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Senate committee advances S. 367 to speed removal of abandoned and derelict vessels
Summary
S. 367, a bill to create procedures for declaring and removing wrecked, abandoned or sunken vessels statewide, was amended and given a favorable report by the Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Committee. The panel adopted amendments on limitation periods and removed an undefined phrase from the bill.
The Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Committee gave a favorable report to S. 367, a bill that establishes procedures allowing the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to declare and remove wrecked, junked, abandoned or derelict vessels and to address sunken vessels in South Carolina waterways.
The bills sponsor and staff described S. 367 as filling a gap left by earlier legislation that provided funding for vessel removal but not a removal mechanism. The sponsor said the bill "provides procedure for their removal, as well as for the removal of sunken vessels," and credited input from two Admiralty attorneys who reviewed the draft.
DNR law-enforcement Major Michael Paul Thomas said the measure "is a great plan and a great way to to get these boats out in a quicker manner," adding the department needs faster tools because sinking accelerates removal difficulty. The bill as presented includes a civil fine (up to $10,000) plus reimbursement for the cost of removal.
Committee members asked several technical questions. One senator proposed changing the bills 180-day recovery period to conform with the applicable statute of limitations; DNRs major said that longer periods are sometimes necessary because owners can be hard to locate. The committee adopted an amendment to conform the recovery period to the applicable statute of limitations (effectively three years) and also adopted an amendment removing the drafts phrase "in a state of disrepair," which counsel said had no clear body of case law.
A senator noted that in some pollution or fuel-leak cases the federal Clean Water Act and related federal pollution statutes (identified in the hearing as the Federal Pollution Control Act) can be invoked; committee members said those federal tools remain available but are separate from the state removal process outlined in S. 367.
With no further amendments, the committee voted to report the bill favorably as amended. The chair described the measure as addressing a statewide problem, not just a coastal one, and recorded unanimous support including proxies from Cromer, Turner and Young.
