Conservation Voters of South Carolina
Senator Ronnie Sabb
11:30am – 1:30pm
Phillip Kilgore, Greenville Water
2022 Honorees
AWARDS LUNCHEON
Speaker of the House Murrell Smith
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Honoring Conservation Leadership and Achievement
Welcomes You to the 14th Annual
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Cynthia Swanson Powell Chair, CVSC Board of Directors
Today we celebrate our Green Tie honorees. Each of these outstanding leaders has demonstrated commitment to prioritizing conservation in South Carolina. We congratulate them on using their positions of power to preserve more local land, hold polluters accountable, expand opportunities for clean energy, and clean up contaminated water. Their bold approach to leadership has laid the groundwork for future leaders to expand upon this remarkable progress.
Letter From the CVSC Board Chair
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CVSC is uniquely suited to promote conservation through bipartisan political action. We accomplish this by educating voters and their state leaders on threats to our precious natural resources and untouched landscapes. We empower advocates to make their voices heard on all crucial conservation issues. And we hold our leaders accountable to foster a safe, clean, and healthy future for South Carolina.
Thank you to all of the businesses and individuals who have helped to make this event possible through your generous contributions. If you are not already a member of CVSC, we would love to have you join us. We need your help to create a bipartisan conservation majority at the State House and protect the South Carolina we all love.
This work can be done only with the support of a strong conservation network across the state. The presence of the many political, business, and community leaders here today sends a powerful message to the State House that conservation leadership matters.
I hope you have a wonderful time today. Thank you for your support!
On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Conservation Voters of South Carolina, I welcome you to the 2022 Green Tie Awards Luncheon. As we all gather here – business owners, elected officials, and community members alike – to celebrate the achievements of today’s honorees, there is no doubt that the conservation movement has a far-reaching impact in South Carolina.
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Google is proud to call South Carolina home to our Berkeley County data center. We are the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, match 100% of our global energy use with renewables for both data centers and offices, and have been carbon neutral since 2007. google.com/berkeleycounty
Senator Ronnie Sabb 13
Board of Directors and Staff
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Table of Contents
Phillip Kilgore, Greenville Water 17
2022 Green Tie Award Honorees
Sponsors
Letter from the CVSC Education Fund Board Chair
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Table of Contents
Speaker of the House Murrell Smith 15
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Previous Honorees
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Luncheon Menu 23
Letter from the CVSC Board Chair
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Letter from the CVSC Education Fund Board Chair
We continued these trends over this past year through our collaborative, community-oriented work. As part of our efforts to address high energy burdens faced by low-wealth communities, CVSC Education Fund helped to build a multi-faceted coalition that collected hundreds of energyrelated surveys providing valuable insight into varied experiences from across the state. CVSC Education Fund also built and strengthened relationships with over one hundred partner organizations and businesses across South Carolina – elevating our shared conservation priorities to decision-makers at all levels of government around clean water, land protection, and clean energy. Finally, we engaged thousands of South Carolinians in the environmental decision processes and published a robust Energy Progress Update to keep ratepayers informed and engaged on decisions affecting their energy bills and clean energy.
This afternoon, we recognize our Green Tie Honorees for their leadership on pressing conservation issues and their innovative efforts to deliver game-changing ideas and solutions. We are grateful for their partnership and passion for preserving our environment and communities in every corner of South Carolina.
But today, we are also celebrating you, our partners in conservation, and the great work we’ve accomplished together. Thank you all for being a part of this celebration and for your support of CVSC and the CVSC Education Fund. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
Lauren McClary Acting Chair, CVSC Education Fund Board of Directors
This year, CVSC and CVSC Education Fund are commemorating our 19th year fighting to protect the South Carolina you love. Over these 19 years, CVSC Education Fund has educated citizens on how to ensure their voices are heard in public policy decisions, built strong and effective coalitions to advance conservation in every corner of the Palmetto State, and launched innovative programs to shine the spotlight on critical energy and environmental decisions that affect the lives of every South Carolinian.
Good afternoon, and welcome to the 2022 Green Tie Awards! Thank you all for coming out today; we have so much to celebrate and we can’t wait to share it all with you.
8 www.patriotartfoundation.org WE S A LUTE YOU
First Tuesday Strategies
Francis Marion Hotel McCall Environmental, PA
sponsors’ businesses, business practices, or products.
