One more alert that just came in from the Coastal Conservation League. It looks like this will be debated in the morning. Whatever your environmental leanings, it seems to me that some stops and measures on an environmental permit are a good thing. I’ll post in full.
AUTOMATIC STAY ON ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS IN JEOPARDY
We need your help. It is imperative that your Representative hears from you on H.4328 in its current form either tonight or tomorrow morning. This bill will be debated sometime after the House convenes at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 21st.
Under existing SC law, a private citizen or group can challenge a DHEC permit that poses environmental harm. When this challenge is made, the citizen or group is granted an “automatic stay,” which means the project may not proceed until the challenge is heard by a court — bulldozers may not break ground until a judge says it’s okay to do so.
Without this temporary “stay,” irreversible, negative environmental consequences could occur before citizens can present their case to a judge in opposition to the permit. Dredging, filling, mining, toxic waste disposal: all could occur before a hearing. Once pollution enters water, land, or air, the damage is done.
The overwhelming bulk of DHEC permits are NOT challenged. Only a few serious ones are appealed like the speedway adjacent to the Beidler Forest or hazardous waste landfills.
The Senate amendments to H. 4328 would eliminate protection exactly where it is most needed and are unnecessary — existing law already allows a judge to lift a “stay” if the case has no merit.
Also, the Senate amendments could prevent a stay where any facet of a large project has already received ANY kind of approval or permit. So if a minor permit is approved early on in the process, then no ensuing permits related to the project could be stayed.
Representative Hagood will seek to amend H. 4328 eliminating the Senate amendments to retain the automatic stay as it is in the current law. Please click here to ask your Representative to support the Hagood amendment. Debate is expected on Wednesday, May 21st.
