Bills pending before the South Carolina legislature could split the state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken into two separate organizations, a state agency official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the federal complex Monday.
Susan Fulmer, manager of federal remediation for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), said lawmakers are considering whether to split the agency into separate entities.
A year ago, the South Carolina Senate approved such a plan but the bill did not gain final approval before the legislature adjourned.
There are two such bills before the legislature this year, Fulmer said. “Both those bills are in the House Ways and Means Committee,” she said. “We will keep you updated as this has drawn a lot of interest in the past couple of years.”
One measure referred to House Ways and Means is House Bill 3239, which would create a Department of Environmental Control. According to an online summary, it is similar to two other bills, one in the state House and the other in the state Senate. House Bill 4124, also before Ways and Means, would create a Department of Environmental Services to shoulder DHEC’s environmental responsibilities.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 399, referred to the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs, says DHEC’s authority over the use of ionizing radiation, radioactive waste and transportation of radioactive material would go to a new Department of Environmental Services. Some other non-radioactive DHEC environmental chores would go to an environmental protection division under the the Department of Agriculture, according to an online bill summary.
Eventually, reorganization legislation could pass, “but at this point we are still DHEC,” Fulmer said. In the previous meeting of the Citizens Advisory Board, Fulmer said such a move would likely have little day-to-day impact on state oversight at the Savannah River Site. This is because South Carolina DHEC largely already has separate health and environmental divisions, she said.
Fulmer routinely updates the citizens board meetings, which are webcast, about DHEC actions affecting the Savannah River Site.
