Nikki Haley Port Controversy: South Carolina Governor Declines To Attend Hearing, Stands By Decision

Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Ga. stand as two of America's busiest container ports. A planned widening of the Panama Canal has accelerated plans for U.S. projects aiming to improve these cities' trade potential.

Wedged in the center of that competition is South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley -- the Republican rookie who drew heavy in-state criticism over allowing neighboring Georgia to move forward with its desire to dredge the Port of Savannah.

Haley declined to attend a Tuesday morning S.C. Senate hearing on her state's approval of water quality permits for the competing Savannah port. She felt that her presence would cloud separation of powers between the governor and the legislature.

"We will cooperate in every way that we know how," Haley said at a Monday press conference. "But in terms of a governor going and testifying before a committee, it's never happened. It's not a precedent we want to set."

Back on Nov. 10, South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) granted Georgia the water quality documents necessary for a six-foot deepening of the Savannah port. The decision reversed a previous DHEC staff motion denying the approval for the Georgia move.

That 180-degree turn sparked outrage from political, environmental and business spheres. Conservatives For Truth In Politics, a group that has expressed its share of anti-Haley sentiments, released an ad on Nov. 23 saying that that the governor's "backroom deal" was sending work away from the Port of Charleston, which supplies South Carolina with hundreds of thousands of jobs.

What's behind the "backroom deal" allegation? The Charleston Post and Courier notes that Haley has been fundraising in Georgia, raising thousands of dollars toward her 2014 re-election run. Both sides of the partisan aisle questioned whether those events held weight in her decision. Post and Courier columnist Brian Hicks added that earlier in 2011, Haley re-tooled the DHEC board, filling slots with supporters.

Outside of employment issues, environmental groups came out against the permit, pointing to changes that include the need to inject oxygen into areas affected by the dredging. Nearby marshes are also a concern.

In the midst of the controversy, Haley stood by her actions, rejecting any notion that political motivations were at play.

"I stand by everything and I know it's unfortunate in this political world everybody likes to think there's something behind everything," she said on Monday. "There's nothing here. And what you have is a DHEC board that did their job."

Comments

[truth be told again]

09:16 AM on 12/16/2011

Add this to her Insurance Exchange fraud and you seem to have yet another GOTP scam artist.

Why do Republicans put up with this nonsense?

[dbrett480]

02:50 PM on 11/30/2011

Why should South Carolina even be granting permits for an action occurring in another state?

And if Haley didn't want to grant the permits, she would be accused of obstructionism.

[Elyriaohio]

05:23 AM on 11/30/2011

If the meeting was in Europe, she would be there.

[Richard in CO]

01:43 AM on 11/30/2011

I wish the planned dredging would ensure somehow that more U.S.-made products could be shipped to other countries, but the way things are, it's probably all just designed to speed up the IMPORTATION of more CHEAP, CHINESE-MADE JUNK, manufactured by child slave labor, in Guangdong Province. Hence, I say: BOO...HISS....

[MountainPenelope]

07:24 PM on 12/01/2011

If Queen Nimrata were interested in encouraging business, she would be doing something about the Port of Charleston, which, until now, has driven the state's economy. Cheap, Chinese-made junk usually comes in via the WEST coast.

[petesleapingcat]

11:36 PM on 11/29/2011

Any chance this is a Matt Dredge report?

[Randy Chidester]

11:22 PM on 11/29/2011

She will get re-elected in 2014.. The old tea baggers still think she's white.

[truth be told again]

09:17 AM on 12/16/2011

What's race got to do with American politics?

[LaoShur]

10:51 PM on 11/29/2011

"What's behind the "backroom deal" allegation? The Charleston Post and Courier notes that Haley has been fundraising in Georgia, raising thousands of dollars toward her 2014 re-election run."

She's fund raising in another state?!! Is that even LEGAL, let alone ethical?!

[MountainPenelope]

07:25 PM on 12/01/2011

She has received at least one $15,000 donation from a prominent Georgia supporter of the dredging. This was documented in both The State and the Charleston papers several days ago.

[smp276dp]

10:33 PM on 11/29/2011

Oh boy sounds like another state has problems with it's newly appointed republican governor.
This song is being sung all over our great country.

