Tom Davis: Port Project Is “Every Crab For Itself”
By Tom Davis
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.
The author represents Beaufort County (S.C.) in the S.C. Senate and is a former gubernatorial chief of staff and member of the S.C. State Ports Authority. He is also one of a small handful of Republicans in the S.C. General Assembly who votes in a manner consistent with his party’s stated principles. To learn more about Davis, visit his official website by clicking here.
Comments
By vern on October 19th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The Port of Jasper is an idea that has not met its time and will not for many more years. Will it help Jasper and Beaufort, you bet. Will it hand Georgia and Savannah an economic victory South Carolina will never recover from, you bet. The Port of Charleston has 48 foot water vs. 45 foot water in Savannah and while they are trying to dredge the river in Georgia and almost got help from Tom and his buddy Mark it appears more likely today this dredging is a ways off. Not to mention, the Florida aquifer could be damaged providing some of the drinking water to Beaufort and Jasper counties. Add on to this, the recent revelation that the plans Savannah is developing are too dangerous for the ships and they could run aground because they are designing the channel incorrectly according to the Coast Guard. The needed changes to address these concerns could take the currently $550 million job and make it start with a “B”. I suspect, GPA secretly has no interest in Jasper being built either and it is only a means to an end for them to get SC’s “support” for the dredging. Once the dredging happens, GPA and the state of GA will drag their feet like there’s no tomorrow. Make no mistake, our “support” is not simply a letter but SC taxpayer money. In the meantime, we are investing in the Port of Charleston at the old navy base to make sure it is ready for the expansion of the Panama Canal. If Savannah can’t dredge, Charleston will benefit greatly from this and the spin offs related to the port will come to Charleston and SC also which will mean more deals like Tire Kingdom and the warehouses are going to sprout along I-26 in South Carolina with jobs for South Carolinians. Today, only two ports on the east coast can take the Post-Panama ships: Charleston and Norfolk. Why would this state who is investing big money in Charleston undercut the one major competitive advantage our port in Charleston has over Savannah? If Tom Davis thinks, one dollar invested in Jasper is equal to one dollar in Charleston he needs to rethink his position and realize it is not in the state’s best interest to pursue Jasper at this time. While some of the ILA are from Jasper in Savannah, the vast majority of the harbor pilots, warehouse workers and truly available developable land to build the necessary infrastructure to support a port of this magnitude are on the GA side of the river. This is not about Charleston and is not about Jasper. It is about which investment is right for the State of SC and one investment will undercut the other. The numbers being used to justify this port are wrong because they were made when global trade was booming and it seemed like there was no end to the amount of freight that would come to the east coast. These numbers are not representative of reality any longer and should be revisited given the current economy. The justification for an entirely new organization and footprint on the east coast does not make sense economically and certainly not for the taxpayers of South Carolina. What’s the hurry anyway to spend this state money? If the site is owned by GA and SC then it will not and should not be developed until both states agree it is time and it is not time.
By fitsnews on October 19th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Vern,
You are truly among the more uninformed individuals posting comments on this website.
You act as if this land is something South Carolina can just do with as it pleases.
It’s not.
In typical short-sighted fashion, South Carolina lawmakers were looking for some money to fund their various backwoods boondoggles years ago and decided it would be a good idea to sell the best port site on the Eastern seaboard to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
That’s right, South Carolina DON’T OWN THE LAND, bubba.
-FITS
By CNSYD on October 19th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
What is in this for Davis? Don’t hand me the party line. Just think if his “dream” of a strong executive existed today. And who would that strong “executive” be? None other than Davis’ a’hole buddy Sanfraud. Wouldn’t that be great! Put money in Charleston. We know that SC owns it. Just like Kings Bay and the Carter lies about dredging, the Savannah site will require continuous dredging and will still never be adequate.
