SCWF and other conservation groups are working to ensure that new housing developments conserve critical wildlife habitat and protect residents from increased flooding. The article below describes our challenging of a permit for the almost 10,000-acre proposed Cainhoy development, near the Francis Marion National Forest, which would destroy nearly 200 acres of wetlands that offer critical protection from flooding by storing flood waters.
“Not only does the planned development put new residents in the direct path of flood waters, but it will also impact the nearby national forest and wildlife,” said Sara Green, Executive Director of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. “The development will remove critical habitat for animals like the red-cockaded woodpecker on the Cainhoy site and negatively impact the national forest, an invaluable natural resource for all.”
Federal regulators have approved plans for a city-sized development on the Cainhoy Peninsula. Environmental groups say the project will make the area more vulnerable to flooding. File/Staff
CAINHOY — Environmental advocacy groups in South Carolina filed a lawsuit challenging a permit for a proposed 9,000-acre community along Clements Ferry Road they say would make the area more vulnerable to flooding.
The Point Hope project has been approved for as many as 18,000 homes on land that straddles Clements Ferry Road between S.C. Highway 41 and Interstate 526. Permits were authorized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on May 11.
The lawsuit filed Aug. 17 claims issuance of the Army Corps permit violates the federal Clean Water Act’s prohibition on filling wetlands if there is a less environmentally damaging alternative.
Environmentalists said the project would destroy nearly 200 acres of wetlands needed for floodwater storage, plus place about 45 percent of the planned housing in the floodplain. And more than 45,000 people would be added to the Cainhoy Peninsula beyond Daniel Island, according to a news release from the Southern Environmental Law Center detailing the case.
The center filed the suit in federal court in Charleston on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League, Charleston Waterkeeper and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation.
The Corps referred requests for comments on the lawsuit to the U.S. Department of Justice. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment through an email sent on Aug. 18.
Charleston Waterkeeper Director Andrew Wunderley said the developers should be doing everything they can to minimize destroying wetlands that protect residents from floodwaters.
“Damaging hundreds of acres of wetlands is clearly reckless for future occupants of the development,” Wunderley said in the news release.
Several other defendants and issues of concern were also listed in the complaint.
The Environmental Protection Agency is being sued because of its failure to veto the Corps’ permit, the plaintiffs said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is listed in the complaint because it “unlawfully issued a biological opinion authorizing the extirpation (elimination) of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers from the property.”
“It’s the biggest poster child for a bad idea with filling a wetlands, housing in a floodplain and endangered species,” said Catherine Wannamaker, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
In addition, the development is planned on an already-crowded road that has its share of traffic issues, environmentalists said.
Because of its proximity to the Francis Marion National Forest, wildlife there, like the red-cockaded woodpecker, could be impacted by city-sized development.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers nest in live trees and depend on mature pine trees to build their internal nests. The Francis Marion once had the nation’s second-largest naturally increasing population. The animals were listed as endangered in 1970, and about half of the population in the forest here was displaced after Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Point Hope could further remove critical habitat for animals like the woodpecker and negatively impact the forest, environmentalists said.
The environmental groups say they are not opposed to development occurring on the Point Hope property. Instead, they are advocating for a development plan that is resilient and sustainable, said Jason Crowley, a senior program director for the Coastal Conservation League.
He said environmentalists hope to work with the federal agencies and developers on a resolution that substantially minimizes the impacts to natural resources and avoids putting homes in the floodplain “at the same time that the Army Corps is trying to build a billion-dollar seawall downtown.”
The federal government has 60 days to file an answer to the suit, Wannamaker said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Department of Justice confirmation it would not be commenting on the lawsuit.
Published 8/18/22 in Charleston Post & Courier
By Shamira McCray smccray@postandcourier.com - Shamira McCray covers climate change and the environment for the Post and Courier. Follow her on Twitter at @ShamiraTweets.