Enviro Head: Science on Climate Change in SC Needs to be Made Public

The Executive Director of one of the leading environmental organizations in South Carolina said that the public should have all the information about the effects of climate change in the Palmetto State.

Ann Timberlake, Executive Director of the Conservation Voters of South Carolina told Patch, "The science needs to be released. The public wants information they can trust."

Timberlake's comments come on the heels of a story by The State that revealed a report on the effects of global warming on South Carolina by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was never published.

A copy of the report is attached to this article.

The study appears to have been initiated during the Sanford administration and was completed in 2011, but was never released.

John Frampton was the DNR's chief when the study began, but he has since parted ways with the organization.

"It looks like there was a difference between (Frampton) and the board," Timberlake said. "We have a huge amount of respect for the staff at DNR, but If the state has funded the report we need to see it in its entirety. Do they think the people of South Carolina can't understand a scientific report?"

In The State article Gov. Nikki Haley said that solutions to climate change are what needs to be prioritized rather than causes. Timberlake did not disagree with that approach but added, "We need to talk about the science before talking about the policy," she said.

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