My amendment to the surface water act failed on the House floor and the bill was passed as written.
The failure of my amendment will give DHEC the ability to severely restrict the amount of water that Greenville Water System can withdraw from Lake Keowee over the next twenty years.
This surface water bill was presented as legislation that all of the “stakeholders” had agreed to. Upon closer examination, I discovered that “stakeholders” really meant “special interests” and the true stakeholders were not considered at all. I did make the attempt to work out a compromise amendment between Greenville Water System and Duke Energy but Duke walked away from the negotiation.
I would like to thank the other House members from Greenville who supported me on my attempt to protect our future access to water.