After the Party . . . the Real Work Continues

Well, the elections are done, and we all know how they came out.  The Chapter actually endorsed three candidates: John Spratt, Jim Clyburn, and Tom Clements.  Only Clyburn survived the night.  Losing John Spratt is a terrible loss for the environment; he has been a staunch supporter of so many important bills.  Tom Clements was not successful in his bid to overthrow Jim DeMint, who has a zero environmental voting record.  All of this does not bode well for a state already behind the eight ball on so many environmental fronts.

We purposely did not weigh in on the gubernatorial race. We expected it to be a very close race and knew we would have to work with either winner. While Vincent Sheheen has a better record on environmental votes in our state, we should not automatically expect Governor Haley to be opposed to cleaning up our air and water, and holding business accountable for their pollution.  Despite her statements that DHEC should get out of the way of business, as a mother with small children, we assume she does not want more toxic materials in their air and water either.  Call it gender bias, but I think we mothers are more attuned to pollution that will harm our kids. . .

As a tea party favorite, we expect that she opposes the federal handouts/bailouts and subsidies that are propping up the failing nuclear power renaissance, because it cannot stand on its own financial legs.  As a governor who wants to create more long lasting jobs, we assume she will be in favor of bringing green businesses to our state, like the offshore wind industry, to take advantage of our massive offshore wind potential, the solar industry to take advantage of our three-hundred days of sunshine, and the job intensive energy efficiency programs that can save our state money and energy.

We assume she knows we need strong regulations to hold industry accountable for its discharges and releases, and strong DHEC enforcement of the regulations on the books.  We hope she recognizes the problems with water quality and quantity in a drought ridden state and will sign legislation to clean up our water in the coming legislative session.

But we all know the Governor is not all powerful in this state, and it is ultimately up to the legislature to continue to protect the health of the citizens and the environment.  We have many elected officials from both parties who recognize the need to protect our precious natural resources.  We have champions of the environment in both parties, and we will need all of them working together to continue to make South Carolina a beautiful, safe, healthy place to live.  Yes, we need jobs; yes, we need businesses, but not at the price of sacrificing our air, water and other resources.  These are the truly priceless gems we bequeath to our children: No more toxic waste leaking into the rivers. No more toxic releases filling up our air.

We can find the compromise area between sustainable growth and the protection of the world we all inhabit.  We won’t stumble into this compromise; it is something that we will all have to work toward: Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Green Party, etc.