Title 48, Environmental Protection and Conservation

If the Department shall determine that an undesirable level exists, it shall take such action as necessary to control such condition. The Department shall grant such time as is reasonable for the owner or operator of a source to correct the undesirable level, after taking all fac…

A person discharging sewage, industrial waste, or other waste or air contaminant into the environment of the State, in such manner or quantity as to cause pollution, without regard to the time that the discharge began or whether or not the continued discharge has been by virtue o…

(a) The Department may, after notice and opportunity for a public hearing, revise or modify a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit in accordance with the procedures and criteria set out in Sections 301(c), 302 and 316(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Ac…

Public hearings shall be conducted by the Department prior to action by the Department in the classification of the waters or the adoption of standards of purity and quality thereof as provided by this chapter. The Department may conduct public hearings prior to action in the fol…

The hearings herein provided for may be conducted by the Department at a regular or special meeting or it may delegate to any member, to the executive director or to any employee or agent of the Department, the authority to conduct such hearings in the name of the Department at a…

In any hearing held by the Department in which a quasi-judicial decision is rendered, the Department shall make a record of the decision and secure its prompt publication. The decision shall include a statement of the facts in controversy, the decision of the Department, the law …

In any such hearing, any member of the Department, the executive director or any employee or agent thereof authorized by the Department may administer oaths, examine witnesses and issue in the name of the Department notices of hearings and subpoenas requiring the attendance and t…

In case of refusal to obey a notice of hearing or subpoena, the court of common pleas shall have jurisdiction, upon application of the Department, to issue an order requiring such person to appear and testify or produce evidence, as the case may require, and any failure to obey s…

It is declared to be the public policy of the State to maintain reasonable standards of purity of the air and water resources of the State, consistent with the public health, safety and welfare of its citizens, maximum employment, the industrial development of the State, the prop…

Any person may appeal from any order of the Department within thirty days after the filing of the order, to the court of common pleas of any county in which the pollution occurs. The Department shall thereupon certify to the court the record in the hearing. The court shall review…

The Attorney General shall be the legal adviser of the Department and shall upon request of the Department institute injunction proceedings or any other court action to accomplish the purpose of this chapter. In the prosecution of any criminal action by the Attorney General and i…

Prosecutions for the violation of a final determination or order shall be instituted only by the Department or as otherwise provided for in this chapter.

Any funds appropriated to or received by the Department shall be deposited in the State Treasury as provided by law. Such funds shall be paid out on warrants issued by the State as prescribed by law, but only on order of the authorized representatives of the Department and in acc…

It is the purpose of this chapter to provide additional and cumulative remedies to abate the pollution of the air and waters of the State and nothing herein contained shall abridge or alter rights of action in the civil courts or remedies existing in equity or under the common la…

No private cause of action is created by or exists pursuant to this chapter. A determination by the department that pollution exists or a violation of a prohibition contained in this chapter has occurred, whether or not actionable by the State, creates no presumption of law or fa…

Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to grant to the Department any authority to make any rule, regulation or determination or to enter any order with respect to air conditions existing solely within the industrial boundaries of commercial and industrial plants, work…

Any records, reports or information obtained under any provision of this chapter shall be available to the public. Upon a showing satisfactory to the Department by any person that records, reports or information, or particular parts thereof, other than effluent or emission data, …

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to postpone, stay or abrogate the enforcement of the provisions of the public health laws of this State and rules and regulations promulgated hereunder in respect to discharges causing actual or potential hazards to public health nor to…

Whenever the Department finds that an emergency exists requiring immediate action to protect the public health or property, the Department, with concurrent notice to the Governor, may without notice or hearing issue an order reciting the existence of such an emergency and requiri…

The Department shall promulgate regulations to implement this chapter to govern the procedure of the Department with respect to meetings, hearings, filing of reports, the issuance of permits and all other matters relating to procedure. The regulations for preventing contamination…

The civil and criminal liabilities herein imposed upon persons violating the provisions hereof shall not be construed to include any violation which was caused by an act of God, war, strike, riot or other catastrophe as to which negligence on the part of such person was not the p…

The governing body of any county is hereby authorized to establish, administer and enforce a local air pollution control program, subject to the approval of the Department. Such programs shall be formulated in accordance with standards and procedures adopted by the Department, an…

A person who wilfully or with gross negligence or recklessness violates a provision of this chapter or a regulation, permit, permit condition, or final determination or order of the department is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than five hundr…

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter, or any rule or regulation, permit or permit condition, final determination or order of the Department, shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars per day of such violation.