[cris robin]

01:49 PM on 11/30/2011

Sen. Demint refused the earmarked money to dredge the Charleston harbor.. at least our Georgia brothers and sisters will get some work out of it..

[smp276dp]

02:17 PM on 11/30/2011

Yeah but it doesn't change the fact. She is in hot water. Which is music to my ears.

[KenClay]

10:05 PM on 11/29/2011

Nasty Thang

[Nanjing03]

09:59 PM on 11/29/2011

For many years there was talk about SC State Ports Authority building a super terminal on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. Instead, more terminals are built in Charleston on the Cooper and Santee Rivers with ships stacked in the harbor -- what's with that? I can only think that Charleston politics are in play here. I lived in Charleston for much of my life and I still consider it home to a degree, so I am familiar with the political thinking there. They would risk hurting the rest of the state -- and themselves in the process -- out of short term/short sighted greed. A new South Carolina port on the Savannah River would only help both South Carolina and Georgia, and keep shipping traffic moving in Charleston.

[Nanjing03]

09:35 PM on 11/29/2011

The truth is that the Port of Charleston has three state of the art shipping terminals, the newest one of immense size, yet ships are moored for up to a week at offshore anchorages waiting to pass through Charleston Harbor and berth at one of the terminals. So, how is the Port of Savannah taking business away from Charleston? The truth is that the ports in Charleston and Savannah are both stacked with containers and crowded with ships. South Carolina and Georgia ports authorities can easily expand operations on the Savannah River where the current expandable Georgia State Ports Authority is located on the south shore of the river and a second SC State Ports Authority facility can be built north of the new Talmadge Bridge. The two expanded ports on the Savannah River would make the area desirable for the increased shipping and benifit both states. Meanwhile Charleston would still have shipping traffic, but it would be moving and not stuck in anchorages in and out of Charleston Harbor. Finally, a major advantage to increasing Savannah River ports in both Georgia and South Carolina is the close proximity of US-17 and Interstate 95. This whole controversy smells of the same old Charleston politics. Maybe the politicians ought to help by not getting in everybodys' way.

[cris robin]

01:54 PM on 11/30/2011

South Carolina is so business friendly but has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and certainly the highest in the region .. btw..it's a one party state..

[MountainPenelope]

07:28 PM on 12/01/2011

The dredging will make the Georgia port able to accomodate supertanker ships that require a deeper port. Georgia will get the jobs that will go with that port, rather than S.C.

[Una Bubba]

09:24 PM on 11/29/2011

Both Georgia and South Carolina have been looking at dredging and deepening their ports to accomodate the larger container ships that the widened Panama Canal will soon be accomodating, permitting larger container ships and larger and more numerous containers. Georgia is just a year or two ahead of South Carolina in the process. About the time the Savanah port dredging is complete, it will be time to move the equipment to Charleston, which should be ready by then.

This is one of those rare cases when the state port authorities are actually looking for the most economical way to complete these projects.

If you buy imported goods in the southeast, it could mean lower shipping costs.

[MountainPenelope]

07:32 PM on 12/01/2011

And, the reason Georgia is ahead? Because their Senators and Representatives have been working toward that end. South Carolina has a senator who refuses ANY federal assistance in getting a dredging study done.

Thanks, Jimmy.

[kamact]

09:15 PM on 11/29/2011

Nowhere else to stand,...

[The Mask]

08:30 PM on 11/29/2011

A container port and hundreds of thousands of jobs?

Not hardly. One set of cranes (for one ship) and the associated ground transports probably entails the work of, at best, 50 people. Back in the day, unloading a large vessel with mostly manual labor done by longshoremen probably took 10 times that much, together with a sustantiatively greater amount of time per cargo ton.

[ta2t2o]

10:32 PM on 11/29/2011

Rather simplistic viewpoint. There are far more port jobs than the simple unloading and transport. There is also cruise ship traffic. Baltimore is already working on their port (added 5700 new jobs) in order to take advantage of the increase traffic expected with the widening of the Panama Canal. Before you can think outside of the box - you need to be smarter than the box.

[MountainPenelope]

07:33 PM on 12/01/2011

Way to go! Well said.

[beardown]

07:39 PM on 11/29/2011

Stand by your guns Nikki!