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DHEC keeping secrets – Local / Metro – The State

DHEC keeping secretsBy SAMMY FRETWELLand JOHN MONK – sfretwell@thestate.com. jmonk@thestate.com 25 Nov 08

Locked in a government storage room are files that tell the story of a leaking nuclear waste landfill near Barnwell.

But when environmental lawyer Bob Guild asked to see the documents one day five years ago, state regulators only gave him a thin folder.

Landfill operator Chem-Nuclear had persuaded regulators to withhold many of the files, arguing the information included trade secrets. Without the records, Guild lost a court case that could have forced tougher disposal practices at the 37-year-old landfill.

“To say contamination records are trade secrets is just an outrage,” said Guild, who has appealed the court’s decision.

Guild’s troubles highlight a recurring complaint about the state Department of Health and Environmental Control: that it doesn’t inform the public well enough and, in some cases, deliberately withholds information that’s important to the public. It’s a complaint that spans the agency’s 35-year history………………State lawmakers and Attorney General Henry McMaster are among those critical of DHEC’s public information efforts in recent years.

In 2007, McMaster scolded the agency for failing to produce records related to the nuclear waste landfill. DHEC had withheld the documents not only from Guild, but from The State newspaper as well as from legislators during a public hearing…………………..

Critics say, among other things, DHEC has:

• Failed to warn the public about pollution.Failed to reveal important pollution data on its Web site.Set fines in closed-door meetings with polluters Failed to respond to public records requests…………………….The documents showed high levels of radioactive tritium contamination at dozens of places beneath the site, indicating to Guild that the leaks were more serious than people realized. “Our case would have been strengthened if we had had the information,” he said.

DHEC keeping secrets – Local / Metro – The State

November 24, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties