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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Green Oasis Environmental, Inc. (GRNO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles A. King who wrote (9528)	6/15/1998 1:01:00 PM
From: BuzzVA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13091

Funny there is no volume today, even with what seems to be some very liberating news. Has it hit the wires yet?

To: Charles A. King who wrote (9528)	6/20/1998 11:05:00 AM
From: Charles A. King	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13091

In the aftermath of the multiyear DHEC permitting process, unhappiness with DHEC continues to be expressed. What is needed at DHEC is a complete change of culture which will require policy makers to be replaced. Coastal panel wants power Saturday, June 20, 1998 By LYNNE LANGLEY Of The Post and Courier staff Backed by public requests, the state's coastal panel took strides Friday to pursue a new, more active role. Panel members also expressed dissatisfaction with what has evolved since the once independent S.C. Coastal Council fell under direction of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control four years ago. "I hope the people in authority in the state will wake up and realize what is happening and that it will lead to some changes," Coastal Zone Management Appellate Panel chairman Keith Kinard said during Friday's panel meeting in Charleston. Panel member Jennings Graves Jr. said that the panel should have some real force or be abo- lished. Several panel members have left in frustration, Kinard said. "I ask you to hang in there. If you don't, you are playing into the hands of our opponents. There is no question that under the present status of the panel, unless extensive changes are made, we are all wasting our time." The panel unanimously approved four recommendations spelling out a broader role beyond hearing permit appeals, its only activity since DHEC incorporated the coastal agency under state government restructuring. Panel and staff of the S.C. Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management will conduct open public sessions at every panel meeting to encourage dialogue on policies, issues and topics the public presents. Panel and staff will hold quarterly meetings at various places and times to get the public more involved. Panel and staff will convene special meetings on coastal policies, which panel or staff might review or initiate. Panel and staff will have special meetings to discuss complex, high-profile coastal applications; the panel will then make recommendations before staff makes decisions. Panel Vice Chairman Beverly C. Snow Jr. drafted the fourth recommendation. The panel held public hearings on and decided major permits in its earlier days as the policy-setting, authoritative Coastal Council Board. The recommendations will go to the DHEC board to forward to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees and partially funds the state coastal program. The panel also decided to hold three more public forums soon and then send more ideas to NOAA. In a recent evaluation, NOAA listed certain requirements. The public must be involved more and the panel should advise DHEC on coastal issues rather than just hear appeals. The state agency must respond by July 15. Lewis Shaw, the DHEC deputy commissioner who oversees coastal and other environmental programs, said the first three recommendations are appropriate, but he'd have to take the fourth to the DHEC board. Said panel member Henry Lawton, "We should be going back to the old Coastal Council and not advising any board. We should be advising the people." Friday's meeting included the panel's first public forum, in which no speaker supported the changes made under DHEC. Attorney Cotton Harness, who served as the agency's lawyer until five years ago, described recent changes as unfortunate and in some cases tragic. Return the coastal agency to its original status independent of DHEC, said Gerald Hazen, of the Coastal Conservation Association of S.C., a sport fishing group. "Coastal issues are not receiving the attention they deserve," said Nancy Vinson, water quality program director for the 4,000-member S.C. Coastal Conservation League. Hold more public forums and don't ignore recommendations from NOAA, said Ledley Bell of the Charleston League of Women Voters. The panel should be a policy-making group as the Coastal Council board was, Harness said. "It's important to the public to have a way to protect the coast." Under the current system, the public has lost its opportunity to be heard, Harness said. The board, meeting as committees, used to hold public hearings, listen to all sides and reach compromises on major applications, he said. Anyone dissatisfied could appeal to the full board, and often a landowner presented his own case, Harness said. Now staff decisions are appealed in a legal setting that requires lawyers, time and money, Harness said. Only later do appeals go to the panel. "The system does not work," he said. Panel member James V. Nichols agreed: "It may look pretty on a chart, but it does not sit pretty." charleston.net Charles