Group advocates private role in ports

Associated Press

BEAUFORT, S.C. - Beaufort County Councilman and developer Dick Stewart has launched a nonprofit group to push for private participation in South Carolina ports.

SC Free Market Ports plans to raise money, lobby lawmakers and raise public awareness of the issue.

The State Ports Authority is involved in a state Supreme Court lawsuit with Jasper County over who has the right to build a new port in the county on the Savannah River.

"Why are jobs and income not being invested in Jasper County when it doesn't require anything but stepping out of the way and letting private industry work?" Stewart asked Monday.

The group's Web site lists examples of private partnerships in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Alabama. But those examples aren't convincing, said Byron Miller, spokesman for the Ports Authority.

"Every one of them received millions in taxpayer dollars for capital projects," he said. "In South Carolina we don't do that."

Information from: The Beaufort Gazette, http://www.beaufortgazette.com/

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