Fall 2007 ■ Volume 18 No.3 ConservationCoastal League SPECIAL REPORT: The Environmental Connection to Public Health Protection Brian Barrie & Dana Beach & Dana Barrie Brian Is Our Air Safe to Breathe? Charleston What You earns an "F" 6 Coal 10 Can Do in air quality Diesel Mountain Communities Danger Speak Out F4 Zone 8 12 From the Director A Failure of Oversight ver the past two decades, the Web site and certainly true that most lower- Fall 2007 Vol.18 No.3 S.C. Department of Health income families in these rural areas lack STAFF and Environmental Control internet access. So the purpose of a health _____________________ (DHEC) has periodically been agency should be to inform citizens of real Director Dana Beach accused of failing to protect public health risks like mercury. But more ________________REGIONAL OFFICES______ public health. Witness the latest importantly, it would be to proclaim that it South Coast Patrick Moore Reed Armstrong Ocontroversy about the Barnwell low level is not acceptable for South Carolina to have Andrea Malloy nuclear waste dump. one of the worst mercury contamination North Coast Nancy Cave Amy Weinmeister This newsletter reveals problems in America, and to work to change Columbia Christie McGregor that concerns about DHEC’s that unwanted distinction. Patty Pierce performance in the public Instead, in October, DHEC issued a draft Heather Spires health arena are well justified, air permit to Santee Cooper for a mammoth ________P______ROGRAMS________ Director of Elizabeth Hagood from a lack of basic data coal burning power plant on the Great Pee Conservation Programs on pollution to inadequate Program Directors Megan Desrosiers enforcement of regulations. Jane Lareau DHEC must be reformed by removing Nancy Vinson Although DHEC is Ben Moore occasionally accused of the ambiguity surrounding its mission. Project Managers Hamilton Davis Lisa Jones-Turansky colluding with industry, I This is far more than a simple change Jim Cumberland believe the problem is simpler Art von Lehe of statutory language. It will take Project Associate Alex Webel and less subversive. DHEC is Communications/Web Site Brian Barrie confused. It is confused about its mission and leadership at the agency and support Grassroots Coordinator Gretta Kruesi Newsletter Editor Virginia Beach whom it is serving. It is confused about why from the Legislature and the public. it exists. _______DEVELO________PMENT_______ Some of this is understandable. DHEC’s Director Tish Lynn Membership Nancy Cregg statutory mission is “to maintain reasonable Dee River. Coal plants are the primary Development Associate Alison Whetstone standards of purity of the air and water source of mercury in our waters and this ______________ADMINISTRATION_______ resources of the State, consistent with the one will worsen the mercury problem in HR and Admin. Tonnia Switzer public health, safety and welfare of its citizens, the state. The mercury debacle is only one Director of Finance Ashley Waters Data Manager Nora Kravec maximum employment, the industrial obvious breach of responsibility that emerges Technology Administrator Robert Malone development of the State, the propagation and from institutional confusion. Administrative Assistant Angela Chvarak protection of terrestrial and marine flora and Another example is the problem of air Board of Directors fauna, and the protection of physical property pollution from the Port of Charleston. As Chair Will Cleveland, and other resources.” The ambiguity and this newsletter reveals, neighborhoods near Bill Agnew Fred Lincoln apparent conflict here are unnecessary. the Wando terminal in Mt. Pleasant have Robert E. Coffee, Jr. Cartter Lupton Dorothea Benton Frank Robert Prioleau Businesses operate to make a profit not had their air quality tested for the past Laura Gates Sarah Rauch Vince Graham Roy Richards and, collectively, advance the economy and half of a decade. The same is true for the Richard T. Hale Gillian Roy maximize employment. DHEC was created neighborhoods on the Charleston “Neck,” Angela Halfacre Jeffrey Schutz Hank Holliday Libby Smith to correct the deficiencies of unbridled whose air quality is affected by the three Holly Hook Victoria C. Verity George Johnston Trenholm Walker commerce, to minimize and “internalize” terminals on the Charleston peninsula. So Mary Kennemur external costs like air and water pollution, to in spite of abundant evidence of the harmful protect public interests that can get lost in effects of diesel pollution, the agency charged Advisors and Committee Members Carol Ervin the shuffle of capitalism. with protecting public health cannot even Paul Kimball An agency that focused like a laser beam tell the families in these high risk areas what Hugh Lane Jay Mills on this purpose would avoid the pitfalls of their exposure is. trying to be simultaneously a public health