It’s unanimous: House deplores decision on ports

House lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle Wednesday decried a controversial decision that, they say, is disastrous for the Charleston port and will injure the state’s overall economy.

House members unanimously approved a resolution that says Gov. Nikki Haley’s appointed board at the Department of Health and Environmental Control overstepped its bounds in November, approving a water-quality permit that helped clear the way for a project to expand the port of Savannah. Savannah’s port competes with the Charleston port, a major economic driver for the Palmetto State.

The resolution says the Savannah River Maritime Commission, not DHEC, should have made the permit decision and other Savannah River-related decisions since 2007, the year lawmakers created the commission to deal with port issues.

“Everybody agrees the (water permit) decision is a bad idea except the guys in Georgia,” said state Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley. “On every single level — environmental, competition wise, expansion, the cost — this fails. It fails. Let’s please tell the courts. Let’s tell the people of South Carolina. Let’s tell Georgia where we stand as a state.”

Merrill said Haley shares some of the blame. “The governor got buffaloed,” he said. “I think her intent was to create a more pro-business DHEC board. Georgia took advantage of that naïveté.”

Haley appointed new DHEC board members last spring, saying she wanted to create a board that looked out for the business community and resolved environmental issues more quickly.

The Lexington Republican has said she backs her board’s decision, is not afraid of an expanded Savannah Port and will work to ensure Charleston’s port is also expanded. The ports need to be deepened so they can accommodate bigger cargo ships that will head to the East Coast after the Panama Canal’s expansion is complete in 2014.

Haley’s office fired back Wednesday, saying House lawmakers are overstepping their bounds.

“It’s an unfortunate overstep of the Legislature’s authority,” said Rob Godfrey, Haley’s spokesman.

A nearly identical resolution, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, is working its way through the state Senate.

It’s unclear what impact the resolutions will have on a lawsuit challenging DHEC’s action. That lawsuit was filed by the Savannah River Maritime Commission. Its members say they, not DHEC, were the ones empowered to make the Savannah River decision. S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has said he will represent the Maritime Commission in court.

“The passage of the (House resolution) will not end the litigation but should help the argument that the Savannah River Maritime Commission has permitting authority,” said Mark Plowden, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office.

Plowden added it may take up to three years to resolve the legal case.