Environmental regulations are constantly changing with new challenges to practitioners for delivering improvements and maintenance to infrastructure, as well as new development. Recognizing this, the American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina (ACEC-SC) Environmental Committee, in cooperation with the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP-SC), the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) and the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers (SCSPE) are convening engineering and environmental professionals that are engaged in environmental compliance, planning, and design of South Carolina's civil infrastructure. This will be a day for collaboration between agencies who fund and manage infrastructure, agencies with regulatory authority, agencies who are stewards of human and environmental resources, and professionals who coordinate with these agencies for new development and to advance new and maintain existing infrastructure. As such, we are accepting technical session proposals for the 2025 Conference to be held February 18, 2026 in Columbia, SC. The conference will feature two tracts, Transportation and Environmental Policy.

The Transportation tract is anticipated to be relevant to any aspect of planning, permitting, and construction compliance with state and federal environmental laws (National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.) throughout SC for surface, air, and port transportation projects. Some sessions are also anticipated to include SCDOT speakers.

The Environmental Policy tract is anticipated to be relevant to any aspect of state and federal environmental permitting policies (such as, but not limited to, commercial/residential/industrial development, stormwater and flood control, green infrastructure, low impact development, resiliency, climate change, permitting reform, environmental law, changes to environmental regulation, dams, waste-water, applications of new technology, energy / renewables, emerging contaminants, etc.) throughout SC. Some sessions are also anticipated to include SCDES speakers.

While the selection committee is open to a wide variety of topics, they envision selecting presentations which are PDH-worthy; technical in nature and discuss how complex environmental approvals in an infrastructure or development project were planned, designed, and overcome; describe how new technology was leveraged; tie together pre-construction, construction, and maintenance aspects of a project; and reflect on how processes could be improved. The selection committee is also open to panel discussions. Presenters are provided conference attendance at no charge. The technical sessions within the tracts are divided into 50-minute slots.

Presenters are requested to prepare a 40-minute presentation, and 10 minutes are allotted for questions/answers and discussions. Presentations that appear to be product or service advertisements are discouraged and these resources are encouraged to be used in the sponsor opportunities available at the conference. If you have a presentation topic and are unsure of how it will be received or which tract is most suitable, please contact us at anne@acecsc.org or 803-771-4271.

Selection Schedule:
Call for Papers Opens: August 20, 2025
Deadline for Submission: September 19, 2025
Acceptance Notifications: October 27, 2025
Deadline for Synopsis, Bios, and Headshots: November 10, 2025
Deadline for Presentations and Audio/Visual Requests: February 9, 2026

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