South Carolina construction company sued by state for trash pile cleanup

In a civil lawsuit filed Sept. 3, the state of South Carolina and its Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) accused Chandler Llloyd, owner of Able Contracting Inc. and Earlbee LLC, Ridgeland, South Carolina, of accumulating over four acres of miscellaneous debris in a mound over 50 feet tall.

As reported by The Island Packet, the lawsuit alleges the compacted material in the pile caught fire several times last year and released “hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants” into the environment..

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Solicitor General Robert Cook are among the lawyers signed as counsel in the suit, which cites as authority the Solid Waste Policy and Management Act and the state’s Hazardous Waste Management Act.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Able Contracting facility in question receives construction and demolition debris which is shredded as recyclable materials are removed. The site is estimated at 8.25 acres in size and contains approximately 4 acres of stockpiled material that the company has accumulated over time.

DHEC, which says it had removed 115,138 tons of material from the site by Jan. 6, is asking Lloyd and his companies to pay the state over $5 million in cleanup costs.

The lawsuit comes after Sen. Tom Davis and members of the Jasper County legislative delegation called on Wilson last October to pursue legal remedies to recover “all public funds expended” in fighting the fire and removing the material from Able Contracting. It alleges that DHEC spent $240,000 from its Solid Waste Emergency Fund and an additional $5 million to clean up the site.

The lawsuit is the state’s effort to recoup that money after DHEC and the EPA spent months at the mound along Schinger Avenue in the Okatie area.

The Sept. 3 lawsuit is not the first time Lloyd and Able Contracting have faced legal problems related to the trash pile.

In 2018, Lloyd and co-defendant Hiram Lowther were charged with violating the Pollution Control Act and the S.C. Solid Waste Policy and Management Act between 2015 and 2016 under indictments handed down by a Jasper County grand jury.