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Jasper port swimming against a stream of political challenges

Published Sunday, October 18, 2009
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My law partner, former Lt. Gov. Brantley Harvey, once told me that politics in South Carolina was like a bucket of crabs. Each crab struggles mightily, without help, to climb out and if one finally reaches the top, the rest will collectively pull it back down.

That's the curse of South Carolina being a "legislative state," where, unique among all others, the General Assembly not only passes laws, but also controls their execution and interpretation, and where regional special interests savage each other and the best interests of the entire state are ignored. It's every crab for itself.

For an example of this, one need look no further than the efforts to build a new port on the Savannah River in Jasper County. Everyone in the maritime business acknowledges this land is the best undeveloped port site on the Eastern Seaboard, yet whether a port is ever to be built there remains in doubt. Geographically, the Jasper County site has everything working in its favor. It is much closer to the ocean than Savannah's terminal. It is also close to an excellent system of interstate highways and it is accessible by rail. And it is a surrounded by thousands of undeveloped acres that could easily support maritime and commercially related infrastructure.

The business case is equally compelling. The new port would be a powerful economic engine creating desperately needed jobs up and down the so-called "Corridor of Shame." Throw in the fact that the environmental community is united in its support for the project and you'd think it was a slam dunk.

And indeed, much progress has been made.

Two years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said South Carolina and Georgia must work together on the new port since both had the power to stop the other's independent development. The two states responded by working together and have made impressive strides. Lawsuits have been dismissed, title to the port site has been conveyed by Georgia to a bi-state partnership and engineering for the terminal is under way.

Officials in both states have also agreed that an independent entity for the new port must be created through an interstate compact. Competent and honorable people serve on the boards of the South Carolina State Ports Authority and the Georgia Ports Authority, but the new port needs to be put in the charge of an entity whose sole purpose is to make it a reality.

There is progress as well with port officials in Charleston and Savannah recognizing that building a new port in Jasper County is not a zero-sum game - that gains there do not mean losses for them. Studies show that over the next 15 to 20 years, shippers will need our region to annually handle about 20 million TEUs ("twenty-foot equivalency units," or shipping boxes) and the ports in Charleston and Savannah will only be able to handle about 12 million.

A new port in Jasper County could meet this surplus demand. If South Carolina and Georgia continue to work together, our region will become the most powerful shipping entry point on the East Coast. And if we fail to build the new port, of course, the projected unmet demand, and the economic benefits of meeting it, will go elsewhere.

As this project moves from being an abstract possibility to a concrete probability, however, we must be mindful of the self-destructive tendencies of South Carolina's political system, and of the fact that some who professed to love the new port as an idea now despise it as a reality.

To its credit, our legislature has thus far done all the right things. It adopted the cooperative bi-state approach and set a deadline for negotiation of the interstate compact. And it passed a law declaring that the new port in Jasper County must be built "expeditiously."

In a "legislative state," however, such official state policy is too often derailed behind the scenes. That's the heavy cost of not having a strong executive branch to faithfully execute our laws and to make sure that declared state priorities remain priorities.

So I worry when individual legislators talk, as they have recently, about abandoning the cooperative approach with Georgia and about

how the economic gains generated by the new port would result in unacceptable losses elsewhere. That's nothing more than code for "let's pull that upstart crab back into the bucket."

This project is too important to fall victim to such small-minded, self-serving politics as usual. And the first step to making sure that it doesn't is for all of us to be fully aware that it could.

Tom Davis represents Beaufort County in the state Senate.

