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DOT: No fight for bridge

The S.C. Department of Transportation won’t appeal the rejection of its state water quality permit for the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector, the department announced Thursday. Instead, it will watch to see how a federal lawsuit over the project develops.

The department does plan to reapply for a permit from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, unless the developments in the lawsuit indicate it needs to re-evaluate its plans, DOT said in the statement released Thursday.

DOT Chairman Tee Hooper said he supports the department staff’s decision.

“You can spend a lot of time and effort now and lose the lawsuit and it would be wasted,” he said.

Last month, DHEC’s Division of Water Quality turned down a water quality permit for the proposed $150 million connector, a road-and-bridge project over Lake Marion that would directly link the communities of Lone Star and Rimini. DHEC determined DOT’s application was incomplete.

Sixth District Congressman Jim Clyburn, who has been leading efforts to build the connector, said Thursday that “I continue to support the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector. It is important to remember that DHEC’s denial of the permit is not based on the merits of the project, but the shortcomings of the application.

“I, too, wait to see what the court has to say.”

The project, once known as the Clyburn Connector, has attracted the opposition of environmentalists.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, acting on behalf of several environmental groups, filed the lawsuit over the project, claiming an environmental impact statement for the project is incomplete. The statement is used as a basis for some permit applications.

David Farren, an attorney for the law center, said DOT’s decision “is a significant development because it is an acknowledgement that the environmental study done several years ago may not be adequate to support a permit for this project.”

On Tuesday, attorneys head to federal court for a hearing in the lawsuit where DOT will argue it should be removed as a defendant, Farren said.

In its statement, DOT said “The permitting process is funded 100 percent by federal money that cannot be used for any other purpose. It is important to note that no state funds are presently being used to further the development of this federal Congressional priority project.”

Farren said called that statement “misleading,” saying that state resources have gone into the project, which would be maintained by DOT if it is built.

City Editor Gene Crider can be reached at gcrider@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5570. To comment on this and other stories, visit TheTandD.com.