To some extent, South Carolina is still fighting the war. As in Civil War.

But what is happening in South Carolina says something about everyone's right to keep his or her community free of environmental hazards. In South Carolina, the federal government, aided by a federal judge, is shoving cancer causing plutonium down South Carolina's throat. And if they can do this there, they can do it anywhere, to any of us.

The federal government plans to ship radioactive plutonium waste from a facility in Colorado to South Carolina for processing. In response, the Governor grandstanded, filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the shipments, and threatened to lie down in the highway to block the deliveries. I think the feds were so fed up that they would have just run over him if he did that.

They are big believers in State's rights in South Carolina, and many there still apparently even see the Civil War as just a States rights issue. (They still just don't get it.) But this plutonium issue was not just political loud mouthing. To some extent the Governor is right. You just cannot trust the federal government when it comes to environmental protection. Look at how the EPA is allowing power plants to expand without addressing all the horrible environmental problems they create. This President and this EPA Administrator are environmental nightmares. So I wouldn't suggest that anyone place a lot of faith in the feds as to these issues.

The Governor asserted that the federal government failed to complete a legally required environmental impact study. I suspect this study was not completed because the federal government does not want to admit that this will have an environmental impact to the largely poor population that resides near the Savannah River site, which is where all of this is headed.

The Governor also asserted that he was concerned that Congress would not fund the 10-year project to stabilize this waste that would be shipped in from Colorado. The truth is the feds have a history of starting these projects and not finishing them. And Congress has a history of not funding projects, often based on purely political reasons. Remember, this same President will not be in office for all 10 years.

So who is to say the Governor was all-wrong. I know a federal judge ruled that the Governor was wrong. He even ruled that the Governor failed to uphold the Constitution. But I thought the Constitution left most of the rights with the States, especially rights concerning health and safety. Sometimes I wonder if we are all reading the same Constitution.

In fact, it was the federal government that decades ago promoted the use of nuclear energy, without having a good plan for disposing of the waste. The only plan they ever came up with is to bury the waste deep in the mountains, forever. That seems like a cop out, not a plan. Largely, this is all about the federal government imposing a horrible remedy on poor South Carolina, so as to fix a national problem that the federal government largely created, in the first place. I think I see why this Governor is more than a little upset.

We are, after all, talking about plutonium. According to the federal government, plutonium is dangerous. Once inhaled, it can rest inside your body for decades, posing elevated cancer risks and possible risks of other serious illnesses. I don't blame the Governor for not wanting to take this stuff from Colorado. Why doesn't Colorado keep it.

Why should anyone else but those who live in South Carolina care? Because at the end of the day, this is all about our right to live safe and healthy lives, free of interference by a federal government that right now, as things stand, may not even care the environment. It may not seem like much now. But just wait. They will mess up your community if someone does not speak up.

Published: June 27, 2002

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