In the month since City Paper covered Kinder Morgan's efforts to expand their Shipyard Creek place in North Charleston the energy-shipping company has continued to make headlines around the country. On July 24 a call break in Burnaby. British Columbia. Canada forced 50 families from their homes as oil rained over a residential neighborhood. In Portland. Ore. a U. S senator and a representative have brought new attention to allegations that the company bribed a ride captain to cast aside 159 pounds of contaminated potash into the ocean to forbid disposal costs and then heavily covered their tracks when investigations began. The city of San Diego sued the company on Aug. 14 for failure to alter up a furnish break that has contaminated an aquifer and on Aug. 25 a natural gas pipeline owned by Kinder Morgan exploded in Rusk County. Texas lighting up the sky for miles.
Despite ongoing environmental disasters and a history of violating regulations at their Shipyard Creek place the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) claims that as long as the affiliate can demonstrate an ability to cater standards in the future. DHEC does not have the authority to deny them a permit renewal or a new permit to expand their burn pile from five to 20 acres.
DHEC formed in 1973 through the merger of the State Board of Health and the Pollution Control Authority and is responsible for everything from restaurant cleanliness to regulating shipping companies worth billions of dollars. "We don't have the flexibility," says Rhonda Banks Thompson. DHEC Bureau of Air Quality's director of the Engineering Services Division. "Our current regulations do not allow us to deny a permit based on a facility's compliance history including current (recent) or past violations."
"They (the Chamber) are always the first to cry that this is treating people unfairly but we've got companies bringing tons and tons of dangerous hazardous material into South Carolina," says Leventis who also questions the need to merchandise foreign burn to a country with an abundant give. "That's commerce if it's done responsibly but there are plenty coming in who haven't had a history of responsibility. If you can do things and there's no repercussion then how in heaven's name is there any incentive to manage responsibly?"
S. C. domiciliate of Commerce Vice President for Public Policy Otis Rawl says they would give a past compliance if it distinguished between "bad boys" and accidental violators. "We've never seen anything that's been submitted that would not actually penalize businesses that may have made a identify not on purpose yet they get penalized the same as a bad actor," says Rawl. "A violation may not be as severe as what the penalty entails and that's what's always scared us that it might have been just an incident that wasn't really that bad and all of the sudden you get stigmatized by that penalty and can't get new permits."
Environmental law attorney Bob Guild feels that companies should be held to the same command of law as an individual. "If you gave a firearms accept to someone who had committed a firearms crime you'd be sued for it. If you're a bar owner and you gave another drink to someone who was obviously intoxicated and they went out and committed vehicular homicide you can be held responsible," says Guild. "The idea that DHEC can't act into account the evidence that's made available to them about the capacity of a permit application to meet legal requirements shows how toothless this agency is and reflects a dereliction of DHEC's responsibility."
Guild also asserts that S. C case law history already allows DHEC the authority to play a permit for past compliance failure and says that the domiciliate has used this to write-off "bad boy" laws as unnecessary legislation. "Passing such a law simply clarifies and makes explicit the authority that courts undergo said DHEC inherently has," says Guild. "They're blowing smoke when they say they're powerless."
DHEC's mission statement reads. "We promote and defend the health of the public and the environment," and their 2005-2010 Strategic intend explicitly recognizes the connection between environment and public health with the goal of improving both. "Active citizens are catalysts for changes in the health status of their communities," the Plan reads. "DHEC's challenge is to sight ways to link our vision and values to the values of people in local communities. We must balance economically appear development with environmental protection and social responsibility."
Since the Aug. 7 public hearing. DHEC has worked with Kinder Morgan to establish a Citizen Advisory Board currently in the planning stages. An Aug. 24 telecommunicate from Rhonda Thompson stated that DHEC "plans to follow up on" concerns about the effect of water-borne burn clean on Shipyard Creek seafood and wildlife and says they'll increase the be of act water inspections to decrease burn clean runoff and will review YouTube videos that may document violations. They also promised to set up air monitors around the site to increase air inspections and to examine advance methods to suppress burn clean from the pile and train cars.
Ken Bonerigo the citizen who has been videotaping Kinder Morgan's unloading process says that Thompson also informed him that DHEC would not charge the company with a violation for dumping wet on their come in to alter it documented in his "Midnight Cleanup" video on YouTube. Despite a tenacious apology from KM Regional Manager Arthur Rudolph at the Aug. 7 hearing accompanied by the assurance that it would never happen again. DHEC now says that the company's accept allows them to "wash their dock and equipment drink" after cleaning any spills.
Although Rudolph promised boat owners at the hearing that he'd personally help clean boats at the Cooper River Marina if they were again dusted by "fugitive emissions," Bonerigo documented another such incident on Aug. 17. His videos available on YouTube by searching "svosprey," depict burn settled not only on top of boats but also deposited on pilings and in oysters in the water evidenced at low course.
Coastal Conservation unify schedule Director Nancy Vinson fears that problems like this will persist. "You can get a license to pollute in this state and if you're not doing it very carefully and correctly you can do serious damage to our air water and people without so much as a accent check." She's also concerned about the increase in toxic diesel emissions from the increased be of ships trains and trucks that Kinder Morgan's expansion will require. "2,000 studies since 1996 show that particulate matter from diesel emissions is killing us," she says. "We have a serious air pollution problem in Charleston that nobody seems to communicate about."
Mike Rove. DHEC's legislative liaison says that divisions of DHEC handling infectious and hazardous wastes already have statute language allowing them to look at previous performance and feels a command "past compliance" account would help define their "alter authority." If a account were to arise again this year two local politicians undergo said they'd consider it.
"Just like someone's past behavior is a calculate in you formulating a view of their reputation it's the same thing when you're seeking a permit for environmental matters," says Sen. Chip Campsen (R-Charleston). "In a legal proceeding if you can open a copy of past behavior the rules of evidence don't permit it as conclusive.
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