Complaints prompt closer look at permits

Sailboat owner Ken Bonerigo hasn't been shy about his displeasure with Kinder Morgan, operator of a private shipping terminal on the Cooper River.

He's written letters, made complaints and even shot video of coal and cement dust that drifts from the company's property onto a nearby marina.

Bonerigo's efforts have prompted state environmental officials to take a closer look at permit requests that Kinder Morgan filed for the expansion of its 208-acre terminal.

Bonerigo says he took a small motor boat out on July 18 to fish and to film a cement ship being unloaded at Kinder Morgan. When the dust flies, he says, some of it coats boats in the Cooper River Marina.

After Bonerigo got back to the marina in North Charleston, where he lives on his sailboat, he said two officials from Texas-based Kinder Morgan stopped by to speak to him in person.

"I let them know I wasn't happy with the company," Bonerigo said. "I want them to clean the stuff off my boat or stop doing it."

A short while later, he said, homeland security officials showed up. They searched his boat and told him to stop filming the Kinder Morgan site, Bonerigo said. They also reviewed his film, he said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Charleston confirmed only the visit, saying it was triggered by a caller reporting "suspicious activity" on the water of someone filming.

A Kinder Morgan spokesman said the company reported a suspicious person filming its terminal. The spokesman said it was required to do so for security reasons.

Bonerigo said he feels he was being harassed for being outspoken about Kinder Morgan's operations.

He and a handful of other marina tenants are opposing a proposed major expansion of the Milford Street facility that would allow the company to triple the amount of coal and other materials that pass through the terminal each year.

The company has said it needs the extra coal-handling capacity to help meet demand for the fuel from power companies. It is seeking several permits through the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which has scheduled a meeting Tuesday to update the public on Kinder Morgan's applications.

The city of North Charleston also has opposed the growth, expressing concerns about triple the train traffic.