Perhaps more than anywhere else in the state, suburban sprawl into rural and agricultural lands is plaguing Greenville County, not just in terms of environmental health but also in terms of overall quality of life. We have been working with citizens groups in the southern and northern parts of the County, and have successfully defended these groups in court to overturn decisions made by the Greenville County Planning Commission.

After Greenville County voted to replace the county's only check on unabated sprawl, Article 3.1, SCELP was involved in advocating for the inclusion of several items in its replacement, Artlcle 22 - including the inclusion of open space in new rural developments and a 50-foot buffer requirement.

Water is integral to life, and SCELP works to protect important bodies of water in Greenville County from pollution. Most of our strategic objectives in this area are of immediate relevance in the County, whether to advance rules that give greater protection to water quality, such as pollution discharge permits, or to harness underutilized rules, such as Municipal Separate Stormwater System (MS4) permits and the growing number of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) approved to remedy an ever-expanding list of contaminated water bodies. And we must hold polluters accountable when existing rules and regulations are violated or patently ignored like Arabella Farm did when they filled pristine trout streams with tons of illegally discharged sediment.

SCELP has also been actively advocating for stricter drinking water standards. Access to safe, affordable and reliable drinking water is a basic human right, indispensable to sustaining healthy livelihoods and maintaining people’s dignity. It is also an increasingly urgent environmental protection and justice issue in South Carolina.

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With ups and downs and frustratingly slow progress, our work on the Bramlett site in the Southernside neighborhood since 2017 catalyzed a new phase in our work with vulnerable communities, leading to the priority of advancing environmental justice. Ever since our founding, we have strived to create and enforce environmental protections by offering our legal expertise to those in need, giving them an effective voice and legal muscle in processes when they would otherwise be financially foreclosed or procedurally marginalized.

We are committed to honoring our obligation to carry forward our motto “no case is too small” whenever a vulnerable or frontline community seeks assistance in our areas of expertise. To this end, we are ready to engage with new partners and serve more people to tackle old and new environmental hazards, especially when threatening historically underserved and overburdened communities.