(A) The institute may issue an exclusive license for the excavation or disturbance of submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property on submerged lands over which the State has sovereign control to any person or entity for the time and under the conditions as the institute considers appropriate. After an agreement has been entered into pursuant to Section 54-7-650(B), licenses may be issued if the institute determines that:

1. (1) issuance of the license is in the best interests of the State; and
2. (2) the applicant has completed an application which includes a research plan that meets standards established by the institute regarding professional qualifications, techniques, and methodology for recovery and dissemination of data and proper conservation of information and materials.

(B) The institute may not issue an exclusive license to a person or entity seeking title to a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property or a portion of such property, or to a person or entity seeking to utilize a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property for commercial salvage or other income-producing purposes, unless:

1. (1) issuance of a license is consistent with the purposes of subsection (A)(2) of this section;
2. (2) the applicant has provided the institute with some form of assurance acceptable to the institute that the project will be carried out and completed in accordance with the research plan approved by the institute; and

3. (3) the institute finds one or more of the following conditions met:

   1. (a) the property to be excavated or disturbed is, in the opinion of the institute, threatened with imminent destruction or substantial damage by natural factors or by human factors unrelated to the commercial excavation or disturbance of the submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property in question;
   2. (b) the submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property is not, in the opinion of the institute, of primary scientific value, of major archaeological, anthropological, historical, recreational, or other public value;
   3. (c) the proposed disturbance will be minor in scale and will produce information relevant to the goals of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology or the South Carolina Museum Commission regarding the management and preservation of submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property; or
   4. (d) that the subject property of the license will not be excavated by any other person in the foreseeable future and that property will remain submerged until that time.

(D)

1. (1) The institute may require a licensee to assist in defraying the cost of the institute's and/or museum's review, administration, and supervision of the license.
2. (2) The application fee for an intensive survey license is fifty dollars for residents and one hundred dollars for nonresidents. The application fee for a data recovery license is five hundred dollars for residents and one thousand dollars for nonresidents.
3. (3) The institute reserves the right to waive the license application fee, in whole or in part, if the institute considers it appropriate in order to adjust the reasonableness of the fee as a proportion of the potential value and risk in undertaking the licensed project to the anticipated costs of the institute to review, supervise, and administer the license.
4. (4) The license application fee must be refunded if the institute rejects a license application.