EXCUSES OFFERED FOR EXCESS “CONSERVATION” FUNDING NOT ADDING UP …
|| By FITSNEWS || South Carolina’s mainstream media missed the real scoop this week … which is not surprising. Sure, they wrote about the release of an audit report uncovering $4.5 million in unnecessary “environmental” spending related to a $160 million crony capitalist “economic development” deal cut by former governor Mark Sanford.
Which is big news in and of itself …
But the MSM neglected to point out the smoking gun contained within the report – a reference to the S.C. Coastal Conservative League (SCCCL) threatening to block the “economic development” project unless it received more “environmental mitigation” money than it needed.
Seven times more money than it needed …
Anyway … according to The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, the leader of the nonprofit which received all this money (through a partnership with the S.C. Department of Commerce) says the state had no right to review his organization’s receipts and expenditures.
Not only that, he claims the surplus money wasn’t excessive, it was meant to offset the environmental impact of future expansions at the facility in question – the precursor to aircraft manufacturing Boeing’s heavily subsidized North Charleston, S.C. facility.
Is that true, though?
We don’t have specifics – because South Carolina fails to provide them – but we do now the Boeing handout approved in 2013 by governor Nikki Haley and state lawmakers contained funding for “land acquisition and site preparation, including but not limited to clearing, grading, and filling the site and environmental mitigation, and construction of any necessary water service and wastewater treatment.”
Hear that?
“Environmental mitigation …”
Similar references were contained in the much larger 2009 deal that lured Boeing to the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Again, we don’t have specific “environmental mitigation” dollar amounts associated with either the 2009 or 2013 deal – but it’s clear both agreements contained provisions for conservation funding.
Which would make the excuses offered by the administrators of this slush fund exactly what we said they were: “B.S.”
19 comments
Is the money spent by Governor Campbell to buy 2 acres of land in Bushy Park because it would be used for “Future Economic Development”.
Any developer with a half a lick of sense will go to CCL early on in their development process and ask Dana Beach what it will take to keep their project moving forward. Otherwise, the developer will face legal extortion.
Yeah … Wiring in the taxsuckers ahead of the curve makes them agree to not block for a piece of the action.
Those quacks! Too busy looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq…
Typical “progressive” Fascist money/power grab.
This has nothing to do with clean water and clean air.
It has everything to do with the skim of tax revenue and the manipulation of property rights and values. … Seizures to follow.
“Typical “progressive” Fascist money/power grab”
Of for crying out loud. More like Typical FastEddy blabbering BS!
How is that push mower – excuse me – durable medical equipment holding up there Eddy? Guess not too much demand for your services with the drought and all out there in Taxifornia, huh?
The environment is a liberal hoax!
I can drink a liter of fracking fluid, and chase it with a shot of benzene, and I’ll be just fine!
These tree-huggers are going too far, trying to curb pollution…
The water from my tap is every bit as good as the water I get from 7-11 for $1.09/16oz… I don’t know what people are so picky about… the piss and shit, motor oil, paint, potassium and menstrual fluids are filtered out of the water we drink, and chlorine kills almost 100% of the bugs that are left.
The air quality warnings
“Good” AQI is 0 – 50. Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.
“Moderate” AQI is 51 – 100. Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people. For example, people who are unusually sensitive to ozone may experience respiratory symptoms.
“Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” AQI is 101 – 150. Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone, whereas persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air. .
“Unhealthy” AQI is 151 – 200. Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive groups may experience more serious effects. .
“Very Unhealthy” AQI is 201 – 300. This would trigger a health alert signifying that everyone may experience more serious health effects.
“Hazardous” AQI greater than 300. This would trigger a health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.
are a bunch of bullshit…
Worst Air in The United States by ozone
#1: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#2: Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, CA
#3: Bakersfield, CA
#4: Fresno-Madera, CA
#5: Sacramento-Roseville, CA
#6: Houston-The Woodlands, TX (ouch)
#7: Modesto-Merced, CA
#8: Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK (oops)
#8: Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
#10: Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ
Worst Air in The United States by year-round particle pollution
#1: Fresno-Madera, CA
#2: Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, CA
#3: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#3: Bakersfield, CA
#5: Modesto-Merced, CA
#6: Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
#7: El Centro, CA
#8: El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM
#8: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL
#8: Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
#11: Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
anyway, South Carolina’s air isn’t the worst yet!
and tap water?
