COLUMBIA--Environmentalists are worried the Republican-controlled state Legislature will scuttle or severely hamper more than two dozen programs and erode environmental protections.

Republicans have controlled the House and the Senate since 2001 and gained control of the Governor's Mansion in November. That dominance changes the debate on environmental issues, observers say.

"I'm not sure in this climate you have the checks and balances you would have had in the past," South Carolina Sierra Club director Dell Isham said.

Conservation groups say 30 major programs are threatened, with half of those tied to the state's budget.

Money from 15 environmental funds would be used to help balance the state budget this year. In some cases, legislators haven't said whether they later would restore the money.

"It's distressing to me," said Brad Wyche, chairman of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control board. "A number of studies show that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with economic prosperity."

Many of the Legislature's decisions will land on the desk of Gov. Mark Sanford, who was elected last year with support from Lowcountry environmentalists.

Sanford hasn't made up his mind about many of the issues being debated, spokesman Will Folks said.

One of the biggest concerns facing environmentalists is taking $10 million from a cleanup fund for the hazardous waste landfill Safety-Kleen operated near Pinewood and Lake Marion in Sumter County.

"Basically, we are in a budget situation where no one is going to be a winner, and we are having to put a budget together that protects essential services," said House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Columbia.

That's why House budget writers want to take more than $10 million from a fund to clean up any pollution that might leak from the Safety-Kleen site, he said. That money falls far short of the potential $100 million cleanup costs, Quinn says.

"I understand this is an emotional issue, but we didn't hurt the trust fund for cleanup one bit," he said.

If legislators take more than $10 million from the Safety-Kleen fund for other purposes, the state would have about $23 million left in cash for cleanup, DHEC says.

There are also concerns about efforts to kill or weaken proposed DHEC regulations aimed at protecting rivers and wells from septic tank pollution and stormwater runoff. Homebuilders oppose them. Republican Rep. Billy Witherspoon, chairman of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, says they can go too far and infringe on property rights.

"Nobody wants polluted water, and I don't want to fill all the wetlands," said Witherspoon, R-Conway and a former county extension agent.

One regulation requires septic tanks to be 12 inches from groundwater sources instead of six inches. DHEC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency want the change, saying the state could lose $1.7 million in federal environmental program money without it.

The rules would have rendered some property in the Lowcountry useless for new homes, regulators acknowledge.

"We did not think they were well grounded with scientific support," said Michael Dey, governmental affairs director for the Homebuilders Association of South Carolina.