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.

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.

View from Mount Trashmore should be fabulous

Today's editorial notes that our local trash-generation habit could result in Horry County's first high-rise landform:

There's likely nothing technically wrong with the Horry County Solid Waste Authority's preliminary proposal to build another landfill on top of the existing ones at its S.C. 90 facility. The experts say that piggybacked dumps of this sort are environmentally sound - if properly executed.

The accretion of trash year by year would elevate the add-on dump to about 240 feet, creating Horry County's first high-rise landform. Unless a more elegant name suggests itself, policymakers could dub it generically: Mount Trashmore. The view from the peak promises to be fantastic.