“Put South Carolina Back to Work”

August 4, 2009: Today, we had the pleasure of hearing from Senator Larry Grooms, of the 37th district about what he believes are three crucial changes that must be made to create new jobs in our state, jobs that will yield higher income and reduce the state deficit. Currently, South Carolina has the third highest unemployment rate, and the unemployment trust fund is operating at a deficit. The state is experiencing its second consecutive year of declining revenues and projected to report negative revenues again next year. Senator Grooms states ” we have to create jobs, we have to develop our economy”, he explained that new industry is the key to our state’s growth and ultimate success. In his opinion there are three road blocks to enticing new industry to South Carolina; to secure our future we must act on “the 3 P’s of change” – port, power, and permitting.

The state of our ports is a huge consideration for manufacturing companies, we must restructure which we are in the process of doing, and have to expand to accommodate the changes in ship traffic that will occur with the changing of the Panama Canal.

Secondly, we must provide access to the power that is necessary to run a large plant, today we could not power a new plant the size of Nucor Steel. Senator Grooms believes that nuclear power is the way of the future, but South Carolina needs to act more quickly! The Senator proposes that we open a new coal plant to meet the immediate power needs of the state and its potential new companies and as nuclear power becomes readily available, the older, less efficient, plants can be closed, resulting in cleaner air and more power today!

The third problem hindering our ability to aquire new business is our painfully slow permitting process. While Grooms acknowledges the importance of proper permitting he admits that bureaucracy in some of our departments has made the process twice as long as it needs to be. The time a company wastes in permitting costs time and money, and is generally discouraging. The Senator says “we must cut permitting time in half”!

When prospective manufactures consider South Carolina to house their new plant they must experience a state that is aggressively seeking their business. A state that can offer an effective port to move their product in a timely, efficient manner, a state that can provide the power necessary to run their business, and a permitting process that is timely and encourages the building and operation of new plants. New industry is the only way to put South Carolina back to work, and create the revenue stream necessary to run our state.

Submitted by Elizabeth Wooten Burwell, Keyway Committee