Jun. 25--The economic recession has done what dozens of irate boaters and North Charleston residents couldn't do: stop the controversial expansion of Kinder Morgan's coal terminal.

Regional General Manager Arthur Rudolph said the company, which off-loads coal and cement at its 208-acre site on the Cooper River, plans to let an Army Corps of Engineers permit application expire.

The permit would have enabled the company to make dock and waterfront improvements that were needed to handle more coal, which the Houston-based company imports from South America.

At the site, Kinder Morgan workers move the shipped coal onto rail cars, which head for power-generating plants across the Southeast.

Since the company's planned expansion was announced in 2005, utility companies' demand for coal has fallen.

The U.S. Department of Energy projects that power companies' coal consumption will decline 4.6 percent this year because of additional resources available from natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy projects.

Coal imports last year fell by nearly two million short tons, according to the Energy Information Administration.

That weak demand prompted Kinder Morgan to scrap their expansion plans.

"We do our work based on our customer demand," said Emily Thompson, corporate communications manager. "Now, due to the economy, there's no demand for increasing the tonnage at our facility."

Boaters who docked at the nearby Cooper River Marina and area residents objected to the expansion, saying that the additional capacity would increase the amount of coal dust in the air. The groups voiced their concerns when company officials requested an additional permit from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

State health regulators monitored air emissions near the site and found that the levels of emissions to be compliant with national standards. The permit was approved late last year.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.

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