Free Republic

Columbia, SC Once again, a group of obstructionists who like to call themselves environmentalists is trying to steal opportunities away from South Carolina. The Coastal Conservation League and Southern Environmental Law Center filed a suit in federal court a week before Christmas to halt the construction of Interstate 73, highlighting their continued disregard for the public good. These groups say the environmental impact of I-73 is too high. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The federal government requires that any new highway be constructed along the least environmentally impactful route. Fifteen state and federal agencies have spent 16 years...

MYRTLE BEACH — Environmental groups are challenging the federal permits that allow construction of Interstate 73, a project that is the longtime dream of Grand Strand tourism officials. The lawsuit was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League. It claims the Army Corps of Engineers relied on an outdated environmental study and did not consider alternatives to I-73 as it issued permits this June to begin work on the road, therefore violating federal law. Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney for the SELC, said that the agencies involved in issuing the permits were stuck on...

PINSON, Ala. -- At 8 a.m. on a Saturday, the rumble of bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment was already audible in Ardell Turner's modest home in this rural hamlet north of Birmingham. Not far away, they once mined coal. Now state and local leaders are seeking prosperity through one of the nation's largest and priciest road projects. On planners' maps, the Northern Beltline will be a 52-mile, six-lane interstate that will effectively complete a loop around Birmingham, Alabama's largest city. More than a half-century after the Beltline's conception, work on a small segment began last year within a mile of...

I was interested to read the article from The Sun News on Thursday about the last-minute delay of the permit to pave International Drive. This project will take thousands of cars off of the gridlock of Highway 501, and relieve congestion in Carolina Forest. On the day before we were to receive the permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coastal Conservation League filed an appeal. It seems they want the road to be redesigned to include multiple bear crossings, at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayers of Horry County. That’s millions of scarce taxpayer dollars...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), which has used the power of the law to defend the South's natural resources for 25 years, today released its third annual list of the top ten places in the South that face immediate, potentially irreversible damage in 2011. This year's list shows that the nation's most urgent environmental issues are playing out in the Southeast, especially the way we produce and use energy. For more detailed descriptions of each endangered area, SELC's protection efforts, photographs and video, visit www.southernenvironment.org/topten "Our region is headed down a path...

Fifteen years from now, 28,000 trucks a day, many of them hauling double or triple trailers, may be speeding up and down special truck lanes on Virginia’s Interstate 81, belching tons of carbon monoxide into the Shenandoah Valley each year. Proponents of “toll truckways,” such as the influential libertarian Reason Foundation think tank, believe they are the wave of the future and the answer to the nation’s transportation needs. Today, trucks on the four-lane I-81 account for as much as 40 percent of total traffic, thanks in part to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The road, which has become...