EMERGENCY WAIVER GRANTED FOR HAY DELIVERIES

COLUMBIA -- The South Carolina Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday, December 19, 2007, that drought relief hay shipments into South Carolina from other states will be exempt from normal size, height, weight and width restrictions.

The decision was made at the request of South Carolina Department of Agriculture Commission Hugh E. Weathers and comes after 33 South Carolina counties had been declared natural disaster areas due to drought and excessive heat.

Governor Mark Sanford had requested the disaster designation from the United States Department of Agriculture in mid-September.

In his letter requesting the waiver on hay shipments, Weathers noted, “We desperately need to keep this hay moving in here because of problems with drought in South Carolina that has essentially wiped out most of the local production needed to fee livestock through the winter.” Weathers asked that the waivers remain in effect until further notice.

SCDPS Director James K. Schweitzer said the department was prepared to act to insure the timely delivery of the hay to those areas of the state covered by the federal disaster declaration.

“I have discussed this situation with representatives from the Governor’s office and with Col. Anna Amos, commanding officer of the State Transport Police,” Schweitzer said. “The necessary orders have been issued by Col. Amos to see that the flow of hay deliveries is not interrupted.”

The USDA’s disaster order includes: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Edgefield, Fairfield, Florence, Greenville, Greenwood, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, Union, Williamsburg and York Counties. An additional eight counties – Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry and Lee – were named as contiguous disaster counties.