Let’s keep South Carolina proud, leading investor in clean energy manufacturing | Opinion

Don’t jeopardize progress

Thanks in large part to legislation passed during the Biden Administration, we’re witnessing a manufacturing renaissance across the United States. There is a large and growing demand for clean electricity, electric vehicles, and a litany of other goods made without emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

We can build these goods at home, providing good-paying jobs and bolstering communities hollowed out by unfair trade practices and deindustrialization. Or we can cede our position as global leader in the clean industrial revolution by repealing the tax credits and other policies that have unlocked unprecedented investment in the clean energy economy.

Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, South Carolina ranks second among all states in clean energy manufacturing investment, with over 27 project announcements bringing $15 billion and 14,000 new jobs to our state.

Regardless of your views on climate change, it’s political and economic malpractice to put these projects, and the jobs they provide, in jeopardy.

I hope our elected leaders agree.

John Milko, Charleston

Upgrade bathrooms

I would like to address the inadequate women’s bathrooms at William Brice Stadium.

My season tickets are in section 20 behind the away teams bench and there are two women’s bathrooms on that side of the stadium.

The bathroom I use is probably 20 feet x 30 feet, if not bigger, and has nine stalls, and I am assuming the other women’s bathroom is the same.

There is room for at least 20 stalls in this room.

Currently there is a wall of sinks and a wall of mirrors and there is still a lot of open space.

All this could be reconfigured to add more stalls.

It is time the University redo these bathrooms to accommodate the fans.

The university wants to expand the stadium with suites to increase revenue, but there must be some money to upgrade the bathrooms for the season ticket holders on that side of the stadium. My question to the university is, “Have those bathrooms been upgraded since I graduated in 1975?”

Pamela V. Powell, Little River

Quit dividing us

This month saw one of American history’s most divisive and consequential elections. Regardless of who you voted for, immigrants directly benefit your life in the Lowcountry. From the food we eat to the influx of small businesses, immigrants are a focal point of why the Lowcountry is seen as paradise.

That’s why we need leaders who tell the truth about immigration, both from legal and illegal means.

Our representative, Nancy Mace, lives off taxpayer dollars while demonizing immigrants who live, work and thrive in the Lowcountry.

Earlier this year, she introduced the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act (H.R. 7909), a bill that sounds rational on its face, but only divides us further via misinformation.

Under U.S. law, undocumented immigrants who commit any of the crimes outlined in Mace’s bill can already be deported.

This frivolous bill, if enacted, would result in zero additional deportations.

Simultaneously, Mace voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

Through her actions, Mace seems to be signaling that violence against women is fine, so long as the perpetrator isn’t an undocumented immigrant.

For a nation of immigrants and a district with a proud population of recent immigrants, we all deserve better than Mace.

Seamus Love, HHI