Senate approves SC environment chief, despite complaints by property rights advocates
The state Senate on Wednesday confirmed Myra Reece as director of South Carolina’s environmental protection agency, overriding efforts by property rights advocates to derail the nomination.
Reece, 66, is a career environmental regulator who Gov. Henry McMaster chose to run the recently formed S.C. Department of Environmental Services.
The Senate voted 29-9 to approve her nomination, making her chief of the agency she has run on an interim basis since last summer.
Reece, an affable veteran who is well known in state government, overcame complaints from Sen. Wes Climer, R-York, and a beachfront landowner who spoke against her nomination.
Climer raised questions this month about her stance on property rights in the face of environmental regulation, her agency’s position on climate change and its efforts on environmental justice. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee that he chairs approved Reece’s confirmation earlier this month after he spent much of a hearing grilling her. Beachfront property owner Rom Reddy, who was fined $289,000 by Reece’s agency, also urged her not to be confirmed.
Some senators previously had raised concerns about her agency’s oversight of a paper mill near Rock Hill that drew tens of thousands of odor complaints.
But Reece, an Edgefield County native, received praised from many lawmakers, as well as major business groups and environmental organizations, who said she was responsive to questions and easy to work with.
“There is no one more qualified or better positioned to continue leading the Department of Environmental Services forward and into the future than Myra Reece,” McMaster said in a statement after the Senate vote. “Today, the state Senate joined a long list of leaders from business, environmental, and agriculture organizations in confirming this fact. I am confident that under Myra Reece’s leadership, the agency will continue enforcing our state’s laws as written, thereby protecting both our state’s natural resources and our booming economy.”
State senators voting Wednesday against Reece included Climer and fellow Republicans Sean Bennett, Richard Cash, Michael Johnson, Matt Leber, Shane Martin, Roger Nutt, Mike Reichenbach and Rex Rice.
