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South Carolina's new environmental agency touts six‑month permitting goal for energy projects
Summary
Myra Reese, director of the Department of Environmental Services, told the council DES was restructured as a standalone agency, has about 1,200 staff, updated the state water plan and aims to deliver decisions on energy infrastructure permits within six months (or a mutually agreed timeline); she cited recent metrics showing most energy applications were completed within target windows.
Myra Reese, director of the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, told the advisory council the agency is positioning itself to provide “certainty” for energy infrastructure permitting and emphasized interagency coordination, pre‑application meetings and milestone tracking.
Reese said DES was created as a standalone state environmental agency following government restructuring, now employs roughly 1,200 staff and has assumed functions previously held elsewhere. She described a yearlong update to the state water plan that will be put into action at a water summit scheduled for May 19 and said the agency plans to ask a legislative panel and the governor to participate.
On permitting timelines, Reese said DES’s target for energy infrastructure applications is to issue a decision within six months of filing, unless the applicant and agency agree to an alternative, mutually signed timeline. The agency uses pre‑application meetings that include all relevant program areas (air, water, land, coastal and others) and coordinates with federal and local partners to set milestone dates and reporting responsibilities.
Reese provided a scorecard for energy projects: since last July DES received about 79 applications and issued 66–67 of them within the target window; she said there was one timeline agreement executed at the applicant’s request. Reese described dashboards and Power BI tracking to monitor reviewer workloads and to provide compliance assistance to consultants and partners who may need training.
Why it matters: permitting certainty can accelerate large infrastructure projects but requires coordination with federal partners (NRC, DOE, EPA), other state agencies and local governments. Reese said DES is adding capacity and intends to identify a nuclear‑sector contact within its Office of Permit Central to streamline energy reviews.
Next steps: Reese invited council members to the May 19 water summit, said DES would continue outreach roadshows across the state on environmental economic topics, and indicated closer coordination with Santee Cooper and VC Summer project teams was planned.
