Attorney to Moderate Alternative Energy Forum

Nexsen Pruet attorney Franklin Daniels will moderate an alternative energy forum.  Click here to learn more about the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce event.

MYRTLE BEACH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NEWS RELEASE

Energy Leaders to Present Alternative Energy Forum

Sept. 17, 2008

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce will host an Alternative Energy Forum 9 a.m.-noon Oct. 8 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center (Ballrooms B and C). In addition, approximately 20 energy-related exhibitors will set up booths with product and educational information, which opens at 8:30 a.m. The event is free, and the public is encouraged to attend to learn more about this timely issue.

“Alternative energy in general and offshore drilling in particular are key issues on our legislative agenda,” said Franklin Daniels, MBACC Legislative Policy Council chairman and an attorney with Nexsen Pruet LLC. “The Legislative Policy Council actively supports the General Assembly’s creation of a task force to study the possibility of offshore drilling and believes the state should examine any and all potential alternative energy sources while also carefully analyzing all likely benefits and possible costs, including the impact on South Carolina coastal tourism.”

The forum will address the pros and cons of various forms of power generation as the Myrtle Beach area—and our nation—seeks viable, long-term solutions to rising gasoline prices and growing energy needs. Energy leaders will present topics ranging from federal energy policy to regional power needs to alternative energies:

·         Congressman J. Gresham Barrett: Energy policy

·         John F. Clark, director, South Carolina Energy Office: Realities of alternative energies

·         Rennie M. “R. M.” Singletary, senior vice president of corporate services, Santee Cooper: The region’s power needs now and into the future

·         Stephen A. Byrne, senior vice president, Generation, Nuclear and Fossil Hydro, South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G): Nuclear power

·         Dr. Paul T. Gayes, director, Burroughs and Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, Coastal Carolina University: Wind energy

·         David Odell, business development, Southern Energy Management: Solar energy

·         Dr. Terry H. Walker, associate professor, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Clemson University: Bioenergy

·         Dr. John Felmy, chief economist, American Petroleum Institute: Offshore drilling

·         Otis B. Rawl Jr., president and CEO, South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and

·         Brad Dean, president and CEO, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce: Business perspective

“We believe the nation desperately needs, and currently lacks, a comprehensive energy policy that will ensure affordable energy prices for individuals and businesses, while reducing the country’s overdependence on foreign oil,” said Brad Dean, MBACC president and CEO. “The Alternative Energy Forum will further discussion at the federal, state and local levels and offer the public the opportunity to become further engaged in an issue that impacts each of us every day.”

For more information and to register, please go to MyrtleBeachAreaChamber.com. The registration deadline is Oct. 6.

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Since 1938 the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has stood as the unified voice of the Grand Strand's business community. The chamber serves Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Little River, Atlantic Beach, Garden City Beach, Loris, Conway, Aynor, Murrells Inlet, Litchfield Beach and Pawleys Island. For more information, visit MyrtleBeachAreaChamber.com.