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Thread: SC bill to reform environmental rules

  1. #1
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    Default SC bill to reform environmental rules

    BY SAMMY FRETWELL
    sfretwell@thestate.com

    Businesses could soon find it easier to build roads, landfills and subdivisions through environmentally sensitive areas across South Carolina.

    Bills that would limit legal challenges to state environmental permits are moving through the House and Senate as part of an effort to speed up construction of controversial projects. Supporters of the legislation want to limit legal appeals that they say slow progress.

    The push is being led by Horry County lawmakers who are in a bitter dispute with environmentalists over construction of a new road through prime bear habitat in a nature preserve near Myrtle Beach.

    But critics say changing the law as proposed could have sweeping implications.

    “This is seeking to take away from citizens the right to challenge government bureaucratic decisions, and I’m not OK with that,’’ said Sen. Thomas McElveen, a Sumter Democrat leading efforts to derail the legislation.

    Up for debate is whether the state should continue to prevent construction projects that are under legal appeal at the S.C. Administrative Law Court. Current law generally halts those projects until all appeals have been resolved in the court.

    The Senate plan, approved last week by the Judiciary Committee and sent to the full chamber, would allow development to occur before the appeals are resolved.

    Work could begin 60 days after an appeal is filed, according to the Senate version of the bill. Many cases take a year or more to resolve.

    That would mean that a project could be built before a decision on the merits of the case is rendered by the Administrative Law Court, McElveen and other critics of the legislation say.

    Amy Armstrong, a lawyer for the nonprofit S.C. Environmental Law Project, said citizens in Laurens County were able to stop a landfill in their community because work was automatically held up while their permit appeal worked its way through the court system. Ultimately, the citizens won.

    “Because they had the (protection), the landfill wasn’t built,’’ said Armstrong, who represented the group.

    Because of McElveen’s objection, it could be weeks before the Senate takes up the bill. The House, however, could approve its own bill as soon as this week. It would then go to the Senate and be sent to a committee. The House bill is similar to the one before the Senate.

    Sens. Greg Hembree and Luke Rankin, both Republicans from Horry County, have argued that the system needs reform. Neither was available Monday for comment, but Hembree has said he’s not trying to stop environmental protection.

    Leaders in Horry County have said they are frustrated at delays they blame on environmentalists in construction of International Drive between Myrtle Beach and Conway. The road is touted as a vital local corridor for traffic in tourist-clogged Myrtle Beach. But the road runs through the state-owned Lewis Ocean Heritage Bay nature preserve, which is frequented by one of the state’s larger populations of black bears.

    Armstrong’s group and the S.C. Coastal Conservation League have said the road will be too destructive to the environment and imperil bears, which might run in the path of cars. They have pushed for barriers to keep bears from running into the road.

    Developers and manufacturers have been pushing a similar version of the bill now before the Legislature for about two years.. But the issue has come up for much of the past decade.

    Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/a...#storylink=cpy

  2. #2
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    Dirty Myrtle would look like Atlanta and all the landfills would be put in "other" counties.

  3. #3
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    I don't know the whole story, but my gut says this legislation is the wrong way to do things. Projects should not be worked on/completed before the appeals ruling. Does the project then get torn out if the citizens win?

    Maybe the efforts ought to focus on speeding up the appeals process so decisions are made on a timely basis.
    .
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  4. #4
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    This matter involves two of the most loathed factions of this state: Horry county politicians, and environmentalists. It's like Clemson playing Georgia. I always hope they both lose, but inevitably, one always wins.

  5. #5
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    I support the bill.
    Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.

  6. #6
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    Sounds like my wetland mitigation credits could be devalued.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ghetto View Post
    A larger caliber will help you with your deer kills. Try it.


    Quote Originally Posted by Sportin' Woodies View Post
    I agree with timber22

  7. #7
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    We need a plague.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duck Tape View Post
    I support the bill.
    Please explain why you would support a bill that would enable a developer to proceed DURING an appeal process, keeping in mind that the developer may well lose the final appeal. Then what would you propose? That everything be ripped out and returned to the original state of being... which would be impossible in most cases?

    I'm certainly no die-hard environmentalist, but at the same time I'm surely not on the side of dirty politicians or developers who want to rape the landscape.

    The real answer is to figure out how to streamline the review process, without bias either way, and speed up the appeal process so that no project is unduly held up. It should be approved... OR denied... quickly and efficiently.

    This legislation appears to do neither.

    So why would you want to side with it, assuming you're an honest politician?


    Quote Originally Posted by Moonlight Hunter View Post
    This matter involves two of the most loathed factions of this state: Horry county politicians, and environmentalists. It's like Clemson playing Georgia. I always hope they both lose, but inevitably, one always wins.
    Quote Originally Posted by WoodieSC View Post
    I don't know the whole story, but my gut says this legislation is the wrong way to do things. Projects should not be worked on/completed before the appeals ruling. Does the project then get torn out if the citizens win?

    Maybe the efforts ought to focus on speeding up the appeals process so decisions are made on a timely basis.
    .
    Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue
    .
    "Keep your powder dry, Boys!"
    ~ George Washington

    "If I understood everything I said I'd be a genius." ~ 'Unknown'

  9. #9
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    Woodiesc, Developer puts money in politicians pocket
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    80-20 Genaration

  10. #10
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    You let me down Luke...

    Horry is the reason I changed my address when I was 19. There's some cool stuff around Horry and some fine people, but the bad has passed the good I'm afraid.
    Quote Originally Posted by ecu1984 View Post
    Go Tigers!

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duckman#1 View Post
    Woodiesc, Developer puts money in politicians pocket
    I hear ya', Duckman#1. I was/am trying to be polite and not make blatant accusations, but now that you mention it, I'd think that any politician who votes for this legislation instead of working to fix the real problems deserves a thorough ethics audit. We may need a tax increase to build a new jail or two to house the politicians and developers who can't play fair, but so be it.
    Quote Originally Posted by SaltMuck View Post

    Horry is the reason I changed my address when I was 19. There's some cool stuff around Horry and some fine people, but the bad has passed the good I'm afraid.
    I've heard a lot of that, and it was one reason we didn't buy the in-law's house in PI when they moved up here as they got too old.
    .
    Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue
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    "Keep your powder dry, Boys!"
    ~ George Washington

    "If I understood everything I said I'd be a genius." ~ 'Unknown'

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by WoodieSC View Post
    Please explain why you would support a bill that would enable a developer to proceed DURING an appeal process, keeping in mind that the developer may well lose the final appeal. Then what would you propose? That everything be ripped out and returned to the original state of being... which would be impossible in most cases?

    I'm certainly no die-hard environmentalist, but at the same time I'm surely not on the side of dirty politicians or developers who want to rape the landscape.

    The real answer is to figure out how to streamline the review process, without bias either way, and speed up the appeal process so that no project is unduly held up. It should be approved... OR denied... quickly and efficiently.

    This legislation appears to do neither.

    So why would you want to side with it, assuming you're an honest politician?

    I wish there was a like button.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  13. #13
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    There's concrete to be poured.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by SaltMuck View Post
    You let me down Luke...

    Horry is the reason I changed my address when I was 19. There's some cool stuff around Horry and some fine people, but the bad has passed the good I'm afraid.
    There's a lot of truth in that, Horry county is still a great place to live as long as you aren't between the beach and the intercoastal. It's almost like it should be split into two counties and just let the Yankees have the beach.

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