact the Lexington County lake it helps maintain.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get 50% of all subscriptions for a limited time. Subscribe today.

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Dominion Gifts Sonar Device to SCDNR, Gov. McMaster on Hand for Lake Murray Ceremony

Posted

Dominion Energy is making an investment into South Carolina that will directly impact the Lexington County lake it helps maintain.

The company announced Wednesday a $120,000 grant for the state Department of Natural Resources to purchase a new side-scan sonar device, increasing the number the agency has statewide from one to two.

According to a press release, the addition of a second device will allow DNR to divide the state into two zones, increasing efficiency and response times during emergencies. The sonar devices emit pulses that provide imaging of wide ranges in zero-visibility conditions encountered at the bottom of lakes and rivers. They are often vital in search and recovery operations.

The grant was announced during a ceremony at Lake Murray Public Park, the Lexington County beach and recreation area that Dominion opens to the public during the warmer months of the year. The company operates the hydro-electric dam that forms the lake and is tasked with overseeing land use and shoreline management for the reservoir.

Gov. Henry McMaster was on hand and addressed those in attendance.

“Our natural beauty, our natural resources, our environment, are one of three of our pillars of strength in South Carolina,” the governor said. “It's our education, we got to keep that strong, we got to make it better. We got our economic growth, and our business is business — without business we can do nothing. And then the environment is that third pillar of strength. and all those things are related and tied together and you can't ignore one, you don't balance one against the other. You have to be sure they’re all strong and moving forward, being protected and prospering. And so that's what we're doing here today.”

The governor also tried out DNR’s virtual training simulator for boating, which was rolled out for the event.

Col. Chisolm Frampton, DNR's deputy director for law enforcement, said the addition of a second side-scan device is critically important.

“We only have one of these [devices] now in the state,” he told reporters after the ceremony. “This will give us the opportunity to have [a device] on each end of the state and help significantly in search and rescue operations.”

“Law enforcement uses it for a multitude of things, whether it's search and rescue, whether it's evidence. We use it in homeland security,” Frampton added. “So we use it in all of our boating operations across the state.”

Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam and Ebonee Gadson, executive director of Keep the Midlands Beautiful, spoke about a previous $15,000 grant to that nonprofit from Dominion. They said it is being used to help encourage boaters and visitors to Lake Murray to “leave only your footprints behind” through the nonprofit’s Adopt-A-Waterway program. 

The initiative organizes individuals and groups to volunteer to host cleanups for sections of Lake Murray and other bodies of water in the region. 

Gadson said the salary for an intern, in attendance at the event, is funded by the Dominion grant.

Kissam spoke about the responsibility Dominion has in keeping the lake safe and its environment protected and how that is reflected in the gift to DNR.

“It goes hand in hand,” he told reporters. “We've got a net zero carbon, and we're trying to meet those goals and this really goes hand in hand with how we operate our system. As the governor said, you want to enjoy it, you want to promote business, but at the same time, everything in life is about balance. And so we want to protect these resources.”

dominion energy lake murray, sc department of natural resources, water search and rescue, governor henry mcmaster

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here