Sanford to reveal position on Pee Dee Coal Plant today

Gov. Mark Sanford's office has announced a press conference today at 2:00 pm, where he will supposedly announce his position on Santee Cooper's proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant at Kingsburg. I've made my thoughts on this proposed plant pretty clear. To date, only one local elected official has spoken out against the plant, Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela.

So how will Sanford come down? No one I have spoken with knows for sure, Sanford's folks are playing this one pretty close to the vest. Want my prediction? Ok...I predict that Sanford will announce today that he opposes the coal plant. Why? How about because:

-Sen. Leatherman is for it. If you don't know why Sanford would oppose something just for that, you don't follow local politics. There is no love lost between the two. Now, Leatherman has never come out publicly for this plant, but come on. No way a state utility builds this thing in the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee's back yard unless he is on-board. Plus, I know that several reporters have asked him for his position and he ain't talkin'. The biggest politician in the area's silence speaks volumes.

-Sanford is positioning himself for a run at the White House in 2012. And he can't do it as a supporter of coal. I have my problems with Sanford, but he is smart enough not to attach himself to an 18th-Century technology that is coming down and coming down fast.

-Going against a state-run agency for using a shitload of money on antiquated technology. Doen't that fit perfectly with the Mr. True Conservative image Sanford is pimping so hard?

-Mr. Environment...Sanford likes that image. See the pic above. Coal is not conducive to that image, unless the coal is in a grill and he's cooking steaks.

So...lets see what happens. Those of you who are interested, the odds are even money I wind up with egg on my face. But as my man Cheritto said in Heat: for me, the action is the juice.