Editorials from around South Carolina:
Welcome Syrian refugees
Word this week (that) a group of Syrian refugees has been resettled in South Carolina and another is on its way makes it clear the federal government is ignoring pleas not to resettle the refugees here.
Two Syrians were settled in the Midlands through Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, according to a report by Greenville News reporter Tim Smith. Another family has been approved to come here, as well.
This is not alarming news. … Yes, some fear terrorists could be hiding among the Syrian refugees. That risk needs to be, and is being, considered. The federal government and other agencies vet refugees to the best of their abilities in a process that can take up to two years and weeds out about half of potential refugees, according to a recent Time Magazine report.
Only the most vulnerable refugees are resettled overseas, in places such as the United States. They include survivors of torture, victims of sexual violence, targets of political persecution, the medically needy, and families with multiple children and a female head of household, Time reports.
Simply put, these are not threatening people.
End S.C. State secrecy
When an issue is being discussed in public by public officials, and there are documents that are part of or related to the discussion, those documents are public information.
There is no clearer example of the need for public access to documents than Monday’s meeting of the (S.C. State) university board. Trustees received a report from the university’s auditor, whose reference to concerns about the SCSU’s future as a “going concern” prompted reaction.
… (T)he board’s chairman said the “going concern” paragraph is a source of a “great, great deal of concern.”
And, apparently, with good reason. As reported by The T&D in a Tuesday story about the meeting, citing the Financial Times as a reference, “Auditors should issue a ‘going concern opinion’ when the entity’s financial condition is such that there is doubt as to the firm’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
All the public knows about the paragraph in the audit is what trustees said at the meeting. Why? Because a copy of the report being discussed by the board was not made available to the press and public, despite a request by The Times and Democrat to be provided the audit report.
Haley right on MOX
Gov. Nikki Haley took the right step Tuesday when she put the U.S. Department of Energy on notice that promises made to the Palmetto State on the disposition of plutonium at the Savannah River Site must be kept.
Haley wrote Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to inform him that she will pursue fines of $1 million per day, up to $100 million, due the state in 2016 as called for in a 2003 federal law requiring DOE to process or remove 1 ton of weapons-grade plutonium from the state by Jan. 1.
The promise of such payments were made when then-Gov. Jim Hodges opposed federal plans to bring 34 metric tons of the radioactive element to Aiken County for what was described as short-term storage. The plan was to mix the plutonium with commercial nuclear fuel through the MOX process. Delays in the construction of the MOX facility and funding cuts over the years make meeting the impending deadline all but impossible. DOE could load up 1 ton of the material and transport it elsewhere to avoid the fines, but no other state is likely to allow that to happen.
Over the last several years, the Obama administration has all but walked away from MOX as a strategy. That cannot be allowed to happen at this late date.
MOX is a major part of securing the future of SRS. The Site hasn’t had an active reactor since 1988 and is solely focused on cleanup activities. Some 1,500 jobs are associated with the MOX facility.
This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 2:02 PM.