By Adrianna Bradley

On November 8, 2017, DHEC’s Office of Environmental Affairs held its annual Environmental Assistance Conference — DHEC and Industry: Going Beyond the Fenceline Together. There were over 200 attendees and 17 vendors present. DHEC’s Environmental Affairs bureaus also set up their own tables.

Myra Reece, Director of Environmental Affairs, announced DHEC’s newest awards recognition program and presented the first Community Star Award.  Congratulations to the Lower Saluda River Coalition for winning DHEC’s FIRST Community Star Award. One of the coalition’s key objectives is to make water quality information more frequently and readily available to river users so they can make informed decisions on when to recreate in the river.

This brand-new award recognizes a business, community organization, collaborative partnership, or individual in our state that is going above and beyond environmental requirements to build better community relationships, promote environmental sustainability and resiliency, and/or improve quality of life for communities.

While this is the first award, it is not the last. The Community Star Award will be awarded annually at the Environmental Assistance Conference. Those interested can nominate themselves or others.

You can learn more about this award at www.scdhec.gov/communitystar. Also, to learn more about the Environmental Assistance Conference, you can visit www.scdhec.gov/environment/eac.

Visit this blog post for more about the work of the Lower Saluda River Coalition.