Star Profile
Ben Gregg of the S.C. Wildlife Federation
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Ben Gregg

The S.C. Wildlife Federation (S.C.W.F.) will sponsor its annual gala, Wild Summer's Nite, Saturday, Aug. 4 at 6 pm inside the Moore Building at the State Fairgrounds.

The food offered will include hog, venison, gator, duck, and quail, all accompanied by an open bar.

A Benefactor Ticket is $150 for two, which is also good for one lottery chance at a $5,000 grand prize. Ben Gregg, executive director of S.C.W.F. will run the event.

Gregg was born at McLeod Infirmary in Florence, where his mother was with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. He matriculated through the Florence system of public schools and played varsity tennis at Florence High.

Gregg made the tennis team in 1967, which was his freshman year at Presbyterian College in Clinton at a time when P.C. was known for one of the best tennis programs in the country.

After college, Gregg who was a history major, planned on law school.

In law school at USC, Gregg began at Petigru College and moved with the school to the new building on Main Street south of the capitol, a location the law school has been trying to leave for about eight years.

Gregg took full advantage of the school's offerings in environmental law.

In his first year after law school graduation, he worked in private practice in Florence. But soon Gregg began to appreciated his need for more environmental studies, which would prepare him for environmental law.

Gregg enrolled at Yale University in New Haven for their two- year master's degree program in forestry and environmental studies.

Gregg finished Yale in 1977 to become the first in- house attorney for the S.C. Coastal Council, formed that year under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. South Carolina is home to 40% of the coastal wetlands for the East Coast.

After two years with the Coastal Council, Gregg left for a two- year appointment by Gov. Dick Riley as the state's director of Natural Resources.

In 1981, Gregg resumed private practice in environmental law, and married Ann Timberlake, who is head of Conservation Voters of S.C., part of the National League of Conservation Voters.

Their daughter Elizabeth recently finished college at the University of Colorado with a major in Italian. Her French is also good, good enough for her to spend her junior year in both Paris, France, and Ferrara, Italy.

Gregg joined forces with Bud Ferillo in 1987 to make the grade as a full- service communications firm in Columbia called Ferillo, Gregg & Associates. Their major clients were the electric co- ops in the state. Gregg separated from Ferillo after several years to join Charlotte- based Carolina Public Relations/Marketing, Inc. where he was manager and director of governmental communications for 10 years.

As the executive director for the S.C.W.F., Gregg pushes for positive environmental management on several fronts.

One is the issue of climate change, which Gregg addresses as an opportunity - no, an ultimatum - to use fewer fossil fuels.

Gregg said that one state S.C. can follow is California. With its near- disastrous experiments with deregulation, Enron and all, California fell off its pedestal in 2001 when each California citizen on average used 40% less energy than the average American. But since the Enron debacle of 2001, California has fashioned a new framework of utility regulations that places greater emphasis on efficiency than ever before.

Through 2008, California plans to spend $2 billion to save energy, and the savings should result in a net gain of $3 billion in economic benefits.

The energy efficiencies will avoid the need to build three major power plants, which can be the equivalent of taking 650,000 cars off the road.

Ben Gregg and his S.C.W.F. have taken note. S.C. should do the same.