A plan for a $14 million education and environmental center on Hartwell Lake has hit rough waters.

Trustees have turned down the $7 million request for the South Carolina Water Education and Environmental Center. The money would have been used to jumpstart development and fundraising for what backers said would be a "world-class" education and environmental center to be built on 21 acres adjoining Hartwell Lake.

The WEEC Steering Committee has obtained the property for the center, secured architectural drawings and pitched the project to the trustee council associated with the Sangamo Weston/Twelve Mile Creek/Lake Hartwell PCB Contamination Superfund Site.

According to a letter from the trustees, the WEEC plan did not meet guidelines the trustee council has for use of about $9 million from a PCB-related settlement.

"Unfortunately, the proposal in total does not fit the intent of the available restoration funds," according to the letter from Ross Self, identified as council member for lead administrative trustee.

"The intent of the settlement funds is to create opportunities for fish harvest, enhance recreational fishing and to improve fish habitat and the natural resources within the Lake Hartwell-Twelve Mile Creek system," according to the letter. "While your proposal does mention the potential for improved boating access and the potential for fishing piers and bank access for anglers, it lacks detail to allow the trustee council to evaluate the possible benefits of these components of your overall proposal."

Steering Committee member Robert Rainey said the letter made is sound like the WEEC group needed to revise its proposal. He said the group was not stopping its efforts as a result of the letter.

“We think it’s a great project with tremendous potential," Rainey said. "It sounds like the trustees recognize we do have several of the components they are interested in funding. We just need to go back and restate our request to be more in line … with the intent of the order."

The WEEC Steering Committee has been planning the development with the hopes of receiving funding through the trustee council that oversees disbursement of funds from a 2006 settlement with Schlumberger in relation to PCB contamination in Twelve Mile Creek and Hartwell Lake.

A company purchased by Schlumberger operated a capacitor plant near the creek, which feeds into the lake. The plant used PCBs when it operated, from 1955 to 1977.