Elizabeth Hagood of Charleston brings the right sentiments to her proposed leadership role at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

As the former executive director of the Lowcountry Open Land Trust, Hagood understands the importance of conserving the state's irreplaceable natural and historically significant assets.

As Gov. Mark Sanford's nominee to chair the seven-member DHEC board, Hagood will be needed to transfer good intentions into sound environmental and health policies for the state.

In her recent role as co-chairwoman of the governor's Quality of Life Task Force, Hagood learned that businesses and environmentalists are not as far apart as they may seem. She said both sides share a common vision for quality of life in South Carolina.

The task force made recommendations supporting streamlined regulations, but Hagood is first going to have to champion the need for regulations and the vital role they play in the state's public health and environmental control.

Hagood, who must be confirmed by the state Senate, will need to quickly make inroads within that body. Recently, 20 of the Senate's 46 members were initial co-sponsors of a bill that would take DHEC regulation out of the loop altogether in the disposal of muck dredged from Sea Pines marinas. State Sen. Scott Richardson of Hilton Head Island says the bill's widespread support indicates a sentiment among many in the Senate to sharply diminish DHEC's regulatory powers. That is an unhealthy and unwise outlook, and Hagood must step in as a defender of science over politics in matters of health and environmental control.

Regulators -- from police who stop a speeder to a parent who tells a child "no" -- often face unfair criticism and blame. The same is true for those who enforce state regulations to protect public health and natural resources. But that outcry should not deter regulators or prevent them from doing their important jobs.

DHEC long has had a reputation of bending over backward to accommodate both permit applicants and permit violators. As the state now feels increasing pressure from growth that threatens its marketable quality of life, Hagood must push DHEC to err on the side of the general public's interests. She must defend the role of regulations, fight for funds to see that regulations are enforced, and focus on the big picture, not short-term business gains for a few. That effort can include regulatory reform, but Hagood must know the difference between reform and retreat. As our waterways, roadways, neighborhoods and communities become more congested, regulations become more important, not less important.

Hagood would do well to study the landmark 1997 "Blueprint for Clean Water" by the Clean Water Task Force in Beaufort County. Not only does it show the challenge at hand in coastal South Carolina, but it offers solutions and points to the nexus between permitting decisions and sound fiscal policy, both public and private.

"As a community, we cannot afford to kill the goose that lays the golden egg," the report said. "The cost of preventing problems before they happen and correcting modest problems before they balloon into massive crises is small, compared to the cost of restoring waterbodies once they are severely degraded."

Hagood wrote in an op-ed piece published by The Packet: "We are fortunate that the challenge before us is to protect our quality of life, not restore our quality of life."

She must stand strong in her new position to meet that challenge.