Vol. 12, No. 1, Pg. 14. Cleaning Up South Carolina: A legislative Push.

• Author: By Ronald E. Cardwell

South Carolina Lawyer

2000.

Vol. 12, No. 1, Pg. 14.

Cleaning Up South Carolina: A legislative Push

14Cleaning Up South Carolina: A LEGISLATIVE PUSHBy Ronald E. CardwellTwelve years ago the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) created a program governing the voluntary cleanup of contaminated sites across the state. DHEC encouraged voluntary investigations and cleanups under a program rooted not in statutes and regulations but in procedures buttressed by the state's adoption by reference of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).

In 1995, DHEC expanded the program to allow parties not responsible for site contamination the chance to purchase contaminated sites, conduct investigations and cleanups, and return the sites to productive uses.

THE LEGISLATURE ACTS

In 1998 and 1999, the South Carolina House and Senate introduced bills regarding the voluntary cleanup program, but neither bill was voted on by the state legislature. In January, Rep. Doug Smith introduced a Brown-fields /Voluntary Cleanup bill as H.3266. The House passed the bill in March, and the Senate passed the bill in April after amendment.

Governor Jim Hodges signed the bill into law on May 1, codifying the South Carolina Brownfields /Voluntary Cleanup Act (Act). The Act was added to the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Act as Article 7 found at S.C. Code Ann. § 44-56-710, et. seq. Practitioners accustomed to dealing with DHEC under the prior voluntary cleanup program will note that the Act augments or differs somewhat from the prior program.

PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM

The authors of the Act produced an easily readable piece of legislation that separates the program into threshold sections applicable to all parties and sections applicable only to responsible parties (RP) or only to nonresponsible parties (NRP). The Act sets out that the purpose of the voluntary cleanup program is to:

* return to use industrial and commercial properties whose redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination; * provide an incentive to conduct response actions (assessment, cleanup, inspection or closure) at a site by providing nonresponsible parties state CERCLA liability protection or by providing responsible parties with a covenant not to sue; and * provide reimbursement to DHEC for its oversight costs.

ELIGIBLE SITES

DHEC maintains a list of more than 600 sites around the state with either reported or confirmed contamination. Of these sites, approximately 20 percent of them sit idle, having been abandoned or not being used by their owners. Even though many of these sites can be returned to beneficial uses within their communities, not all of them are eligible sites under the Act.

Eligible sites include any site "known or perceived to be impacted by a contaminant."...