BlueCross BlueShield of SC*
Greenville Water* Current
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Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP
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*Donors
SPRUCE
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Sustaining Way Sustain SC Timberlake Communications* Watershed Consulting Group
Horry County Waste Authority
Southern
Audubon SC
Dream.OrgBoeing*
EMERALD
Bannister,
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to CVSC Education Fund
support
SouthWestSonocoReWaWater Company Speak UpstateStrategicForever
SAGE
2022 Green Tie Awards Sponsors
M. GoogleNemirow
Coastal Conservation League Coca-Cola Consolidated
Green Tie Awards sponsorship in no way indicates CVSC's or CVSC Education Fund's or endorsement of
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Cherry Street
FoxFoodShareEnergySCRothschild,LLPLuckCompaniesNaturalandTrustRES
Senior Golfers of America SC Association for Community Economic Development Sound & Images Water & Land Solutions Willoughby & Hoefer, PA Wyche PA
Nexsen Pruet & NP Strategies
Harper General Contractors
Furman University – Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities
OLIVE Deer Park Pine Gate Renewables Sunrun
Ogletree and Deakins Robinson Bradshaw
Alder Energy Group Wyatt, and Stalvey
10 Learn more about our work in the Carolinas at pinegaterenewables.com
We celebrate you and appreciate your leadership and vision for South Carolina. Because of leaders like you, South Carolina’s air, land and water are protected for current and future generations.
We are getting solar
Congratulations to the 2022 Green Tie Recipients done.
Pine Gate Renewables is expanding access to clean energy and well-paying jobs across South Carolina. Our solar projects generate renewable energy and positive environmental impacts while supporting South Carolina’s growing economy.
Chynna Phillips, Columbia Mark Robertson, Columbia
Arnold Nemirow, Charleston
CVSC Staff
John Tynan, Executive Director
Willie Morgan, Clarks Hill
Greg Gregory, Lancaster
Xavier Boatright, Strategic Partnerships Director
Lauren McClary, Acting Chair, Mt. Pleasant
Rebecca Haynes, Deputy Director
Millie Knowlton, Washington, DC
Emma Ruth Brittain, Myrtle Beach
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Sue Doran, Columbia
Jay James, Darlington
Marian Brailsford, Charleston
Bruce Cole, Columbia
CVSC Education Fund Board of Directors
Wilkins Byrd, Aiken
Meredith McNeely, Development & Operations Director
Harry Shealy, Aiken
Paul Agnew, Due West
CVSC Board of Directors
Cynthia Powell, Chair, Myrtle Beach
Katie Welborn Hagan, Coalitions Manager
Kevin Kay, Easley
Zach Bjur, Land, Water, & Ocean Project Manager
Susan Hilfer, Vice Chair, Beaufort
Emily Doscher, Development Associate
Jalen Brooks-Knepfle, Energy Project Manager
Ben Johnson, Rock Hill
Taylor Speer, Greenville Mike Young, Columbia
John Brooker, Energy Project Manager
Libby Smith, Charleston
Meagan Diedolf, Government Relations Director
Rebecca Geigel, Finance & Data Manager
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Senate Conservation Leadership Award Ronnie Sabb (D — District 32, Greeleyville)
During his service in the South Carolina General Assembly, Senator Sabb has been a consistent conservation champion, fighting for clean energy, clean water, and land protection efforts. His steadfast support for conservation policies has led to a 104% lifetime score on CVSC’s Conservation Scorecard. As both an attorney and a lawmaker with a close connection to his constituents, he appreciates the public health and quality of life protections that our bedrock environmental laws in South Carolina provide. Accordingly, he has fought tirelessly to prevent the rollback of core environmental protections that would harm the state and his beloved Pee Dee community.
With his legal expertise, negotiation tactics, and solutions-oriented approach, Senator Sabb has helped complex legislation navigate the complexities of both Senate committees and the Senate floor. He has taken principled stands to fight regulatory rollbacks – even when unpopular with leadership in the chamber– like the ban on local plastic bag ordinances and attempts to weaken dam safety. A bipartisan collaborator at heart, he joined Governor McMaster and Senator Campsen at the Cypress Preserve the summer of 2021 to kick off discussions about doubling the amount of protected land in South Carolina. He cosponsored the bipartisan Conservation Enhancement Act with Senators Campsen and McElveen to advance this laudable goal.
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Born and raised in Williamsburg County, Senator Ronnie Sabb graduated with a degree in Mathematics from Voorhees College before earning a law degree at the University of Florida. Senator Sabb began his public service career as a member of the Williamsburg County School Board. He was first elected to the General Assembly to represent District 101 in the House of Representatives in 2010. In 2014, he was elected as the first AfricanAmerican to represent Senate District 32.