DHEC must be reformed by removing P.O. Box 1765 ■ Charleston, SC 29402 advocate and a chamber of commerce. the ambiguity surrounding its mission. This Phone: (843) 723-8035 ■ FAX: (843) 723-8308 E-Mail: [email protected] Consider that every watershed in the state is far more than a simple change of statutory Web site: www.CoastalConservationLeague.org is contaminated with levels of mercury that language. It will take leadership at the make fish unsafe to eat. This information agency and support from the Legislature and P.O. Box 1861 ■ Beaufort, SC 29901 is available on DHEC’s Web site. It is not, the public. We hope this newsletter’s focus Phone: (843) 522-1800 however, posted at all affected boat landings on the problem, along with our members’ 935 Main Street, No. 1 ■ Columbia, SC 29201 where a warning actually might be read. It continued advocacy on the port and the Phone: (803) 771-7102 is doubtful that any fisherman or woman power plant, will help propel this important P.O. Box 603 ■ Georgetown, SC 29442 on the Pee Dee has ever gone to DHEC’s cause forward. Phone: (843) 545-0403 -Dana Beach All contents herein are copyright of the Coastal Conservation League. Reprinting C O A S T A L C O N SER V ATIO N L E A G U E is strictly prohibited without written consent. Design by Julie Frye Design. Cover image: Brian Barrie & Dana Beach Special Report The Environmental Connection to Vinson Nancy Public Health Protection W hite sandy beaches, meandering creeks and marshes, live oak and pine forests, enduring communities, blue skies and lots of sunshine are some of the things we love about living along the South Carolina coast. These elements have come to characterize the “good life” that can be found here in the Lowcountry. For generations, newcomers have Disease Control, “whether that flocked to this part of the world to environment is a community or a escape the hustle-bustle, the noise workplace, we improve the health of and grime of the more industrialized the people who live or work in that Northeast and Midwest. Likewise, environment. Many times, we can many longtime residents have seen greatly improve people’s health and no reason to leave, preferring the well-being by making changes in the “clean living” of our less urban, immediate environment.” more rural environment. As our state’s population The clean living that we all seek continues to increase and as the has been, and will continue to be, demands for infrastructure continue dependent on the health of our to tax the natural resources upon surrounding environment – the which our health depends, it is cleanliness of the air we breathe, the imperative to ask the following purity of the water we drink and fish questions: In this special report, The and swim in, and whether or not Environmental Connection to Public we build our communities to foster • How healthy are we in South Health Protection, we examine healthy habits and lifestyles. This Carolina? such topics as the rising rates of relationship between public health • How clean is the environment asthma, lung cancer, obesity and and the health of the environment is upon which we depend? other chronic diseases in South well documented and has enormous • What is the connection Carolina, the issue of uncontrolled consequences for the welfare of our between the health and port pollution, the dangers of coal citizens, our communities and our well-being of the citizens of fired power plants, the links between economy. South Carolina and our urban sprawl and obesity, and most “When we improve the health surrounding environment? importantly, what we can do to of an environment,” says Dr. Julie • How best can we maintain the ensure a healthy South Carolina now and in the future. Gerberding of the Center for health of both? C O A S T A L C O N SER V ATIO N L E A G U E Healthy or Not? Human Health and the Environment in South Carolina How Healthy are We? Consider the following facts about air pollution in South Across the United States, chronic diseases such as cancer, Carolina: heart disease, diabetes and asthma, account for more than 75 • The Port of Charleston is the largest unregulated cents of every health care dollar spent in the United States. source of air pollution in the state. In South Carolina, more than 1.5 million people (nearly one- • According to the Clean Air Task Force, as of 1999, third of the population) suffer from such diseases, adding up Charleston ranked among the worst 10% of U.S. cities to a combined cost of almost $11 billion. for diesel soot pollution. • In 2007, Charleston County received an “F” from the Here are a few statistics on the Palmetto State: American Lung Association for the amount of hazardous • We have the nation’s fifth highest adult obesity rate particle pollution in its air. and sixth highest child obesity rate. • Heart disease is the leading cause of death overall.