Pine Hill site of wetlands battle

Trying to stymie development around wetlands in a 2,000-acre Berkeley County tract, an environmental group has filed legal proceedings against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The Southern Environmental Law Center plans to argue that the Pine Hill tract has far more wetlands than 493 acres, and that the Army Corps wrongly determined that the acres were isolated. The center on Wednesday filed a notice of its intent to sue; the 60-day notice is a legal formality to beginning a lawsuit. Center attorneys say the wetlands feed Wassamassaw and Cypress swamps, and eventually, the Ashley River.

"They are clearly connected to downstream waters and provide significant benefits to downstream waters," such as flood storage, habitat protection and pollution filtration, said Chris Scherer, a center senior attorney. Historical and soil maps suggest the area was nearly all wetlands before it was turned into a pine plantation. "It's a staggering amount of wetlands to write off with one stroke of the pen. The problem is not only these 500 acres but for scores of other wetlands in the state."

The notice is the latest move by environmental groups to turn back a recent tide of legal and regulatory decisions that have allowed development of marginal lands around wetlands and water bodies. Earlier this month, the S.C. Supreme Court upheld that state regulators have the permitting authority over the disputed tracts -- reversing two decades of legal rulings.

Ben Gramling of the development group BMG III, the property owner, was taken aback by the filing. The wetlands on the property are regulated already by state law, based on the recent Supreme Court ruling, he said. The company makes it a policy not to develop wetlands.

"This is just a big old pine plantation with ditches running through it. We've done everything by the book; this is the Army Corps of Engineers' ruling. It's that simple," he said.

Isolated freshwater wetlands are swamps or pools not considered part of a stream flow; some 300,000 exist in the eight coastal counties. In the late 1990s, they became a wrestling mat in the ongoing property-rights battle between development and environmental interests across the nation.

In the Lowcountry, the issue hit a flash point in 2000 when a Berkeley County partnership sued to build a race track on 60 acres including wetlands near Beidler Forest. Real estate and environmental groups jumped into the fight that went to the S.C. Supreme Court. The developers eventually won.

The Berkeley County acres sit near Black Tom Road. In 2007, the Army Corps of Engineers signed off on the tract, saying it was an isolated wetlands and not part of its jurisdiction.

Glenn Jeffries, of the Army Corps, said the agency couldn't comment because of the pending lawsuit.

Reach Bo Petersen at 843-937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.