10. Jacksonville, FL
Via charterflightgroup.com
Water quality data shows 21 chemicals present in harmful concentrations such as lead,traces of cyanide and chloroform.
9. San Diego, CA
Via panoramio.com
Two chemicals exceeded Environmental Protection Agency: trihalomethanes and manganese, and another 8 chemicals exceeding health guidelines.
8. North Las Vegas, NV
Via phoenixpropertymgmt.com
11 chemicals exceed the health guidelines and 26 pollutants found.
7. Omaha, NE
53,301 tests were run on the water, where the national average is 420. The water contains nitrites, manganese, atrazine, and 20 chemicals exceeding health guidelines.
6. Houston, TX (crap)
46 different pollutants have been detected in the city’s water; the national average is 8. The water contains disinfection byproducts and alpha particles, a type of radiation.
5. Reno, NV
The water is polluted with tetrachloroethylene (used in automotive and metalworking factories), arsenic and unhealthy amounts of manganese.
4. Riverside County, CA
Via countyofriverside.us
Contaminants from industrial pollutants, pesticides, and treatment chemicals.
3. Las Vegas, NV
Via alandchuck.travel
Las Vegas relies on miles of intake pipes to supply the city with water from the Colorado River. Numerous chemical pollutants have been identified including a dozen identified to exceed the EPA’s health guidelines, such as radium, arsenic, and lead.
2. Riverside, CA
Via riversidecvb.com
One of the worst for municipal water where 15 chemicals exceeded health guidelines; contaminated with alpha particles and traces of uranium.
1. Pensacola, FL
Via pensacolabridgeclub.com
The worst water in the U.S. 45 of 101 tested chemicals were found in the drinking water and includes radium, alpha particles, benzene, lead, cyanide, and chloroform.
Alpha particles in the tea make the smoked mullet more delightful.
(My big gripe is the Navy ignoring the chlorinated solvents in drinking water Camp Lejune for a generation.)
delta bottom neutrinos… glowing outhouses and fish that can use tools.
Whaaa..?? The Navy enrolled me in a 7 month school in Pensacola in 19(mm). Now you’re telling us that my piss is still there? Ouch!
It’s probably turned into a new form of life by now.
The amount that Boeing agreed to offer is irrelevant. The WAY it was spent by the league is important. If the audit has addressed that with no exceptions then the point is moot. However, given that there are few if any restrictions on how much officers of “non-profits” may be compensated it would be interesting to know how much of any settlement went to enhance league salaries or bonuses.
Is that like a salad spinner?
Once again, God bless David Wren.
Even though two of the most obnoxious trolls on this site keep badgering away at me for having always supported his reporting, once again he has uncovered something that stinks to high heaven. This time, just as when he lead all reporters in SC on uncovering Jim Clyburn’s corruption several years ago, this reporter so often attacked for being a “liberal Democrat” has not let any possible partisan bias stand in the way of telling the truth.
It should also be noted that Wren is now, with CP&C, a business reporter — not an investigative one, he had been with The Sun News. Still, his investigative instincts have served him well.
All about the intentions. Ignore the results.
Anything term/phrase with the word “environmental” automatically becomes romanticized.
Beach has an MBA from Wharton, not an environmental degree. I think he’s developed himself a pretty profitable business plan – collect money from folks supposed guilt over ruining the environment, or those that arrived here recently that no longer want anything to happen economically.
This is but one of the ways money is given to the rich and powerful. It is so easy to take money from the taxpayer.
“[T]han it needed” needs some explaining.
I bought a bird in 1988 and named it Rachel Carson. I sprayed it with DDT. It hasn’t died, yet. I’m waiting…