Plan for tighter dam safety law draws questions, criticism

Farmers and other property owners didn’t have much good to say at a hearing Wednesday about a proposal to tighten South Carolina’s dam safety law.

Despite questions about the law’s effectiveness, some of those who spoke said they fear a bill to toughen the rules could be an undue burden on average citizens. A new law could cost them money and focus too heavily on dams that don’t need improvements, a House committee was told.

Laurens County farmer Carroll Thompson said he’s already having problems with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control over a dam on his Upstate property.

Since last fall’s flood, DHEC has reclassified his low hazard dam to a high hazard dam, he said. Thompson said he had to spend about $1,000 on an engineer to help him comply with tougher requirements.

But Thompson said his dam is in a rural area and does not threaten homes or property downstream. And it’s always been that way, he said.

“We jumped the gun,’’’ Thompson said, noting tougher state regulation should not be “a one-size-fits-all deal.’’

Others questioning the bill Wednesday included homeowners from Greenville and Richland counties.

The bill, introduced by House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, is intended to improve a state dam safety program criticized by dam experts for years as being deficient and underfunded. The state’s regulation of dams came into focus after many of the structures burst following the October downpour.

Lucas’ bill would, among other things, mandate more detailed inspections of hundreds of dams in heavily populated areas, require some dam owners to post bonds to remove structures if the dams endanger lives, and increase fines for violations. South Carolina has about 2,400 regulated dams.

Some groups, such as American Rivers, contend a tighter law will better protect the landscape and people downstream, but it was clear Wednesday the legislation has a long way to go.

The House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs subcommittee made no decision Wednesday and will meet on the bill again next week.

“If we are going to legislate something like this, we need to make sure that it’s fair,’’ agriculture committee chairman Davy Hiott, R-Pickens, said. “We are reacting to an issue that happened in October.’’

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Plan for tighter dam safety law draws questions, criticism."