By Chelsea Hadaway
chadaway@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 11, 2009
The S.C. Supreme Court said it will review the Southern Environmental Law Center’s ability to challenge the proposed port terminal at the former Navy Base in North Charleston.
Calling the decision an important development, Blan Holman, an attorney with the center, said, “We look forward to getting the (Coastal Conservation) League its day in court to explain the serious problems with these permits.”
Byron Miller, spokesman for the S.C. State Ports Authority, said the review is to look at problems the law center and the conservation league have with the procedure for appealing permits to build the new terminal.
Previously, the administrative law court and the court of appeals ruled that the center could not challenge the permits, issued by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, because the challenge was filed outside the 15-day limit.
The law center said its challenges were filed within one business day of the receipt of notice that the permits had been issued.
If the S.C. Supreme Court rules in favor of the law center, it would then be able to go back to the administrative law court and present its case that the permits did not properly account for the water and air pollution the terminal would create, Holman said.
“We look forward to finally being able to present evidence on the impacts of diesel air pollution from trucks and ships on the people living in our Charleston,” conservation league program director Nancy Vinson said.
The latest development comes as no surprise to the ports authority, Miller said.
“We look forward to continue to aggressively defend this project and the permits that were approved by nine state and federal agencies,” he said.
The law center anticipates the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in early 2010.
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