Our Impact

• Green Space Sales Tax
  • In an effort to increase local investment in conservation, CVSC and our partners helped to draft and pass a Green Space Sales Tax bill (S.152), allowing counties to put ballot referenda in front of voters to authorize up to a 1% sales tax to be used for land protection.
  • Governor McMaster signed the bill into law—and we saw immediate impact (see Referenda tab below).
• Offshore Wind Industries
  • CVSC staff drafted the Offshore Wind Industries bill (H.4831), which directed the Department of Commerce to study how we could attract more offshore wind manufacturing to the state—creating green jobs and benefiting our economy.
  • Working with advocates and partners, we applied strategic pressure on lawmakers to ensure this bill passed and was signed by Governor McMaster.
• Electronic Waste Recycling
  • CVSC was a leading voice in the initial fight to pass Electric Waste Recycling legislation a decade ago. In 2022, CVSC was approached by state agencies and stakeholders to engage heavily in discussions around its reauthorization (H.4775).
  • CVSC advocated successfully to ensure that the ban on putting computers and TVs into landfills remained in place and this bill (with the landfill ban) was signed into law in late 2022.
• Pyrolysis
  • Pyrolysis is an industry that claims it can “recycle” plastic into other substances like wax and diesel fuel at no cost to the environment. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is. Just as an Advanced Recycling bill (S.525) seeking to exempt pyrolysis from the state’s solid waste rules was being discussed, pyrolysis plants were catching fire and violating environmental rules across the country.
  • Our efforts mark the first time that the South Carolina legislature has provided DHEC the ability to review the compliance history of an applicant when granting permits and the first time any state legislature in the country has required bonding for financial assurances for the pyrolysis industry.
• Budget
  • With an unprecedented amount of money to allocate, the budget became a core focus of CVSC’s land and water protection efforts in 2022.
  • Thanks to the work of the CVSC team and the coordinated efforts of our conservation community, a remarkable $68 million was secured for the
    Department of Natural Resources and the South Carolina Conservation Bank to protect and conserve more green space across the state.

Read the full 2022 Impact Report 

With nearly $200 million on the Midterm ballot for land protection last year, we knew that voters across the state and on both sides of the political aisle cared about conservation–and we knew it was up to CVSC to make sure voters took action at the ballot box.

CVSC and our conservation allies launched robust campaigns to advocate for these referenda, making over 1.5 million voter contacts and investing over $200,000 to protect the land and water we love in South Carolina.

Our hard work and strategy paid off! Voters approved all 3 referenda that will generate nearly $200 million for land protection in rapidly growing counties. When leveraged with state and federal funds, these dollars will go a long way to protect the South Carolina we love.

• Beaufort County
  • Beaufort County became the first county to implement the Green Space Sales Tax and will raise $100 million for the protection of local water, open land, and green space over the next two years. Beaufort County serves as a shining example of the kind of land investments that are made possible by the Green Space Sales Tax and will hopefully inspire other counties to follow suit.
• Berkeley County
  • Berkeley County voters renewed a penny sales tax that continues funding for transportation improvements and implements a new conservation provision to dedicate 10% of the revenue—up to $60 million—to greenbelt projects that protect the lands and waterways that make Berkeley County such a special place. This was a resounding victory, with 73% of Berkeley County voters voting in favor of the referendum.
• Dorchester County
  • In Dorchester County, CVSC worked with partners to design and manage a campaign to educate voters about the 1% sales tax referendum for transportation and green space projects. Dorchester County voters approved the referendum with a vote of 58.9% in favor—meaning $35 million for land protection efforts in the area!

Read the full 2022 Impact Report 

With an unprecedented amount of money to allocate, the budget became a core focus of CVSC’s land and water protection efforts in 2022. Our staff focused heavily on securing funding for clean drinking water – specifically PFAS contamination remediation.

We worked closely with House budget writers to establish a PFOS, PFOA, and Emerging Pollutants Remediation Fund and appropriate $10 million dollars for this new funding mechanism. We also built into the fund a requirement that 60% or more of these funds must go to rural communities, ensuring that these funds go to communities often overlooked by these types of infrastructure grants.

• Primary Elections 
  • CVSC and CVSC-PAC invested heavily in the June primaries, where we focused on electing pragmatic leaders in open seats who will work across the aisle to protect our state. We also fought to defend key conservation champions of both parties. Our targeted mail, door-to-door activities, and direct contributions were successful, with a 91.7% success rate in the primaries. CVSC targeted mail, door-to-door activities, and direct contributions were successful, with a 91.7% success rate in the primaries.
• Changing Dynamics in the House
  • 38 of our 43 endorsed candidates were elected to the South Carolina State House, an overall success rate of 88.4%.

Read the full 2022 Impact Report

Passed land protection legislation that puts additional tools in the conservation ‘toolbox’, including passage of the federal Great American Outdoors Act that permanently funds the Land & Water Conservation Fund as well as passage of a bill that allows Counties to impelment a Green Space Sales Tax.

Successfully advocating for policies that ensure efforts to reform the state-owned utility, Santee Cooper, include provisions to evaluate a carbon neutral generation mix by 2050, close coal plants, and pursue a just transition with coal plant closures.

Engaged thousands of conservation voters in regulatory dockets at the Public Service Commission, supporting Commission decisions to close coal plants and transition to a clean energy future.

Created an innovative Emerging Contaminants Remediation Fund at the state level and seeded the fund with $10m to remove toxic PFAS chemicals from drinking water systems.