The Truffula Seed

The Coastal Conservation League sent out their last wrap-up of the legislative season today. For environmentally concerned folks, some very sticky situations at the end of the session ended well. The bill that would have compromised a citizen’s right to appeal DHEC permits found a fair compromise, and three energy bills, including two of Glenn McConnell’s five, were passed by the House and Senate. Two other last minute dirty pulls, one that would have scrapped a long-standing coastal management plan that protects fragile habitat and another that questioned our Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Government’s right to regulate private sewer systems, were respectively scrapped and appropriately compromised.

No doubt the environmental lobbyists played a role in accomplishing all this. And unlike industry lobbyists, most of them are unpaid.

Fair Compromise Reached on H.4328
Last week the conservation community celebrated a good compromise reached with the business community on the automatic stay bill, H.4328–which would have dramatically reduced citizens’ opportunities to request that a stay remain in place until appeals on land, water and air DHEC permits are heard by the Administrative Law Court.  The compromise reached in the Senate will now give citizens 30 days for a hearing if a request is made to lift a stay, require Administrative Law Court judges to render a decision within a reasonable time period, and only limit appeals on certain permits.  Senators Campsen, Hutto, Leventis, Lourie, Malloy, McConnell, Sheheen and Short crafted and supported this compromise language that benefits the business and conservation communities. To achieve the compromise, a new bill was drawn and inserted into H.3575, an old bill from the 2007 legislative session.  H.3575 was adopted by the Senate and then the House on the final two days of the regular legislative session.  Now it’s up to the Governor to put his final seal of approval on H.3575. If he approves the bill, then H.4328 as agreed to by all parties will be dead for 2008 legislative session.

Three Good Energy Efficiency Bills Receive Final Legislative Approval
Last week the House of Representatives agreed to all of the Senate amendments on three of our energy efficiency bills, so now we are awaiting the Governor’s action: to sign the bills into law, to allow them to become law without his signature, or to veto the measures.  The bills aim to help South Carolina consumers and state agencies become more energy efficient.

Specifically, H.4766 by Representative Phil Lowe (R-Florence) establishes energy efficiency goals for state agencies with a 20% reduction in energy consumption by the year 2020 and establishes a wind study committee to determine the feasibility of erecting wind energy production farms in South Carolina.  The study committee must report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly on January 1, 2010.  S.1141 by Senator Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston) eliminates state sales tax and provides a $750 tax credit for the purchase of ENERGY STAR certified manufactured homes through 2019.  S.1143 also by Senator Glenn McConnell provides consumers a sales tax holiday during the month of October for the purchase of certain ENERGY STAR products from July 1, 2009 through 2019 and provides a 25% tax credit for small hydro projects.

Time Runs Out on Harmful Resolution
Thankfully, the Concurrent Resolution by Representatives Billy Witherspoon (R-Horry) and Dwight Loftis (R- Greenville), H.5029, which requests the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) promulgate the policies of the SC Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) into new regulations, died in the final days of the legislative session in the Senate Agriculture Committee.  The conservation community continued to oppose this Resolution because we anticipated regulations would be less protective than the current CZMP.

Water and Sewer Regional Planning No Longer Under Threat
Due to the leadership of Senators Campsen, Ceips, Cleary, Massey, McConnell and Ryberg, the Senate did not pass the harmful version of H. 3030, a bill by Representative Roland Smith (R-Aiken) that relates to providing water and sewer service in rural areas.  As amended, this legislation would have removed a regional Council of Government’s authority to determine which entities could provide water and sewer service in the areas represented by a Council.  Instead, these Senators inserted the good language of H.3030 into a separate bill, H.4743, and this bill was approved just before the legislature adjourned.  The League, along with a number of Lowcountry Senators, opposed H.3030 as originally amended by the Senate because it could have jeopardized regional planning efforts and affected South Carolina’s ability to receive millions of federal grant dollars.

Here’s the latest political update from the Coastal Conservation League. The Conservation Bank will likely face a hard road for funding next year as well. I did not include some of the energy efficiency bills slowly making progress. The Coastal Zone Management and Automatic Stay votes appear to have larger ramifications than some politicians realize.

Conservation Bank’s Base Funding Approved by the Budget Conference Committee
This week the six-member Budget Conference Committee completed its negotiations on the FY 2008 – 09 Budget, and most importantly the proviso that will ensure the Conservation Bank maintains its base funding this year was approved by the Committee! Thank You to all of you who took the time to write your legislators urging them to support this proviso.

Legislators Question Validity of Coastal Zone Management Program

On Tuesday, the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Representative Billy Witherspoon (R-Horry) approved H. 5029, a Concurrent Resolution by Representatives Billy Witherspoon (R-Horry) and Dwight Loftis (R- Greenville) that requests the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) promulgate the policies of the SC Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) in regulation. Developers and business-interested parties challenged the validity of the Coastal Zone Management Program, which was approved by both the General Assembly and the Governor nearly 30 years ago. The conservation community opposes the Resolution because it will direct the SC DHEC to rewrite the CZMP and we anticipate that the new regulations could be weaker in their protections of our natural resources in the coastal zone. We expect this resolution to be debated by the House as early as next Tuesday afternoon.

House Agrees To Weaken Automatic Stay
Late Thursday afternoon the House voted 84-20 to approve the harmful Senate amendments to H. 4328, a bill by Representative Jim Harrison (R-Richland). The conservation community opposed concurrence with the Senate amendments because H.4328 weakens the Administrative Law Court’s automatic stay provision. Essentially, permit holders could begin construction on projects before environmental permit challenges have been resolved in court. If H.4328 is approved by the Governor (the next step), then businesses could request that a “stay” be lifted and a hearing on the matter held within three days—including Saturday and Sunday–providing citizen groups and their legal representation only two days to prepare a case to defend why construction should not begin prior to resolving all permit appeals. In addition, if a permit is given for any portion of a project, then no other related permits can be stayed. The conservation community opposes H.4328 as approved by the General Assembly because the bill places a greater burden on the public to defend why projects should not begin even before challenges of the entire permit are presented and decided in court. The conservation community is urging the Governor to examine this bill closely and to consider the enormous negative ramifications it could have on South Carolina’s natural resources and the greater burden citizens will bear if H.4328 were to become law.