Beaufort County’s ‘Trash Mountain’ finally gone, but more work to do | Letters

Last Monday the final load of debris was hauled away from the recycling facility in Okatie — moved further inland, away from our fragile watersheds and to sites with superior environmental safeguards.

This is a huge accomplishment. Last July, this was a 90-foot-high pile of garbage spontaneously combusting and spewing smoke that forced nearby residents from their homes. Now it’s just a bad memory.

Many of you have asked how that pile was allowed to accumulate in the first place. It’s because our state’s solid waste law, passed in 1991, provided a loophole for “recycling” that was subsequently used in a way not then anticipated.

That loophole in the 1991 law has since been closed, but it left remaining 10 potential toxic waste dumps around the state — including ours. I will work with my colleagues to get the others closed, too.

I will also participate with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control in analyzing the now-empty Okatie site to see if the soil contains any contaminants; gas cylinders were found during the removal process, and the implications of that must be fully considered.

And I will work with our state’s environmental groups to enact even more stringent solid waste regulations. Given our fragile ecosystem, we must err on the side of caution.

Finally, I will ensure that serious consideration is given to whether any private parties are legally required to reimburse the EPA and DHEC for the funds they expended to clean up this mess.

It is a privilege for me to represent the people of Beaufort and Jasper counties in the South Carolina Senate. Best wishes for 2020 — we’re off to a good start.

Tom Davis

Beaufort

Speeding out of control

I’ve noticed lately that speed limits must mean nothing anymore. Whether I’m driving on a road posted at 45 mph or the interstate at 70 mph, I regularly see too many people driving 20 or 30 mph over the speed limit.

My first question is, “Where are they going that they need to drive this fast?”

Then, of course, there’s the person weaving in and out of traffic on the interstate as they fly by driving 90 mph.

I’ve also noticed that many of these speeders are driving these very large pickup trucks. I really don’t mind if this person kills himself or herself, but I don’t want to be killed by this person.

I’ve gotten to the point that when I see someone pulled over by police on the side of the road, I want to stop and shake the officer’s hand. Maybe the fines for speeding aren’t high enough to get these people’s attention, even when they do get caught.

I normally drive 5 mph over the posted speed limit so I’m not driving extremely slow in the left lane.

This year, I made a road trip to Virginia and I have never seen such bad driving as Richmond drivers. It appears these people have forgotten what merge means. I couldn’t believe it when I saw these drivers never even slow down when they were supposed to be merging with traffic. Instead they just forced their way into traffic and almost drove other drivers off the road.

Jerry Clark

Ridgeland

Politicians: No more rallies

I’m pretty sure that the public is as fed up as I am with the current state of politics. I would submit the following possible solutions as a way of hopefully alleviating some of the aggravation of watching and listening to the solutions of the many candidates, which are becoming extremely tiresome since most of them make no sense at all.

Require all candidates to submit, on a weekly basis, in writing, their plans to solve our many current problems. They would also be allowed to appear on the many political TV shows to make their case.

If they do not agree to the above, and absolutely insist on holding rallies, require them to send the same amount of money that they spend on said rallies to the IRS, for the purpose of helping to reduce the national debt. The money spent on these public displays is mind-boggling.

As a side benefit of reducing the hundreds of miles the candidates travel, think of the reduction in pollution of the air when planes are not flying or cars not traveling all these miles. This should appeal to the “Green New Deal” zealots.

Wally Slate

Okatie

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