Business groups unite against DHEC revamp

COLUMBIA -- Influential business groups have joined with developers, electric utilities and others against a major revamp of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

In a letter this month to a Senate committee chairman, 15 business and industry representatives urged lawmakers not to put the governor in charge of DHEC, as is proposed in a bill.

Among those signing the letter were top executives with Duke Energy, SCE&G, the S.C. Farm Bureau, the S.C. Hospital Association and the S.C. Homebuilders Association. Chief executives at the S.C. Chamber of Commerce and the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, who are leading the charge against the bill, also signed the letter.

"South Carolina cannot afford to send the wrong message about our business and environmental climate," the letter said, noting the state has a 12 percent unemployment rate. Converting DHEC to a cabinet agency under the governor would make it too political, according to the Jan. 5 letter.

The business letter was released by medical affairs committee chairman Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, after a hearing on the plan Thursday. It represents the most unified effort to defeat the DHEC bill since the measure was introduced last year by Sens. John Courson, R-Richland, and Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, in an attempt to improve accountability at the state agency.

Businesses and their trade associations have become increasingly pleased with DHEC's decisions since the last major attempt to put the governor in charge failed in the early 1990s. The agency issues thousands of permits each year to businesses, ranging from pollution discharge approvals to licenses for hospital to expand.

Recent questions about DHEC surfaced late in 2008 after The State newspaper reported on a series of troubles at the agency. DHEC has had trouble holding the line on beach development, stopping air pollution and preventing an influx of large regional landfills, the newspaper reported.

The original Courson-Leventis bill would dissolve the DHEC board and let a cabinet secretary run the agency. As it stands, DHEC is overseen by a part-time, seven-member board. The board, which hires a director, is appointed by the governor but the governor has no direct authority after members are seated.

Now, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee is weighing whether to let the governor pick a cabinet secretary but retain the agency's board to hear appeals and set policy. That proposal models DHEC after the S.C. Department of Transportation. Conservationists also are working on a compromise. Putting the governor in charge of DHEC is consistent with another Senate bill to let the governor run the Department of Mental Health.

Opposition from business groups left Sen. Danny Verdin perplexed Thursday.

"The business community was, just a few short years ago, very favorable on this matter," said the Laurens Republican, who has worked on the bill for months. "Why the shift?"

Top executives with the S.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers Alliance said last year they favored making DHEC a cabinet agency. But they later backed away from those statements and have since praised DHEC. The bill also has run into trouble from some senators, who say Gov. Mark Sanford's recent troubles show why the governor should not be directly in charge.