Regulator acts against Oconee earthen dam owner

An enforcement action against the owners of an earthen dam in the Oconee County community of Tamassee is on the agenda for this week’s meeting of the South Carolina DHEC commissioners in Columbia. The Fiddler’s Cove Property Owners Association faces a penalty of $21,400 along with the requirements of a consent order prepared by the DHEC staff. Citing the South Carolina Dams and Reservoirs Safety law, DHEC proposes an order to supersede an emergency order issued in May 2018. The consent order would require the Fiddler’s Cove POA to do the following: “maintain a safe water level as to not present a hazard to surrounding residents and property; submit documentation that a professional engineer has been retained to develop a repair or removal plan; submit a permit application for repair of the dam that includes a tree management plan; or an application to remove the dam….” It further would require: “submit documentation that all necessary local, state and federal applications have been submitted; submit monthly reports summarizing repair activities; submit notification of repair or removal completion; and pay an expense recovery fee to the Department in the amount of twenty-one thousand four hundred dollars ($21,400.00).”