In his spare time, Senator Sabb serves as a volunteer basketball coach for the Pee Dee All-Stars AAU Girls Basketball Team and is a deacon at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Greeleyville. Senator Sabb is married to Dr. Jennifer G. Sabb and has one daughter, Whitney, and a grandson, Jordan.
GreenCongratulationstothe2022TieAwardWinners!
Speaker Smith’s vision and leadership was instrumental in creating the Office of Resilience in 2020 and securing early funding to ensure the new agency had the resources to succeed. In the 2022 legislative session, Speaker Smith shepherded a record $100 million investment in land protection through the House Budget process and led efforts to create a $25 million state fund to remove toxic ‘forever chemicals’ from drinking water systems. In addition, Speaker Smith introduced the 2022 Conservation Enhancement Act as a first step to doubling the amount of protected land and water in South Carolina by re-establishing a dedicated funding stream for the South Carolina Conservation Bank. While these budget items were reduced through budget negotiations and the Conservation Enhancement Act stalled in late 2022, Speaker Smith never wavered on his commitments to a clean, safe, and protected South Carolina.
House Conservation Leadership Award Murrell Smith (R — District 67, Sumter)
Speaker Smith and his wife, Macaulay, live in Sumter with their two children, Bee and Murrell. Speaker Smith is a longtime member of Sumter’s First Presbyterian Church and the Sumter Rotary Club. He and his family enjoy the natural resources in Sumter like Sparkleberry Swamp.
The Honorable Murrell Smith was born in Florence, but has considered Sumter home since the age of nine. A graduate of Wofford College and the University of South Carolina School of Law, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000. Since 2019, he has been a partner at Smith Robinson where he represents clients in virtually every county in the state.
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Speaker Smith has served on the House Judiciary Committee and has chaired the House Ethics Committee, Judicial Merit Selection Commission, and the House Ways & Means Committee, before being elected as the 61st Speaker of the House in 2022. Throughout his two decades of service, Speaker Smith has remained a consistent conservation ally, earning his first Green Tie Award in 2015 for championing efforts to clean up toxic pollution at sites like Pinewood, to properly fund state agencies that protect our natural resources, and to preserve unique and special places in the Palmetto State. Since then, he has only ramped up these efforts as he ascended to Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee and earned an 86% on the 2021-2022 Conservation Scorecard.
Quality Water. Sustainable Future. SuperiorGreenvilleWaterqualitywatercomesfromsuperiorqualitycare.
Phillip and wife Aline raised two fine children, Harriet and Phillip, Jr., who went on to bring them two more fine children by marriage, John Scully and Bailey Ewing Kilgore.
Under Phillip’s guidance, Greenville Water has taken a holistic stewardship approach to enhance water quality and overall the health of its watersheds, ensuring clean and sustainable water supplies for generations. Understanding that our society needs future generations of conservation stewards, Phillip works with Greenville Water to promote STEM education and programs at Roper Mountain Science Center and the Boy Scouts.
Phillip Kilgore
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Phillip has served on the Greenville Water Commission for nearly 20 years and as Chairman since 2013, building a consensus for Greenville Water to become a leading voice for conservation and environmental stewardship. Greenville Water is engaged in active partnerships with conservation advocates, community groups, and government agencies, to the benefit of water customers and the larger public.
Under Phillip’s leadership, Greenville Water has advanced conservation outside of its watersheds, partnering with Naturaland Trust to protect the Chapman Bridge Preserve, the iconic Oconee Bells, and the unique wildlife habitat and water quality adjacent to Lake Keowee. Partnering with DHEC and DNR, Greenville Water has had a lead role in eliminating sediment from the Callahan Branch of the North Saluda River.
Phillip has also worked professionally for environmental causes. Although his law practice today with Ogletree Deakins Law firm focuses on employment law and business litigation, he has represented a number of clients pursuing pollution claims, including a lead role in the litigation against Colonial Pipeline after the diesel fuel spill in the Reedy River in 1996.
Phillip Kilgore was born and raised in the Greenville community. After college at William and Mary and law school at UofSC, he returned to Greenville in 1983 where he has lived and served since. As a Boy Scout and eventually an Eagle Scout, Phillip developed a deep passion for the mountains, forests, and streams of the Carolinas. This instilled in him a firm commitment to conservation principles such as “leave the world better than you found it” and “leave no trace.”
