By Daniel Brock
dbrock@scbiznews.com
Published Aug. 26, 2010

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn thinks the state is “suffering” because issues surrounding the Port of Charleston, including commercial rail service in the region, haven’t been resolved.

U.S. Rep. and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn

Clyburn, the House Majority Whip, told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped a comprehensive solution could be reached on the matter, but it wasn’t his place to get involved in planning the project.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley sent a letter to Clyburn earlier this month expressing his support for a commercial rail and redevelopment plan backed by North Charleston, CSX Transportation and local developer Shipyard Creek Associates.

Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments have also endorsed the project, which calls for removing miles of track in North Charleston and constructing an intermodal rail yard on land owned by CSX and Shipyard Creek.

The facility would both become the de-facto regional rail hub and provide near-dock rail service for the S.C. State Ports Authority terminal under construction at the former Navy base in North Charleston.

SPA officials say the new cargo facility won’t host rail directly because of space, permitting and financial feasibility issues.

Clyburn also recently received a letter from Dorchester County Council asking the congressman not to the support the CSX plan. Norfolk Southern Corp. lines run through Dorchester County and company officials have told county leaders that the North Charleston project being championed by Mayor Keith Summey would hurt business.

“I think Mayor Summey is a great guy, Mayor Riley is a great guy. They seem to have gotten together, but they’re not the only guys,” Clyburn said.

“Dorchester County needs to be considered. Berkeley County needs to be considered. And I think that we need to come up with a comprehensive approach that everybody can get on the same page. I’m not going to say what that ought to be,” he said.

Norfolk Southern and S.C. Public Railways support an opposing intermodal plan that calls for a single facility serviced by both the Virginia-based carrier and CSX to be built on the north end of the former Navy base.

The land needed for that project is currently deeded to the Clemson University Restoration Institute for its wind turbine drivetrain testing facility.

The plan also calls for miles-long intermodal trains to run through redevelopment efforts on the base’s north end, which would violate a 2002 memorandum of understanding between North Charleston and the SPA that was designed to guard against such movements.

S.C. Public Railways President Jeff McWhorter has stated on several occasions that he doesn’t see much happening in the area and sees no reasons why the intermodal trains couldn’t run over track that’s in use on a smaller scale today.

An article in the Aug. 30 print edition of the Charleston Regional Business will examine that issue. The rail agency is an arm of the S.C. Department of Commerce.

Summey says that Norfolk Southern and those opposing his plan have had years to come up with a solution that would see rail run through the south end of the former Navy base. Now, they’re trying to sidestep long-held agreements, Summey says.

At his offices on Wednesday in Columbia, Clyburn said he’s sometimes had to work for years to push deals through during his nearly 50-year political career.

“It’s been eight years,” he said of the Charleston commercial rail situation. “Who knows, we might get it done in the ninth year.”
Reach Daniel Brock at 843-849-3144.