DHEC Bureau of Land and Waste Management - Solid Waste Landfills
To provide more context to what The State did not report in its series about landfills in South Carolina, the following information helps to set the record straight.
The statement that "DHEC has not formally informed lawmakers of the influx of out-of-state trash..." is wrong.
By law, our agency submits an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly that provides great detail on landfill capacity and waste generation in South Carolina. The report, available on the agency’s Web site at www.scdhec.gov includes information on out-of-state waste disposed in South Carolina. The report is also available on the S.C. Legislature's Web site. We find it interesting that in the "Conversation with the Commissioner" interview questions, also on our Web site, The State's own question acknowledges the annual report and uses it as an example of a good, comprehensive report that is prepared by the agency.
DHEC is required to review a permit application to determine if it meets the technical requirements of the law and regulations. DHEC is required to issue a draft permit if the technical requirements of the law and regulations are met. If a DHEC permit is appealed, the applicant will be a party to the appeal. DHEC is also a party to the appeal because it must defend its decision to issue the permit. While it may appear that DHEC "winds up on the company's side of the court," DHEC is represented by its own legal counsel and is responsible for explaining the basis for its decision on the permit. DHEC does not take sides on these issues; it simply defends the decisions that it has carefully made in accordance with the applicable law and regulation. In other words, we defend our actions in the permit decision, not the applicant.
On the out of state waste issue, there have been numerous court rulings that the moving of waste is an act of commerce and therefore under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and that states are prohibited from interfering or prohibiting the interstate movement of commerce.
By law, DHEC does have statewide solid waste management planning and regulatory responsibilities. The number of municipal solid waste landfills in South Carolina has been reduced from 79 in the early 1990’s to 18.
Major waste haulers, some of whom own and operate landfills, handle large volumes of solid waste throughout the United States. Due to changes in federal and state law and regulations in the early 1990s, solid waste disposal requirements are stricter to better protect the environment. This makes disposal more expensive and complex. There is a nationwide trend towards larger, more expensive and complex solid waste disposal systems that are more often constructed and operated by private entities. For example, municipal solid waste landfills are now required to have liners and leachate collection systems. There have been no impacts to groundwater detected through groundwater monitoring around any of South Carolina’s lined MSW landfills.
DHEC is concerned about excess landfill capacity and proposes a decrease of 13 million tons per year with the proposed revisions to the Demonstration of Need regulation. DHEC’s governing board has directed staff to go beyond this and look for a way to further align capacity with the state’s solid waste needs. At the board’s request, a work group will address this issue and to report back to the board. As part of this effort, the work group will be looking at ways to strengthen the State Solid Waste Plan.
Williamsburg County, due to financial hardship, is under an enforceable agreement with DHEC to close the existing landfill. The agreement allows Williamsburg time to evaluate its waste management options and to accumulate funds to properly manage the county’s solid waste. So far, Williamsburg County has met the requirements of the Demonstration of Need regulation to expand the existing landfill if it is expanded in a way that meets current landfill requirements.
DHEC has not issued any approval to relocate the existing landfill to another area of the state. If Williamsburg County decides to build a landfill in a new location within their county, current law and regulation would allow this as long as all requirements are met.
We approach the subject of solid waste management from many perspectives, including promotion of waste minimization and recycling. DHEC has an award winning waste minimization and recycling program. To prepare future generations to better manage solid waste, we have trained 47,000 teachers on recycling curricula who in turn have taught the curriculum to thousands of children since 1993.
For additional information, contact: (803) 898-3432