May 18, 2013

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SC is drought-free for first time in 3 years

April 24, 2013 by

For the first time in nearly three years, none of South Carolina is officially considered to be under any kind of drought conditions.

The South Carolina Drought Response Committee voted Wednesday to remove drought designations for all 46 counties because of above-normal rainfall for the past five months.  Prior to that, 22 counties had been under “moderate” drought, while the rest of the state was considered to be under “incipient” (lowest level) drought.

“The committee downgraded the drought for all counties,” State Climatologist Hope Mizzell said after the meeting, “Basically, South Carolina is officially drought-free.”

Mizzell said the last time South Carolina was drought-free was in June 2010. However, she said there have only been 10 total drought-free months since 2006.

Mizzell said above-normal rain levels since the fall and projected future rainfall helped the committee make its decision. “We’ve just had that reliable, normal, sometimes above-normal rainfall going back to December,” she said, “And that’s what we knew it would take to recover (from the drought).”

Many of the lakes in the Savannah River watershed remain below normal, The State newspaper reported. Lake Jocassee in the Upstate was listed at 17 feet below on April 23.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Featured, News

Anderson County man indicted for $2 million in environmental damage

April 17, 2013 by

For the first time, the State Grand Jury has handed down an indictment for environmental charges.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office announced Tuesday that George Smolen of Anderson has been indicted for violating the state’s Hazardous Waste Management Act and the Pollution Control Act.

The indictment alleges that Smolen improperly stored and dumped large amounts of hazardous waste at a site in Anderson County while owning and operating a company called Flex-A-Form. The Environmental Protection Agency investigated the chemical laboratory located on a frontage road off Interstate 85 near Lake Hartwell in 2011.

Federal environmental crews said some of the chemicals were stored in vats and Mason jars. At least one chemical discovered on the site was picric acid, which is an explosive. EPA records indicate the site leaked “significant runoff’’ into two creeks that flow into the popular lake. Federal officials found arsenic and industrial material in soil samples that were well above safe standards. Arsenic also was found in a nearby creek.

EPA officials said cleaning up the hazardous waste, including the removal of at least 10,000 tons of contaminated dirt, ended up costing more than $2 million dollars. Smolen said he did not have enough money to pay for the damage.

Both charges against Smolen are misdemeanors, but combined are punishable by a maximum of three years in prison plus fines of up to $50,000.

It was the first time a State Grand Jury had ever handed down indictments for environmental violations, a power they received in 2005. Federal prosecutors normally handle environmental cases, but South Carolina is able to indict a business or landowner if more than $2 million in environmental damages occur.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Environment & Conservation, Featured, News

Elgin plant agrees to $500k settlement over chemical contamination

March 27, 2013 by

A federal judge has approved a settlement between the Justice Department and a chemical company in Kershaw County that requires the company to pay a half-million dollar fine over environmental violations.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says WeylChem U.S. agreed to a consent order that would have the company pay $500,000 for illegal chemical discharges made by a separate business which used to operate the Elgin facility that the German chemical manufacturer now owns. The decree ends several years of negotiations between the company and the feds.

“This agreement will result in better management practices that will ultimately lead to greater protection of public health and the environment for the citizens of South Carolina,” Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency Gwen Keyes Fleming said in a statement.

The order says the operation illegally discharged as many as 10 different chemicals into the Wateree River above the allowable limits. That included benzene, chlorine, and methanol, among others. WeylChem U.S.’s business manager Bryon Leggett wished to make it clear that the violations occurred under the plant’s previous owner. Several companies have run the site since it was built 46 years ago.

The company also agreed to no longer truck chemical waste to its treatment facility in the nearby town of Lugoff. U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina Bill Nettles said that means there is less likelihood of a chemical spill during travel, as more than 30 trucks make the trip each day.

The facility has already finished a project to reduce its air emissions by improving its air pollution control equipment, the Attorney’s Office said. The settlement also requires WeylChem to make several corrective actions, including an enhanced leak testing and repair regime based on the results of a third-party audit. WeylChem will also test its waste tanks and basins, and sample wastewater and sediment at the Elgin facility, and, if the tests show that tanks or basins are leaking, will make necessary repairs and address potential impacts to the environment. WeylChem has also agreed to investigate possible soil or groundwater contamination at the Lugoff site and develop a cleanup plan if any contamination is discovered.

