S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster and state Sen. Jake Knotts blasted South Carolina’s most powerful business association Tuesday for opposing a bill to more easily prosecute environmental criminals.

With chances dwindling that the Legislature will act this year, McMaster and Knotts took aim at the state Chamber of Commerce. The two Republicans said the bill would bring to justice companies that intentionally pollute the environment.

Chamber officials said the bill could chill economic development and subject honest companies to overzealous prosecution.

The bill would give the state grand jury authority over environmental crimes, which often are complex and difficult to prove. It would allow the grand jury to subpoena records or witnesses in the case of environmental crimes, an authority it does not have now.

That leaves most environmental prosecutions to the U.S. Attorney’s office, which doesn’t investigate every case. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control now has a case it can’t prosecute because the state Grand Jury doesn’t have authority, McMaster said.

Knotts, a conservative from Lexington who said he’s no “tree hugger,” has been pushing the bill since a 2000 pollution spill killed fish, shut down a water plant and tainted a creek system in Lexington County. The company that polluted the water eventually was prosecuted by the federal government, but McMaster and Knotts said the prosecution could have been faster if the state had jurisdiction.

At a hearing Tuesday, Knotts and McMaster urged a Senate subcommittee to approve the bill before the legislative session ends in two weeks. But the subcommittee did not vote, which McMaster said is a blow to the bill’s chances. The bill has passed the House.

“The only people who oppose this are ... people who want to protect the criminal element that would come into this state,” McMaster said.

To make his point, Knotts last week formally opposed about a dozen chamber-backed bills. He said he will remove his objections if the chamber meets with McMaster on a compromise.

Chamber officials said they believe a bill acceptable to everyone can be worked out during the 2005 legislative session.

“There needs to be a system, where it provides proper controls on prosecutors,” chamber president Hunter Howard said.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com.