ISSUE: Rail proposal for North Charleston

OUR VIEW: Proposal puts Orangeburg County in middle of larger dispute

Orangeburg may not have wanted to become a whipping boy in a much larger fuss over rail service at the new S.C. Ports Authority terminal at the former Navy based in North Charleston, but the county finds itself there.

This past week, Orangeburg County made news with a request of the federal government for $278 million in federal funds to help implement a controversial rail plan that calls for constructing an intermodal facility in North Charleston and running trains through the base’s north end.

Included in the proposal to U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn is a request for a separate facility on the base’s southern end, rail overpasses in North Charleston and a rail line running to Orangeburg County.

The proposal is consistent in the short term with Orangeburg County’s push to accommodate Jafza South Carolina’s plan for a logistics, manufacturing and distribution hub in Santee that is expected to yield a long-term investment of $600-700 million and up to 10,000 jobs.

It is equally consistent with a proposal laid out in February by Orangeburg County. Local officials used a Washington trip to promote a $700 million plan to create a “global logistics corridor” extending from the Port of Charleston to Columbia. The plan includes creation of the new freight rail shuttle service between Charleston and Orangeburg. Containers would flow in all directions from the planned 61-acre intermodal yard.

But all is not well.

One can imagine if it were the city of North Charleston making such a proposal for Orangeburg County that there might be some friction if a part of the plan didn’t sit well with local concerns.

That is exactly what has happened with the recent request to Clyburn.

Orangeburg County has entered the fray over use of the former Navy base, with North Charleston continuing to cite a memorandum of understanding with the state of South Carolina over limiting use of the base’s north end.

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey continues to make the case that railroad infrastructure on the northern end amid growing communities is not welcome. And he is angry that Orangeburg County made a formal request for such without notifying him.

He favors an alternative plan that he says can serve both Norfolk Southern and CSX, although other officials contend that is impossible without use of the northern end.

Summey wants to see a focus on the alternative, and he is attacking Orangeburg County amid looking to make that happen. In a letter to Gregg Robinson of the Orangeburg County Development Commission, Summey said, “I am requesting a copy of the proposal from you so we may study your plans for my community.” He went on to say he has doubts about “Orangeburg County’s willingness to openly communicate with a fellow governmental entity.”

Now not everyone associated with the base project is in agreement with Summey over use of the northern end.

Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, for example, has said the formal of understanding between the state and the city of North Charleston was a “flaw in strategic vision.”

For his part, Robinson is pushing a plan that is critical to Jafza and critical to Orangeburg County’s development as a logistics centerpiece. Being aggressive can make things happen. In this case, however, we are left to hope that our county’s ambitions have not stepped on toes to a point of derailing a key ingredient in the plan.

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