Sumter, Turbeville Join Lake Marion Water Agency

By Tucker Lyon, The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.

Mar. 7–Two more municipalities — Sumter in Sumter County and Turbeville in Clarendon County — are coming on board the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency.

Orangeburg County Council passed two separate resolutions Monday approving their memberships.

“The more customers we get, the more reasonable the rates,” said Council Chairman John Rickenbacker.

The agency plans to create a $150 million water system in conjunction with Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility, that will provide water from Lake Marion to municipalities in Orangeburg, Calhoun, Dorchester, Clarendon, Sumter and, now, Berkeley, counties. Colleton County dropped out of the agency.

With the recent addition of Berkeley County, Councilman Johnnie Wright, the chairman of the agency, said that Sumter and Turbeville wanted “to make sure” they were included in the project.

Included in the first phase of the project are the Orangeburg County towns of Elloree, Holly Hill and Santee; St. George in Dorchester County; and Summerton and Manning in Clarendon County.

The $25.4 million water treatment plant, which is due to be complete in August, will produce 8 million gallons of water a day, with expansion capabilities of up to 12 million gallons daily.

As the closest customer to Lake Marion, the town of Santee will be the first customer to receive water, Wright said.

To date, the agency has received approximately $35 million from federal, state and local governments.

In other business, council:

–Gave first reading to an ordinance establishing a joint industrial park with Dorchester County. The state economic development incentive allows participating counties to share job credits and tax revenues.

–After amending the agenda, sent a request for county road maintenance for roads in the Village Medical Office Park to the Public Works Committee for review.

–Passed a resolution honoring National Women’s History Month.

–Proclaimed March as American Red Cross Month.

–Welcomed National Retired Transit Authority members, visiting from New York. Willie Johnson introduced the group.

Environmentalists again rip Clyburn bridge

Environmentalists are continuing to challenge plans for a Lone Star-Rimini bridge, saying the state should not be allowed to fill wetlands for the project.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing several environmental groups, filed a statement in opposition to the S.C.

Department of Transportation’s request to fill three acres of wetlands for the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector. The connector has been championed by 6th District Congressman James Clyburn.

The groups argue that filling in the wetlands, plus disturbing an additional 15 acres, would damage the area’s environment without providing a substantial benefit. They also claim the $75 million to $100 million it would cost to build the nine-mile connector, including a 2.8 mile bridge over Lake Marion, would be better spent elsewhere.

“I think it’s very easy to see this is the wrong project in the wrong place,” said David Farren, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The deadline for filing comments on plans to fill the wetlands for the connector was Monday. The Army Corps of Engineers, which must approve the plans, received “a lot of comment — both e-mail and mail-in,” said spokesperson Carol Weart.

Weart said she does not know when the Corps will make a decision on whether S.C. DOT can disturb wetlands for the project.

Farren said, “I understand more than 300 comments have been submitted already, which is extraordinary for something technical like a wetlands permit.” Weart could not confirm Farren’s figures.

“I think this is the stage where the rubber meets the road, on permitting,” Farren said. “I would not be surprised to see some political maneuvering.”

Clyburn has supported the bridge as the fulfillment of a promise made when the Santee Cooper lake system was created, dividing the Lone Star and Rimini communities. In addition, he says the connector is needed to provide economic development opportunities for the area.

Clyburn has said he’s prepared to wait out the opposition to the connector.

Environmentalists say the benefit won’t balance out the environmental damage to Sparkleberry Swamp on upper Lake Marion.

In its submission, the law center says the area includes threatened and endangered species, such as the eagle and the shortnose sturgeon. It’s also “ideal habitat” for the ivory-billed woodpecker, which was once thought extinct. A study is under way to see if there are any ivory-billed woodpeckers in the area.

In its submission to the Corps of Engineers, the law center quotes a Federal Highway Administration report on Interstate 26 which says that lack of water and sewer has restricted development of Orangeburg County’s highways. The study shows “roadbuilding alone is not an effective economic development strategy,” the law center says

The environmental groups say other road needs in the area have a higher priority and that improvements to highways 601 and 76 between Orangeburg and Sumter would be more effective and less destructive than building the connector.

In the filing with the Corps of Engineers and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the law center is representing S.C.

Wildlife Federation, the Coastal Conservation League, S.C. Chapter of the Sierra Club, Audubon South Carolina and the Columbia Audubon Society.

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