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U.S. Congress
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    Governor’s Office, State House, P.O. Box 12267, Columbia, S.C. 29211
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  • Senator Tom Davis(R-District 46)
    P.O. Drawer 1107, Beaufort, 29901-1107
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  • Rep. Curtis Brantley (D-District 122)
    194 Bees Creek Rd., Ridgeland, 29936
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    (803) 734-2965
  • Rep. Richard Chalk (R-District 123)
    326C Blatt Building, Columbia, S.C. 29211-1867
    Office: (803) 734-3067; Home: (843) 842-5985
    15 Goldfinch Lane, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29928
  • Rep. Shannon S. Erickson (R-District 124)
    (843) 986-1090
    306A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201
    (803) 734-3261
  • Rep. Bill Herbkersman (R-District 118)
    P.O. Box 11867, Columbia, S.C. 29211
    Office: (803) 734-3063; Home: (843) 757-5424
    151 Gascoigne Bluff, Bluffton, S.C. 29910
  • Rep. Kenneth F. Hodges (D-District 121)
    PO Drawer 355, Green Pond, 29446
    (843) 525-9006 Home (843) 844-8756
    434B Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201
    (803) 734-3062
Beaufort County
  • Rick Caporale (R-District 1)
    17 Salt Wind Way, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
    Office: 680-9999; fax: 681-6700
  • Steven Baer (R-District 2)
    10 Heather Lane, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
    Office: 689-3570; fax: 689-3569
  • Stu Rodman (R-District 3)
    27 Baynard Park, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29928
    Office: 363-470; fax: 363-6472
  • Weston J. Newton chairman (R-District 4)
    P.O. Drawer 7049, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29938
    Office: 842-6111; fax: 706-9981
  • William McBride (D-District 5)
    P.O. Box 77, St. Helena Island, SC 29920
    Fax:(843)838-8303
    Home:(843)838-2264
  • Gerald Dawson (D-District 6)
    64-A Horace Dawsone Drive, Seabrook, SC 29940
    Fax:(843)846-4738
    Office:(843)846-4830
  • Paul Sommerville vice chairman (R-District 7)
    1509 Pigeon Point Road, Beaufort, SC 29902
    Fax:(843)379-7115
    Office:(843)379-7114
  • Herbert N. Glaze (D-District 8)
    P.O. Box 4053, Burton, SC 29903
    Fax:(843)846-3601
    Home:(843)846-2845
  • Brian Flewelling (R- District 9)
    25 Petigru Drive, Beaufort, SC 29902
    Fax:(843)379-9806
    Office:(843)379-9805
  • Jerry Stewart (R-District 10)
    11 Teaberry Lane, Bluffton, S.C. 29909
    Office: 705-4753; fax: 705-4723
  • Laura Von Harten (D-District 11)
    166 Fuller Parkway, Beaufort, SC 29902
    Fax:(843)379-1380
    Office:(843)379-1367
Beaufort County School District
  • District Office: 1300 King St., P.O. Drawer 309, Beaufort, SC 29902
    Office: 322-2300; fax: 322-2371
    Hilton Head Island office, 689-4635; fax: 689-4617
    • Beaufort County Board of Education members:
    • Fred S. Washington chairman (District 11)
      PO 325, 804 West Street, Beaufort, SC 29901
      (C) 843-524-8404
    • Bob Arundell vice chairman (District 2)
      198 Woodlake Villas, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
      Home: 681-8502; work: 7855-8040; fax: 785-3056;
    • Joan Deery (District 1)
      5 old Fort Drive, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
      Home: 681-8968
    • Wayne Carbiener (District 3)
      Home: 843-363-2113
    • Laura Bush (District 4)
      P.O. Box 172, Bluffton, S.C. 29910
      Home: 757-2638; fax: 757-2638
    • Michael F. Rivers, Sr. (District 5)
      734 Seaside Road, St. Helena, SC 29920
      (H) 843-838-2277
      FAX 843-838-1192
    • Earl Campbell (District 6)
      93 Bruce Smalls, Grays Hill, P.O. Box 768, Lobeco, SC 29931
      (H) 843-846-4531
      (C) 843-476-7512
      FAX 843-846-1373
    • Jim Bequette (District 7)
      4 Broomfield Lane 2532, Beaufort, SC 29907
      (H/C) 843-263-8327
    • Herbert Burnes (District 8)
      95 Pine Grove Road, Beaufort, SC 29906
      (H) 843-846-445
      (C) 843-263-2776
    • Ronald Speaks (District 9)
      3121 Palomino Dr., Burton, SC 29906
      (H) 843-525-1163
      (W) 843-525-8277
      FAX 843-525-1163
    • George Wilson (District 10)
      20 Osprey Circle, Callawassie Island, S.C. 29909
      Home: 987-1234; cell: 812-9870
City of Beaufort
Town of Hilton Head Island
  • Town Hall: One Town Center Court, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928; 341-4600
    • Town Council
    • Mayor Thomas D. Peeples
      4 Hartford Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928-3922
      Home: 686-4138; office: 681-2600; fax: 689-3229
    • Bill Ferguson (Ward 1)
      634 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
      Home: 686-2863
    • William Harkins (Ward 2)
      3 Old Fort Lane Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
      263-3261 - cell
    • Drew A. Laughlin (Ward 3)
      5 McIntosh Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
      Home: 689-5723; work 689-5700; fax 689-9300
    • John Safay (Ward 4)
      19 Starboard Tack, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
      Home: 785-4489; work: 785-4696; fax: 785-4696
    • George Williams (Ward 5)
      8 Braddock Cove, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
      Home: 363-6601; fax: 363-6604
    • Ken S. Heitzke (Ward 6)
      3 Audubon Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
      Home: 681-8182; fax: 681-9864
Town of Bluffton
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