This morning’s article in The State on the Pinewood landfill and the risk of hazardous waste leaking into Lake Marion reminds us all of the importance of strong leadership to protect our drinking water and our natural areas. We are…

A recent op ed in the Greenville News, “Can and should we put a price tag on nature?” (Oct 5, 2014) by two Furman professors, Dr. John Quinn and R. Melanie Cozad, reminds me how time and…

In 2012, I worked closely with our conservation lobbyists and environmental attorneys to defend South Carolina’s historic Pollution Control Act. In the end, we reluctantly agreed to a compromise that weakened the citizens “cause of action” but ensured that the…

Southern Environmental Law Center, Upstate Forever, and Save our Saluda requested an Ex Parte Briefing on Duke’s Coal Ash with the South Carolina Public Service Commission. Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, and a…

Today was awesome. More than 300,000 people marched in the People's Climate March in New York City. I met folks from around the country who are committed to finding commonsense, pragmatic solutions to climate change, and building a movement that can create the political space for those solutions. Showing political support for acting on climate by marching is important, but it's not enough. Changing political outcomes by voting is essential.

Here’s a quick shot of the march. The weather is overcast and pleasant. We started the march walking south down Central Park West. I started at 76th St, with other conservation groups. We’re passing Rockefeller Center now, and…

Good morning, We're just rolling into New York. It's been a long ride overnight from Charlotte. My bus--Charlotte Bus #2--is one of almost 500 buses heading to New York for today's march. The trip up was great. I learned quite a bit from my bus-mates from throughout the Carolinas. The coal ash issue for example is much more serious in North Carolina, following the Duke spill earlier this Year. I shared that South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control is leading a strong stakeholder effort to address the EPA Clean Power Plan, with participation from utilities, the cooperatives, and conservation groups. We also watched 350.org's film, Disruption, that Ann Timberlake emailed about on Friday. If you have not had a chance to see it, check it out. It provides some great context for today's events.

The three buses bound for the People's Climate March from Charlotte are heading out. All three are packed with folks from throughout North and South Carolina, including students from Clemson, retirees from Columbia, and activists from Greensboro. We'll stop for breakfast in New Jersey in the morning, and the buses will drop us off on the Upper West Side around 9:00 in the morning. The march will start at 11:30, and I'll be in the section of the lineup that highlights that "we have solutions" to act on climate.

This evening, I will be speaking with the John Bachman Group of the Sierra Club about EPA's Clean Power Plan. If you are in Columbia, drop by. The meeting starts at 7:00, and it's at USC's Green Quad learning center. For more information on the Clean Power Plan and South Carolina, check out DHEC's Clean Power Plan webpage and Coastal Conservation League's Think Energy website.

Yesterday’s court decision to require more stringent disposal procedures at the Barnwell nuclear waste dump was long in the making. We congratulate our friends at the Sierra Club and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project for “sticking to their guns” in this case. It was filed way before our involvement in the issue but I remember well the shock of legislators when they saw the open trenches on a tour of the site in 2007. We were in the middle of fighting a bill that would have let the nation continue sending its commercial, nuclear waste there. Not long afterwards, the House Agriculture Committee unanimously voted NO, and the Atlantic Compact went into effect. Although the Compact now allows only waste from South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey, it’s important that all reasonable measures are taken to safely handle it.