In a ruling on February 9, Chief Administrative Law Judge Ralph King Anderson, III issued an Order in favor of Lexington-Richland Five and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control affirming the Department’s  issuance of the storm water permit that was challenged by School Board Member Kim Murphy and two other petitioners. The permit is needed to complete the long-delayed expansion and renovation project at Chapin High School. 

Judge Anderson concluded that Lexington-Richland Five has fully complied with the requirements of law and that Murphy and the other Petitioners did not show they suffered any direct, personal injury caused by DHEC’s issuance of the permit. 

He went on to say, “while she is the only Petitioner who lives in the same watershed in which the unnamed tributary is located, she lives on Wateree Creek upstream from where the tributary flows into the creek. Her testimony regarding injury from pollutants downstream from her property was not reliable or competent.” 

This is the seventh court ruling against Murphy in regards to the Chapin High School project.  Two Administrative Law Court Judges and the Supreme Court of South Carolina have denied Murphy’s motions seeking to stop the construction of the project until all court proceedings have been completed. The Supreme Court of South Carolina heard argument regarding Murphy’s original appeal on January 11, 2012 and that decision is pending.