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The Conservation Hot List will be updated each issue and will follow environmental legislation from its inception through the entire legislative process.

IN THE HOUSE THIS WEEK

Conservation Bank Funding (PRIORITY)

The House Ways and Means Economic Development and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee (Rep. Adam Taylor, Chair, Rep. Bob Leach, and Rep. Ken Kennedy) heard testimony about Conservation Bank funding at a hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 15.

We are asking the General Assembly to appropriate an additional $20 million for the Conservation Bank next year and to make a serious commitment to incremental installments over the next five years. We consider an increase in funding as a down payment toward protecting our watersheds, working farms, forests and coastal resources.

*South Carolina’s rapid growth exceeds the amount of land conserved, and project requests far surpass the available funds. Last year, grant requests totaled $42 million, nearly double the $24 million funded.

*Over the last three years, the Conservation Bank preserved 134,171 acres of historic and natural properties across the state at an average cost of $523/acre.

Defining Renewable Energy Resources (S.360, CONCERN)

The Environmental Affairs II Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee, (Rep. Dwight Loftis, Chair, Rep. Nelson Hardwick, Rep. Kenneth Hodges, Rep. Phillip Lowe, and Rep. Harold Mitchell), met Wednesday, Jan. 16 to consider S.360, which was amended last year to include nuclear power in the definition of renewable energy sources.

*Nuclear energy is not a renewable energy resource. The supply of uranium, the fuel that powers nuclear energy, is finite, like supplies of coal or oil.

*Defining nuclear energy as renewable would make South Carolina’s home-grown energy sector less competitive. Allowing nuclear energy to compete with renewables for government support will take incentives away from entrepreneurs developing new and innovative businesses based around biofuels, solar and wind power. This sends the wrong signal to investors and entrepreneurs, seeking states with favorable investment climates.