The Opinion Blog

Better Living Through Chemistry

Thursday’s editorial praises U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s compromise proposal on climate-change and energy-independence legislation.

Three years ago, when U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for a bipartisan immigration compromise to increase border security, reform the visa system and crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, hard-core immigration opponents seized on the bill's path to citizenship for undocumented workers already in the U.S. as “amnesty” and managed to derail the entire effort.

Undaunted, Graham has returned to the fray, announcing this month his support for a “tripartisan” energy reform framework with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). The framework has two broad arms – curbing carbon pollution while creating new energy sources – that should provide a pathway to compromise.

Wind in our Sails

Friday’s secondary editorial suggests local leaders seek ways to capitalize on a major new wind facility planned for Charleston.

Thanks to a $98 million kickstart (dare we say stimulus?) announced this week, coastal South Carolina may find itself poised at the forefront of a the nation's developing wind-power industry.

Change Not in Cards Now

Friday’s editorial suggests that the governor and the legislature share the blame for letting a worthwhile restructuring plan fall by the wayside.

Transfer of political power is not easily accomplished, so it is no surprise that a S.C. Senate subcommittee would prefer to maintain legislative control of the Department of Health and Environmental Control rather than place the agency's director in the governor's cabinet.

Stimulus For State Longleaf

Sunday's editorial recognizes the restoration of local pines lost in April's wildfires through federal stimulus money.

Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve longleaf pine trees lost to the devastating April wildfire will be replaced with some of the money in a $1.74 million federal stimulus grant to the S.C. Forestry Commission.

More Help for River Habitat

Thursday's editorial praises a grant awarded to the Nature Conservancy to grow its Black River Swamp Preserve in Georgetown County.

The Black River is a beautiful stream that twists and turns its way through central Georgetown County before ending at the upper arm of Winyah Bay just north of the city of Georgetown.

The swallow-tailed kite is one of the species of wetland creatures - not to mention ancient baldcypress trees - that will be helped by a new $1 million grant awarded to the Nature Conservancy of South Carolina. It's the second $1 million grant to the Nature Conservancy in the past year from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant program.

Saving up for a windy day

Wednesday's editorial highlights the many benefits of exploring wind power off the coast of Georgetown.

Economic blows have come in cascades in Georgetown of late, as its port and steel mill have alternated over recent months with ever-worsening news for their employees.

These woes reflect the weakened state of American industry and will thus be difficult for local leaders to counter, though some are valiantly trying. A report this weekend, however, suggested one bright hope on the horizon: the wind-energy industry.

Hitting the Books and the Bins

Tuesday's second editorial praises this year's increased push for recycling at Coastal Carolina University:

If Coastal Carolina University freshmen haven't already learned about recycling in high school, they will be receiving an appropriate introduction in their dormitories to it this year.

The Dirty South?

Saturday's editorial shines light on the methodology of a recent report critical of our beaches, and suggests it's telling us nothing new.

This week, the National Resources Defense Council released its annual beach rankings, praising the four-star beaches of North Carolina and Georgia but giving only one demeaning star to Myrtle Beach. Are we really the chili dog beach spoiling a caviar coastline?

Go ahead and drill; you won't even notice it

From the afternoon e-mail ... Petroleum geologist Tom Temples explains why offshore drilling for oil and gas shouldn't alarm anyone:

By Tom J. Temples

A clear understanding of the dramatic changes that have taken place in offshore drilling over the past 40 years is a prerequisite to sound and wise policy-making today, for much has been accomplished. After an oil spill from a rig off the California coast at Santa Barbara in 1969, the oil industry adopted new and improved safety measures to guard against any further accidents.

We must avoid getting readdicted to oil

Ripped from the wires ... Tom Friedman argues that we shouldn't allow the decline in oil prices to distract us from the quest for clean energy sources:

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

The 2 is back. Last week, U.S. retail gasoline prices fell below $3 a gallon _ to an average of $2.91 -- the lowest level in almost a year. Why does this news leave me with mixed feelings?