There are two facts about which there can be no dispute. The first is that Liberty has abandoned heavy industrial use of the approximately 25 acres of land between Wood Street and Dozier Streets/Front Street to the Sampit. It tore down all of the structures in that stretch of land much more than a year ago. The city needs to put itself on record, writing to Liberty's owners/managers/attorneys asserting that matter of fact and informing Liberty that the 25 acres is now zoned for multi-purpose use. The city should also (1) conduct an environmental inspection of the 25 acres to identify any contaminants that must be removed before the land can be safely redeveloped and (2) file an application with EPA's Superfund seeking assistance with the cleanup. The city has dilly-dlallied much too long on seeking EPA's help as it is. Further inaction on this would be, in my view, inexcusable and send a strong signal of incompetence at city hall.
The second fact that is beyond dispute is that the part of the mill that was previously used to produce steel -- the melt shop and bag house -- have not been used for a heavy industrial purpose for more than one year and, therefore, that use has been abandoned. The melt shop and bag house should be condemned as vacant and derelict buildings (along with a lot of others all around Georgetown) and Liberty put on notice that it must tear them down. Since there is likely a great deal of contamination at both places (principally in the form of electric arc dust that contains various heavy metals and is so small as to penetrate deeply into lung cavities, just like asbestos and cause chronic, serious and often fatal lung diseases) EPA should be asked to assist with that too. One thing that is certain, DHEC should not issue any air quality permits for the equipment that is currently in place and has been idle for several years. It doesn't come anywhere near complying with the sort of modern technology necessary to meet federal air pollution standards. (Liberty promised to invest a bunch of money in modernizing all this when it came to Georgetown. It should put up or shut up.)
The time has come to find out whether elected officials with decision making authority and responsibility for the protection of the pubic health, well being and the future of the community are worth a damn or not.
The jobs at the rolling mill are safe for now. They would be safe under the proposal I've just, once again, put forward. They will be safe as long as it proves economically beneficial to Liberty to ship billets half way across the country from Indiana to South Carolina by diesel-fueled trains to be processed into wire. That's an economic matter peculiar to Liberty that has nothing to do with this particular proposal. If this transshipment regimen works, great. If not, well, we're back to square one with the clock ticking again. More money for lawyers.
Senator Scott, Senator Graham, the Governor, the SC Commerce Department and yes, even DHEC, can be very helpful here if, of course, any of them are worth a damn.
That's my two cents worth. If others will add theirs, we could, sooner or later, end up with enough to buy a cup of coffee.
