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Larry

wrote in
t:

I'll agree money was the usual reason trees were left standing on some
impoundments, but according to the link I posted, the Santee Cooper
project was declared "necessary for national defense" during WWII.
Why, exactly, I don't know, but there was a rush to complete it,
leaving trees chained to stumps.

The state owned and operated Santee-Cooper power company, who owns the
lakes, provided power for the many defense industries in Charleston, such
as the Koppers plant making creosote telephone poles, the Chromalloy major
polluters making chrome steel used widely in all kinds of weapons, and the
Charleston Navy Base and Charleston Naval Shipyard that serviced the fleet
for over 100 years, now all gone by politics and stupidity and greed.

Before Santee-Cooper, Charleston was way too short of power to power much
of the defense industry needed for the Germans and Japanese warlords.
Today, we have a large steel mill located just downstream from the dam and
a huge aluminum smelter to use up the power in Goose Creek, SC. The
Santee-Cooper project is still providing power to industry, including
defense industry uses.