The Harriet Keyserling Conservation Advocacy Award
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Representative John King (D, York)
2016: Senator Nikki Setzler (D, Lexington)
2018: Senator Tom Davis (R, Beaufort)
Representative Bill Clyburn (D, Aiken)
2019: Senator John Matthews (D, Orangeburg)
2014: Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D, Orangeburg)
House Conservation Leadership
2013: Representative Chandra Dillard (D, Greenville)
Representative Walton McLeod (D, Newberry)
Previous Honorees
2017: Senator Thomas McElveen (D, Sumter)
2012: Senator Ray Cleary (R, Horry)
2020: Senator Tom Young (R, Aiken)
2010: Senator Chip Campsen (R, Charleston)
2013: Senator Wes Hayes (R, York)
Representative Doug Brannon (R, Spartanburg)
2009: Senator John Courson (R, Richland)
2018: Representative Peter McCoy (R, Charleston)
2015: Representative Murrell Smith (R, Sumter)
2014: Senator Greg Gregory (R, Lancaster)
2012: Representative Paul Agnew (D, Abbeville)
Representative Mandy Powers Norrell (D, Lancaster)
2015: Senator Brad Hutto (D, Orangeburg)
2020: Representative Beth Bernstein (D, Richland)
Senator Marlon Kimpson (D, Charleston)
2021: Senator Sandy Senn (R, Charleston)
Senate Conservation Leadership
2016: Representative Weston Newton (R, Beaufort)
Representative Laurie Funderburk (D, Kershaw)
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Representative Shannon Erickson (R, Beaufort)
2019: Representative Nathan Ballentine (R, Richland)
2017: Representative Joe Neal (D, Richland)
Representative Gary Clary (R, Pickens)
2011: Senator Vincent Sheheen (D, Kershaw)
Senator Phil Leventis (D, Sumter)
2021: Representative Marvin Pendarvis (D, Charleston)
Senator Joel Lourie (D, Richland)
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Representative James Smith, Jr. (D, Richland)
2017: Dr. Dave Hargett (Greenville)
2011: Representative Robert L. Brown (D, Charleston)
2014: Bob Guild (Columbia)
Previous Honorees
2014: Anne Springs Close (Fort Mill)
2013: Dana Beach (Charleston)
2010: Harry Dalton (Rock Hill)
(House Conservation Leadership Continued)
Representative Mike Pitts (R, Laurens)
2016: Frank Holleman (Greenville)
2019: Dr. J. William F. (Billy) Holliday (Myrtle Beach)
2017: Mayor Billy Keyserling (Beaufort)
Lifetime Conservation Achievement
The Harriet Keyserling Conservation Advocacy
2011: Jane Lareau (Mt. Pleasant) and Nancy Vinson (James Island)
2012: The Honorable Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (Charleston)
2009: The Honorable John W. Drummond (Greenwood)
2015: Brad Wyche (Greenville)
2010: Jimmy Chandler (Georgetown)
2010: Representative Joan Brady (R, Richland)
2015: C. Thomas Wyche (Greenville)
Representative Vida Miller (D, Georgetown)
2009: Representative Bill Herbkersman (R, Beaufort)
2018: Angela Viney (Spartanburg)
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2016: Rudy Mancke (Columbia)
2019: Peg Howell (Pawleys Island)
2009: The Honorable Harriet Keyserling (Beaufort)
2020: Marilyn Hemingway (Georgetown)
2021: Kelly Thorvalson (Charleston)
2013: Richard Watkins (St. Matthews)
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Green Tie Award Winners. HARPERGC.COM from our team at
Congratulations to this year’s
Roasted and smashed red potatoes, roasted goat cheese, fresh dill, caramelized onions
14 hour smoked pork shoulder, hand pulled & served lightly dressed in pepper vinegar sauce
Asparagus, turnips, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and sweet peppers, roasted in oil and shallot vinaigrette
Goat Cheese Smashed Potatoes
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Roasted Vegetables
Four cheese béchamel baked into macaroni with a layer of roasted cream cheese, and panko topping
Chicken breast paillard, rolled with goat cheese, panko, sweet onions, and sweet red peppers
Market Salad
Pulled Pork Shoulder
Chicken Roulade
Apple Galette
Mac & Cheese
Baby arugula, baby spinach, butter green lettuce, and fresh herbs with feta, pickled vegetables, dried fruit in smoked mustard & honey vinaigrette
Farfalle pasta, oven roasted grape tomatoes, sweet red peppers, kalamata olives, feta cheese, banana peppers, fresh herbs, capers, and red wine pickled onions in balsamic, basil, scallion mayo
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Roasted granny smith apples and bourbon caramel with vanilla cream cheese sauce
Served also with assorted sauces and relishes
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Specifically, we will:
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n Reduce absolute Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 13.5% from a 2019 base year
Emission reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
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n Actively study operational changes, technology developments and market changes to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
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