Wednesday, June 03, 2009

New Acronym for Lowcountry Development: FTPA

My students hate to see the dreaded FTFD--failure to follow directions--on their research papers. If only I could reach out to Charleston County Council members to brand them with an FTPA--failure to plan ahead. [See Question of Waste in Wednesday's P & C]

Who ever heard of shutting down an incinerator prior to figuring out what would become of the waste and how much the change will cost? Is this really "going green," or is it simply political maneuvering gone amuck?

Guess what. No one knows, including the council. This decision is irresponsibility at its worst.

I thought that no one could top the decision to remove the port from Daniel Island without proper planning for railroads to handle the traffic forced back into North Charleston, but I was wrong. Or, at least, I thought that our elected officials could learn a lesson about FTPA from that fiasco, but even Mayor Summey's son didn't--and he has seen the results of FTPA up close and personal.

Did anyone consider making the smokestack on the incinerator taller so its discharge would dissipate in the upper atmosphere? Could the Council have shouldered the responsibility of planning for waste prior to shutting it down? Imagine what else suffers from FTPA that we can't even see!

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