Green Diamond Development (SC)
Court Ruling Puts Destructive Levees on Hold
©Perry Pellechia
The bottomland hardwood swamp of Congaree National Park
Columbia Venture's 4,600 acre "Green Diamond" development in the floodplain near Columbia, SC would turn the currently unpopulated farmland and forest into a New Orleans-style city behind the levees along the Congaree River. In addition to putting people and property in harm's way, a new levee system would disrupt the natural ecology of the floodplain and raise flood risks for those living across the river.
To prevent this, SELC has taken this battle to the courts - most recently, to appeal a federal trial court ruling that struck down accurate and protective flood maps developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. While a final decision is not expected from the appeals court until early 2009, the court did recognize the need to prevent irreversible damage posed by levees in the meantime, and granted SELC's request for the developer to discontinue further construction of the levees. As a result, FEMA officially announced it would keep the protective flood maps in place for the foreseeable future.
The FEMA maps, developed in 2001, appropriately mapped areas on the Richland County side of the Congaree River as "regulatory floodplain," properly recognizing that the current agricultural levees in Richland County should not be counted on to provide protection from a 100 year flood.
FEMA's designation, which carries with it certain development restrictions, was challenged by the politically aggressive developer of the "Green Diamond" development.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the SC Wildlife Federation and local citizens, intervened in the litigation on behalf of FEMA to assist the agency in defending the 2001 flood map and to ensure that the court understands the practical ramifications of Columbia Venture's campaign to have the current map replaced by one that would usher in new levees and new floodplain development.
However, in November, 2005, a federal district judge deemed the maps invalid because FEMA had failed to properly advertise certain portions of the decision making process. Because the judge felt the maps were created in error, she threw out the entire maps. However, her ruling did not address the accuracy of the maps themselves.
SELC has asked a federal appeals court to order the district court to determine the merits of the maps, so that FEMA can avoid the arduous process of recreating its own research, and instead, focus on ensuring the public has the opportunity to weigh in on the maps' changes.
