Savannah River panel to appeal South Carolina water permit

By Associated Press

For the AJC

CHARLESTON  — The Savannah River Maritime Commission, set up four years ago by South Carolina lawmakers to look out for the state's interests on the river, will appeal a state water quality permit allowing deepening of the river so Georgia can expand its Savannah port.

Chairman Dean Moss said the panel agreed at Friday meeting to file an appeal Monday in the state's Administrative Law Court. The decision comes a day after the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a similar appeal arguing the permit approved by the State Department of Health and Environmental Control was improper.

DHEC staff initially denied the permit Sept. 30. Then minutes before the board was set to hear an appeal Nov. 10, staff reached an agreement with Georgia and the Army Corps of Engineers, which the board approved unanimously with no debate.

Agency leaders and the six board members testified last week that Gov. Nikki Haley did not pressure for approval, although she asked the DHEC chairman to hear the case. A state Senate panel also agreed Thursday there was no pressure from the governor.

Moss said the Maritime Commission and the Southern Environmental Law Center are taking the same action, although the grounds may be different.

"Our argument is essentially DHEC did not have the authority to negotiate independently with Georgia. The statute gives the commission authority and we should have been in the room. Had we been in the room, the outcome likely would have been different," he said.

The Environmental Law Center Appeal, filed on behalf of conservation groups in both states, contends the dredging will deplete dissolved oxygen, destroy habitat of the endangered shortnose sturgeon and destroy hundreds of acres of freshwater marsh.

Some lawmakers contend approval of the permit for the $650 million dredging project puts the Charleston port at a disadvantage and kills plans for a shared port in Jasper County on the South Carolina side of the river.

Haley counters the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was going to proceed without the permit and the agreement provides additional wetlands protection.

Moss said the administrative appeal could take months and whichever side loses will likely then go to circuit court.

He said there is no way now the Maritime Commission or the environmental groups can negotiate with DHEC.

"I don't think DHEC has the authority to independently change what they have done. They can't go back to the corps and say ‘Oh, we changed our mind,'" he said.

But if an administrative law judge tells DHEC to alter the permit "it becomes even more interesting because corps would probably not be willing to agree. It then becomes more of a federal court matter," he said.