government
Public-land mineral leases move to Environmental Services
South Carolina is shifting the state office that handles minerals, geothermal resources and related disputes. The Public Service Authority keeps its own leasing power on land it owns.
The bill hands mineral and geothermal regulation on public land to the Department of Environmental Services. Natural Resources stays the agent for leasing work, and the hearing rules move with the new setup.
- Environmental Services now handles mineral and geothermal oversight.
- The change covers public-land mineral interests and geothermal resources.
- Contested-case hearing language moves with the new agency home.
- The Public Service Authority keeps some leasing authority on its own land.
- Recorded votes show the bill cleared a floor vote.
South Carolina is moving mineral and geothermal oversight to the Department of Environmental Services, finishing another piece of the state’s breakup of the old Department of Health and Environmental Control, or DHEC. The bill transfers regulation of minerals and mineral interests on public land, along with geothermal resources covered in Chapter 9, Title 10, to the new agency home.
For anyone dealing with state land or resource rights, that is the part that matters. A permit applicant, landowner, mineral-rights holder or lawyer handling a dispute now has to start with Environmental Services instead of the old DHEC framework.
The leases and the hearing path
The change is not just about labels in state code. It also moves the contested-case hearing language in Section 1-11-20(D), which means the path for challenging a decision now follows the new agency placement.
The South Carolina Public Service Authority still keeps authority, through its board of directors, to make and execute leases of gas, oil and other mineral rights on lands it owns, except for phosphate, lime and phosphatic deposits. For geothermal resources and other public-land mineral interests, the regulatory and leasing path now runs through Environmental Services, with Natural Resources serving as the exclusive agent in selecting lands to be leased and administering the bidding and leases.
Who carried the bill
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Sylleste Davis and Rep. Bill Herbkersman, both Republicans, and recorded votes show it cleared a floor vote.