DHEC Job One: Environment

As head of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Catherine Templeton will be urged to accommodate business and industry by issuing them air and water permits as they prepare to build or expand.

There's probably room to improve the regulatory process in South Carolina, but Mrs. Templeton should recognize that the first mission of her department is to protect the environment.

Gov. Nikki Haley's mantra is and has been to add jobs and to be business friendly. Those goals are important.

So is being friendly to the environment. Even protective.

The two viewpoints are not mutually exclusive. Often businesses locate here because of the state's natural assets that contribute so much to its quality of life. Diminish those assets, and the state's luster would dim considerably.

By the same token, the state needs a healthy economy, and its residents need jobs so that they can afford to live, work and play in our beautiful environment.

The tension between business advocates and environmentalists can be an effective way to ensure South Carolina enjoys both a strong economy and a healthy environment.

If the Senate agrees to her selection, Mrs. Templeton will begin her new post on Wednesday. She has been serving as head of the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, where she cut jobs and made changes so the department "got better and got cheaper."

She told The Post and Courier that an agency as large and diverse as DHEC is sure to have opportunities for streamlining and eliminating redundancies. Doing so should win her support from all quarters.

But Mrs. Templeton must be careful to resist any suggestion that the agency should blink at environmental hazards to satisfy developers and special interests.

DHEC has rightly been under fire over a water permit supported by Gov. Haley that allows Georgia to dredge the ecologically fragile Savannah River and dump the toxic spoil on South Carolina's banks. It's safe to say that DHEC's reputation is near rock bottom, at least in this state, because of that heedless decision by the agency's board.

DHEC needs leadership that will restore its standing.

That's particularly important in the coastal region, where DHEC has a dual role, since the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management is a subsidiary agency. OCRM is responsible for ensuring that special protections for the state's eight coastal counties are maintained.

Mrs. Templeton, a lawyer who lives in Mount Pleasant with her husband and three children, intends to work from the Lowcountry instead of relocating to Columbia. Certainly, it's a better location from which to appreciate the importance of environmental protection.

The abundant natural beauty of the coast should serve as a dramatic reminder of the importance of DHEC's role in maintaining the state's extraordinary natural resources.