Groups ask SC court to block Savannah deepening OK

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Environmental groups in South Carolina and Georgia want the South Carolina Supreme Court to declare illegal a state agency’s approval of deepening the Savannah River shipping channel.

Attorneys for the Southern Environmental Law Center said in filings Tuesday that the Department of Health and Environmental Control has no authority to approve a permit for the deepening needed so Georgia ports can handle larger ships once the Panama Canal is widened.

Attorneys say that authority rests with the South Carolina Savannah River Maritime Commission.

South Carolina lawmakers earlier passed a law retroactively suspending DHEC’s ability to make dredging decisions involving the river.

Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed the law only to be decisively overridden by the General Assembly with all but one lawmaker in both houses voting to override.