SC regulators reject Trump’s plan for limited pollution cleanup

South Carolina environmental regulators said Tuesday they are turning down a request by one of President Donald Trump’s companies to conduct a limited pollution cleanup at a contaminated site once owned by a company affiliated with his son.

In a letter to the chief legal officer for DB Pace Acquisition LLC, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said the Trump company had not provided enough information for approval.

“We have been informed that DB Pace will not be providing the requested additional information for our consideration,’’ DHEC’s Robert Hodges said in the letter. “Therefore, the department has made the decision not to enter into the voluntary cleanup contract.’’

DB Pace acquired the North Charleston property and applied in March 2016 for what is known as a “voluntary cleanup contract’’ that limits pollution liability, according to state records.

Without voluntary cleanup contracts, companies can be responsible for more extensive, costly cleanups on land they own, regardless of whether they caused the pollution.

In this case, the information DHEC was seeking from DB Pace related to whether the company was a “bonafide prospective purchaser” of the property, according to a Jan. 19 agency letter. It asked for information about family, contractual, financial and corporate relationships.

The agency said the information requested should include “past and present involvement’’ in the property, as well as “activities” related to Titan Atlas and its members, shareholders or principals.

Titan Atlas, a company of which Trump’s son Donald Jr. was at one time a representative, had owned part of the land until last year, records show. Trump’s company, DB Pace, later acquired the land and sought the voluntary cleanup contract.

An official with DB Pace and an attorney for the company could not be reached Wednesday to discuss why the business declined to provide more information to DHEC.

While DHEC didn’t get the information it wanted from Trump’s company, the agency says it has no information that Titan Atlas or DB Pace contributed to pollution on the land.

The agency says another company already is cleaning up the site, a former adhesive bond plant that generated hazardous waste after opening in 1967. Lockheed Martin, which formerly operated the 15.6-acre site, “continues to perform and pay for post-closure care and groundwater remediation activities,’’ according to DHEC’s website.

If any contamination is found that’s tied to either Titan Atlas or DB Pace, the companies could be liable for a full cleanup. Trump’s company had sought to conduct a limited cleanup under a federal program intended to restore contaminated industrial land for future industrial use but not residential use. Such agreements limit pollution liability.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 9:30 PM with the headline "SC regulators reject Trump’s plan for limited pollution cleanup."