The Coastal Conservation League’s latest legislative update gives the skinny on what’s happening with the bill to govern who can withdraw water from S.C. lakes and rivers — not much.
The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee has met for the past three weeks in an effort to move S.428, introduced by Senator Wes Hayes (R-York), forward to the full Senate for its consideration, but Committee members are still unable to reach consensus on a number of key components of this critical legislation. The most important sticking point relates to the amount of water to leave in rivers and streams for the public for boating, fishing and other recreational uses, and the amount to allocate to future business and industry that may locate in South Carolina. In an effort to resolve this issue, this week the Committee adopted an amendment offered by Senator Larry Grooms (R-Berkeley) that would create a Minimum Instream Flow Advisory Council to study and recommend appropriate water levels to DHEC for the purpose of drafting regulations that would determine surface water allocations for all users. Council members must demonstrate scientific and technical knowledge in order to be appointed by the Governor with advice and consent of the Senate. The Committee did not approve S.428 as amended, but may meet at the call of the Chairman.
Lawmakers will also soon decide how much money the state will spend this year on protecting land for wildlife and recreation.
Next week the Senate Finance Committee will begin deliberating the 2008-2009 State Budget. Last year this Committee approved an additional $5 million for the Conservation Bank, and this year we are hoping the Committee will at least match this amount. The Conservation Bank receives approximately $15-20 million for land protection each year, but the grant requests far exceed the amount available. Additional funding is particularly crucial if we are going to balance the amount of land protected with the ever increasing rate of development occurring throughout South Carolina. Please help us contact members of the Senate Finance Committee by clicking here.
There’s also a bill to create incentives to make homes more energy efficient, a very good initiative.
S.1234 by Senator Jim Ritchie (R-Spartanburg) and H.4892 by Representative Nikki Haley (R-Lexington) - The Energy Independence and Sustainable Homes Act would allow South Carolina home builders to receive a $1000 state income tax credit for building affordable homes that consume less energy.
