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reprint or license thisGroups sue to stop Clyburn’s bridge
Environmentalists, congressman disagree on worth, effects of project
By SAMMY FRETWELL
sfretwell@thestate.com
Three environmental groups sued Tuesday to stop a $150 million bridge project, championed by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, that they claim will needlessly degrade a vast natural area on upper Lake Marion.
But Clyburn said the bridge is a worthwhile project that won’t hurt the environment.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, said the S.C. Department of Transportation conducted a shoddy and incomplete environmental study in justifying the nearly 10-mile project between Lone Star and Rimini, tiny rural communities on opposite sides of Lake Marion.
Audubon South Carolina, the S.C. Coastal Conservation League and the S.C. Wildlife Federation asked the court to stop any further work until the DOT studies the environmental impacts more carefully. They said the bridge will ruin a “spectacular’’ swamp, pollute the lake and hurt wildlife.
And it isn’t needed in a state with a backlog of
more important road projects, they contend.
“SCDOT is pushing a wasteful ... project, while turning a blind eye on the project’s impacts and costs and ignoring legitimate transportation needs,’’ said Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the conservation groups.
The suit names the transportation department and the Federal Highway Administration as defendants.
DOT spokesman Pete Poore said the agency would not comment on the lawsuit. Highway Administration spokeswoman Nancy Singer also declined comment.
Tuesday’s legal action is the latest development in an increasingly bitter dispute over the bridge Clyburn has championed for years.
Earlier this year, the federal government received hundreds of letters opposing wetlands permits needed to build the bridge across Lake Marion. About 15 acres of wetlands would be affected by the project.
Between the wetlands issue and the lawsuit, it could be years before the bridge could be built.
Hunters, environmentalists, government natural resource agencies — and Gov. Mark Sanford — say the bridge will unnecessarily disturb the peaceful 17,000-acre Upper Santee Swamp on the north end of Lake Marion. National environmental groups have labeled the project an example of government waste, arguing it will serve relatively little public need in the sparsely populated area.
The Upper Santee Swamp, sometimes called Sparkleberry Swamp, is part of the largest unbroken wildlife habitat in central South Carolina, stretching from Congaree National Park in lower Richland County to the Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Clarendon County.
Clyburn, who usually backs environmental causes, said the proposed bridge is part of a systematic effort to improve the area’s economy. Lake Marion, a 45-minute drive southeast of Columbia, has an affluent population on parts of its shoreline, but some communities off the lake are economically depressed. Clyburn also has sought regional water for the area and an inland port.
“This bridge is one piece of the puzzle,’’ he said. “All of them must work in tandem for us to improve the quality of life for the people who live along the I-95 corridor.’’
Clyburn was not named in the lawsuit, but he said environmentalists are against the bridge, regardless of what an environmental impact study concludes. The groups are trying to stop the bridge, rather than negotiate a settlement, because it’s in a poor area, Clyburn said. The bridge won’t harm the environment, he said.
“They already had a preconceived notion about this, and no amount of facts were going to in any way get in the way of those preconceived notions,’’ Clyburn told reporters.
Clyburn, who represents the 6th Congressional District, has helped obtain $26.5 million in federal funds for the project. This year, he is seeking another $1.5 million from Congress.
The lawsuit, announced at a State House news conference, said the environmental impact statement for the DOT did not adequately study alternatives to the bridge, as is required by federal law, and it didn’t properly consider public comments.
Tuesday’s lawsuit said South Carolina will have a $2.6 billion shortfall per year in highway funds over the next 20 years, but the Lone Star-Rimini bridge isn’t on the state DOT’s list of road priorities. And as flimsy as the environmental study was, it did not make claims the bridge would substantially improve the economy, the lawsuit said.
David Farren, an attorney with the law center, said the Department of Transportation could have turned down the money Clyburn obtained from Congress or declined to seek federal wetlands permits. But the agency doesn’t have the gumption to do so even though it has other road and bridge priorities, Farren said.
One priority, he said, is a replacement bridge near Congaree National Park, just a few miles north of the Lake Marion-Upper Santee Swamp bridge site. The DOT says it doesn’t have the money to restore wetlands near the national park when it replaces the old bridge.
“But here they are wasting $100 million on a bridge downstream,’’ Farren said.
Sanford, who toured the area several years ago, supports the environmental groups’ efforts to stop the bridge at Lake Marion.
“We applaud those groups’ efforts,’’ Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said. “We think this bridge is a bad idea from an environmental standpoint and from a taxpayer protection standpoint.’’
Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
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