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation, Featured, News

U.S. Agriculture Secretary: SC high-poverty areas to get “intensive care”

March 26, 2013 by

According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, South Carolina’s high poverty areas will be getting “intensive care” to help them improve farms, create markets for produce, build fire stations and schools, use technology, find doctors to move there, or whatever that community decides it needs to improve opportunities for its citizens.

Vilsack Clyburn

Vilsack at Statehouse with Clyburn

The project can be as simple as a small-acreage farmer to learn efficient irrigation techniques or as involved a building a new school.

StrikeForce coordinates the staff, funds and resources of divisions of the USDA, rural development, farm services, nutrition, and rural conservation, to address each community’s specific needs.

In each of the first three states to get StrikeForce help, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi, there was a dramatic rise in the number of farm loans awarded. In those three states, traditionally lower producers have had as much as a 15,000 percent increase in acreage put under better practices– working toward saving farms and jobs.

Secretary Tom Vilsack came to South Carolina Tuesday to announce that the program is now expanding to South Carolina as well as Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia –focusing on areas where the poverty rate is 20 percent or more and has persistently been above that percentage.

Vilsack says they have to build ”partnerships with community building organizations, local organizations that would have credibility with local folks. We recognize that sometimes when the federal government comes in to help, people are sometimes skeptical about the degree of help. Sometimes the process is complicated and oftentimes people are met with failure because of the complexity. We wanted to cut through that.”

South Carolina’s 6th District Congressman James Clyburn escorted Vilsack to a private meeting with community leaders in Bamberg County, where they discussed their needs.

“We talked about a partnership that we are forming with the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. They’ve pledged $1 million, NRCS and our forest service adding $200,000 to that pledge to help African American forest owners develop sustainable practices and make sure they can hang on to forest areas,” Vilsack said.”This is the kind of thing you are going to see more of.”

Vilsack acknowledges that part of StrikeForce funding is tied up in the fate of whatever farm bill comes out of Congress. Right now, Congress has stalled over extending the 2008 version, which Vilsack says does not meet current needs.

Despite that, he says there are enough resources now to make the program work to make significant improvements in the state’s struggling rural areas.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Economy, Environment & Conservation, Featured, News

Officials say Carolina Forest fire was manmade, but don’t know cause

March 18, 2013 by

Investigators say a massive fire at a Carolina Forest condominium complex in Horry County was caused by human activity, but add they may never know the exact cause.

Aerial view of damage at Windsor Green complex (Courtesy: SCFC)

Aerial view of damage at Windsor Green complex (Courtesy: SCFC)

Horry County Emergency Management Director Randy Webster said all of the residents at the Windsor Green complex had been accounted for and there were no fatalities. Officials did not know exactly how many people lost their homes when 26 buildings were completely destroyed during the Saturday evening fire, but the American Red Cross said 189 people had registered for its temporary shelter.

Investigators believe the fire began in grass at the base of nearby power lines. They have ruled out lightning, debris burns, or campfires as a cause, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

“Because of emergency responders coming in through that area to suppress the fire, that (area) has been severely damaged and any evidence is now gone,” the agency’s forest protection chief Darryl Jones told reporters at a Monday press briefing. “So for the time being, unless we get a tip or some other report of witnesses, we know it’s human cause but that may be as far as we’re able to determine at this point.”

Gov. Nikki Haley toured the scene Monday. Haley called the damage “unbelievable” and “devastating.” She praised rescue crews for helping ensure there were no casualties, “We are unbelievably blessed. God had His hand on us to not have any fatalities in this incident. But Horry County is blessed in that magic happened that night.”

However, dozens of pets did not make it through the fire, according to Horry County Fire Chief Fred Crosby. He said responders are treating the remains with respect and hope to eventually return the animals to their owners. While fighting the fire, some crews also found a few animals wandering the area. Those pets have since been re-united with their owners, he said.

The Forestry Commission blamed windy, dry weather conditions as the primary reason for the fire’s rapid spread. But a spokesman also noted the buildings’ close proximity to the woods, flammable construction materials (i.e. vinyl siding), and combustible landscaping materials. The Forestry Commission says it recommends that landlords place at least 30 feet of non-flammable material in front of buildings. Many of the condos at Windsor Green had grass and pine straw in their yards.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Environment & Conservation, Featured, News
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