Any person who knowingly makes any false statement, representation or certification in any application, record, report, plan or other document filed or required to be maintained under this chapter or who falsifies, tampers with or knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring devic…

All penalties assessed under this chapter are held as a debt payable to the State by the person against whom they have been charged and constitute a lien against the property of the person. One-half of the civil penalties collected inure to the benefit of the county. The criminal…

The Department, after public hearing as herein provided, shall adopt standards and determine what qualities and properties of water and air shall indicate a polluted condition and these standards shall be promulgated and made a part of the rules and regulations of the Department.…

The Department may: (1) Hold public hearings, compel attendance of witnesses, make findings of fact and determinations and assess such penalties as are herein prescribed; (2) Hold hearings upon complaints or upon petitions in accordance with SECTION 48-1-140 or as otherwise provi…

On any navigable river in this State where an oyster factory is located, the Department of Health and Environmental Control may utilize qualified personnel of the county or municipality in whose jurisdiction the factory operates to assist with the monitoring of water quality and …

It is recognized that, due to variable factors, no single standard of quality and purity of the environment is applicable to all ambient air, land or waters of the State. In order to attain the objectives of this chapter, the Department, after proper study and after conducting a …

The standards for water adopted pursuant to this chapter may prescribe: (1) The extent, if any, to which floating solids may be permitted in the water; (2) The extent to which suspended solids, colloids or a combination of solids with other substances suspended in water may be pe…

In adopting the classification of waters and the standards of purity and quality, consideration shall be given to: (1) The size, depth, surface area covered, volume, direction, rate of flow, stream gradient and temperature of the water; (2) The character of the district bordering…

(A) The department shall not allow a depression in dissolved oxygen concentration greater than 0.1 mg/l in a naturally low dissolved oxygen waterbody unless the requirements of this section are all satisfied by demonstrating that resident aquatic species shall not be adversely af…

(A) It is unlawful for a person to operate or float a houseboat on the waters of this State unless it has a marine toilet that discharges only into a holding tank. (B) As used in this section: (1) "Holding tank" means a container designed to receive and hold sewage and other wast…

(A) In order to provide for the survival and propagation of a balanced community of aquatic flora and fauna as set forth in Regulation 61-68 in a manner consistent with Section 48-1-20, the department shall, where necessary to protect aquatic life, impose NPDES permit limitations…

(A)(1) It is unlawful for a person, directly or indirectly, to throw, drain, run, allow to seep, or otherwise discharge into the environment of the State organic or inorganic matter, including sewage, industrial wastes, and other wastes, except in compliance with a permit issued …

(A) As used in this section: (1) "Action plan" or "plan" means a schedule for implementing and completing repairs, upgrades, and improvements needed to minimize future repetitive significant spills of untreated or partially treated domestic sewage. (2) "Capacity, Management, Oper…

This article may be cited as the "Environmental Protection Fund Act".

As used in this article: (1) "South Carolina Environmental Protection Fund" or "fund" means a special account established within the Treasurer's Office in which is deposited all fees as authorized by this article to be collected for the department's environmental programs. (2) "D…

(A) There is established within the Treasurer's Office an agency-restricted, interest-bearing account to be known as the South Carolina Environmental Protection Fund. (B) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, there must be deposited in the fund all fees as authori…

This article may be cited as the "Environmental Emergency Fund Act".

As used in this article: (1) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Environmental Control. (2) "Department" means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. (3) "Environmental Emergency" means a situation, to be determined by the commission…

(A) There is created within the Department of Health and Environmental Control a restricted account to be known as the Environmental Emergency Fund. (B) The fund must be financed through the collection and deposit of fines and penalties levied by the department. However, a fine o…

(A) The department, through the commissioner or the commissioner's designee, shall certify that funding for a specific emergency was necessary to protect the environment or public health, or both. Annually, the department shall prepare an independent accounting of all revenue in …

The fund is available to the department to help defray the costs of administering the regulatory programs under each act enumerated in Section 48-2-30(B). The monies must be used for improved performance in permitting, certification, licensing, monitoring, investigating, enforcin…

(A) In order to facilitate the proper administration of each act listed in Section 48-2-30(B), the department shall charge fees for the various services and functions it performs under each of those acts including, but not limited to, application fees, processing fees, permit mai…