SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Federal officials have narrowed their choice to three sites for a new veterans cemetery in South Carolina.

The state's newest national cemetery will be built on sites in Union or Newberry counties or on Fort Jackson in Richland County, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

South Carolina needs a resting place for veterans because thousands of them are expected to die in the coming years.

The Upstate has 140,000 veterans, 35 percent of the state's total veteran population, according to federal statistics. About 3,400 Upstate veterans are expected will die this year and more than 208,000 veterans are expected to die statewide by 2026, according to the Veterans Administration.

The agency is currently performing an environmental impact study on all three sites. It will decide where to build the cemetery this summer, with construction scheduled to begin next year.

"Right now, they're all equal," said Bruce Borko, an engineer with the Veterans Administration who has visited each site.

The cemetery is expected to cost $20 million and include a public information center and a 10-person administration building.

The state has national cemeteries in Beaufort and Florence. The cemetery in Florence has casket and cremation space that should last until 2030, while casket-only space in Beaufort should last until the end of the decade, officials said.

The site in Union County is on a 500-acre plot of land between Cross Keys and Rose Hill State Park, near the community of Sedalia. The site in Newberry County is near Whitmire, about 15 miles away.

Of the three sites, the one in Union County is the best land on which to build a cemetery because it is flat like a table and has good soil and easy road access, Borko said.

But it could be hurt because of its proximity to a planned 60-acre veterans cemetery in Anderson about 90 miles away.

"Two cemeteries so close together probably would not serve the veterans of South Carolina best," Borko said. "We're trying to figure out what's best for all the veterans."

The Fort Jackson site would be farther away from Anderson and not too close to the other cemeteries.