Members of the General Assembly asked us to review South Carolina’s process for issuing water quality permits and certifications, as administered by the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

We reviewed five types of permits and certifications that are required before residential, commercial, and institutional construction and development may begin. We did not review permits and certifications for industrial construction and development. Our areas of concentration included efficiency, organizational structure, compliance inspections, water quality standards, and ethics.

DHEC’s permitting and certification staff is comprised of engineers, biologists, and other professionals. Their work is aimed at protecting rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands while not imposing excessive delays on property owners. This can be a challenging task for an environmental regulatory agency, particularly during periods of rapid economic growth.

Our findings are summarized as follows:

• Property owners seeking water quality permits and certifications in South Carolina have not been given the option of submitting their applications electronically through the Internet, a process known as e-permitting. E-permitting could make the process more efficient, more consistent, and less prone to error. E-permitting has been implemented to varying degrees in other states, such as Florida, Minnesota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
  
• DHEC has reported inconsistent data regarding the timeliness of its permitting and certification processes. In addition, we reviewed a sample of individual application files and found that they could not be relied on to determine the extent to which the department complied with timeliness requirements. Without consistent and reliable data, DHEC’s ability to measure and improve its timeliness will be limited.
  
• The department has not developed written policies and procedures that:
  
  • Specify its methods for calculating and documenting the time it takes to review applications for permits and certifications.
  • Require supervision and documentation of supervision of permitting and certification decisions.
  • State the circumstances under which staff should visit a proposed construction site prior to the issuance of a permit or certification.
  • Establish requirements for conducting compliance inspections. The department has some policies and procedures in draft form.

The department also has not consistently provided formal training for new staff. Without written policies and procedures as well as formal training, there is reduced assurance that applications will be reviewed efficiently, thoroughly, and equitably.

• DHEC has not established annual performance goals regarding the timeliness of its reviews of applications.
  
• DHEC’s organizational structure for issuing permits and certifications is complex and includes two separate chains of command. Reducing the complexity of the organizational structure would increase the ability of DHEC to ensure consistency in the application review process and would make it easier for applicants to understand the process.
  
• State regulations do not limit the time DHEC is allowed to review applications for construction in navigable waters permits or coastal zone consistency certifications issued in conjunction with a state permit only.
  
• DHEC does not enforce the Section 401 certifications or construction in navigable waters permits it issues, reducing the likelihood of compliance. According to DHEC staff, the department is not authorized by state law to implement enforcement action.
  
• DHEC’s annual accountability report includes a single measure of the condition of South Carolina waters, without showing the trend over time or performance targets. It also does not address the department’s efforts to protect wetlands.
  
• South Carolina law does not require riparian buffers, which are permanent areas of vegetation and forestland along the banks of rivers, streams, lakes, and other surface waters. Without riparian buffers, rain and other precipitation will cause greater runoff of sediment and pollutants into surface waters. Riparian buffers are required by state law in Georgia and North Carolina and by some local governments in South Carolina.
  
• South Carolina law does not adequately restrict former DHEC employees from representing clients seeking regulatory decisions from DHEC. As a result, there is an increased potential for conflicts of interest. Other jurisdictions, such as Alabama, California, Florida, and the federal government, place greater restrictions on former government employees than South Carolina.
  
• Members of DHEC’s Coastal Zone Management Appellate Panel did not consistently file statements of economic interests with the South Carolina Ethics Commission. As a result, there was an increased potential for unknown conflicts of interest.