SC Electric & Gas will present a plan to remove about 70% of coal tar on the Congaree River’s bed.

The concentration of the tar is a stone’s throw from the Gervais Street Bridge.

The tar would be removed from where it could come in contact with humans.

An April 2 public meeting will review the plan at 6:30 pm at EdVenture Children’s Museum, Canal Room, 211 Gervais Street, Columbia.

SCE&G and the Department of Health and Environmental Control came up with an $18 million plan in early 2015 to remove the coal tar, using coffer dams.

SCE&G abandoned that idea blaming the October 2015 flood as a reason not to dam the river, risking even more flooding. SCE&G then proposed leaving the coal tar in the river, and covering it with stones and fabric. That idea was not received well by river advocates.

River Alliance Executive Director Mike Dawson said removing the tar is the popular solution.

“All of us agree. We want it gone,” he said.

Removing the tar will allow more access to the river and development between the Gervais and Blossom Street bridges, he said.

The plan includes building temporary dams on the Columbia side so crews can reach the tar.

The coal tar was discovered in 2010. It was deposited in the river by a streetlight oil processor, behind the present-day State Museum. That plant on Huger Street leaked a byproduct into a ditch that flowed to the river from the early 1900s to the 1950s.