By CNSYD on October 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Sorry I forgot. IRT Davis’ comment about the wonderful interstate highways at Savannah, apparently he has never been in the I 95 gridlock before. Who does he think he is fooling?
By Palmetto Pulse on October 19th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I am not sure why we constantly hear from our legislators why we can’t do something as opposed to how we can. Thank goodness for people like Sen. Davis trying to make something that would be very meaningful to his district and our state a reality. What would this port mean to the Lowcountry? Jobs and economic stimulation the likes this area has never seen. Long lasting economic impact. Not to mention, if we don’t get the port that business WILL go elsewhere, period. Why not build out the Charleston port AND move forward with Jasper. Why do they have to be mutually exclusive?
The Jasper Port makes sense. No wonder our illustrious legislators are trying to sweep it under the rug. Go get ‘em Davis – your constituents are behind you!
By CNSYD on October 19th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Palmetto Pulse, which Davis constituents would that be? The binyahs or the comeyahs? I bet it is the latter.
By vern on October 19th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
FITSNews – I am most certainly not uninformed just because I disagreed with Tom Davis. I also know South Carolina does not own the land BUBBA, it is owned by the Bi-State Port Authority your buddies Mark and Tom negotiated with Sonny. It also not owned by GA or GDOT, but SC certainly has a say on this new port authority and we should not move forward on the port until new projections for freight growth based on a less rosy scenario are generated. By the way – I agree it was short sighted to sell the land in the first place.
Palmetto Pulse – Unfortunately not enough business exists to justify both and it will harm Charleston if the dredging happens. Anyone that says otherwise knows nothing about shipping. If Savannah was not pursuing the dredging, GPA and the State of GA would have no interest in Jasper.
By Mary on October 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Davis is the man.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on October 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Written by the former Chief of Staff of the disgraced S.C. Gub’ner. And, posted by the equally disgraced former spokes-mouth for that disgraced Gub’ner. Keep scratching each other, boys. It’s probably just sand fleas.
By Skidmarks on October 20th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Brantley would have been as strong a governor as Hollings, McNair, Edwards, Riley and Campbell.
Tom, why don’t you have a sitdown with Brantley and let him explain what it takes for a governor to control a legislative state. And don’t let him be modest about strength of character.
By Old Bike Dude on October 20th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Just another Davis diversion. Davis continues to run interference for former boss while Cat Ceips is actually trying to do something meaningful about our broken form of state government. My vote for Davis was a wasted vote. Hope Ceips decides to run again, lacey underwear and all.
By Lenny on October 20th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Vern..Give it up. Folks is a Davis pimp.
By Old Bike Dude on October 20th, 2009 at 8:40 am
OH and being a “Beaufortonian” you’d think Davis would know that Port Royal has the only natural deep water port in the state. But then, like his pal Casanova, he’d have to had actually lived here to know that.
By Jeffy01 on October 20th, 2009 at 8:45 am
As I was reading Verns Port Auhtority press release ( it was in fact one of the more serious and well thought out post on FITS in a long time) relating to Davis’ goofy diatribe (not quite so well thought out) …I thought to myself….this is just to wacky for dork BIN not to get involved. And lookie lookie,if I had scrolled down more there BIN is….making an ass of himself as usual.
By Huhhh??? on October 20th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Tom Davis has no credibility with people who have the ability to think or know enough state political history to know most governors in the past 60 years have kept themselves from looking like fools AND been pretty effective in achieving their agenda in this legislative state.
Only governors with glaring personality disorders have a problem.
If we had not elected the current batch of carpetbaggers, we would be way ahead of the game.
By CNSYD on October 20th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Huhhh???, Preach it brother!!!
By BIN News on October 20th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Jeff-ie,
Our last post was actually penned by our Funding Editor, and she takes exception to you calling her a dork. Look up the word. :) And our Funding editor wants you to know she takes your “ass” comment as a compliment.
BIN News
By PalmettoPulse on October 20th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
CNSYD…binyah…since birth.