South Carolina still has the nation's cheapest pump prices for gasoline, but
the Palmetto State no longer can make that claim on a tax-adjusted basis.
A month ago, The Post and Courier noted that the average statewide
price for a gallon of regular unleaded, net of state and federal taxes, was
$2.271, the lowest in the nation. North Carolina was second-lowest at
$2.273.
Sometime since then, North Carolina along with two other states have edged
past South Carolina.
As of Friday, Utah had the nation's lowest tax-adjusted gas price at $2.45
per gallon, followed by North Carolina and Idaho at $2.48.
South Carolina is in a seven-way tie for the next ranking at $2.49. On an
unadjusted basis, the average pump price in South Carolina Friday was $2.84,
well below the national average of $3.01.
Those figures are based on AAA's daily Fuel Gauge Report, with
tax information from the American Petroleum Institute, an energy-industry
trade and lobbying group.
The Carolinas are benefiting overall from a lack of emissions restrictions
that require the sale of specially formulated fuel, as well as our location
along major gasoline pipelines from the Gulf Coast.
South Carolina's cheapest-in-the-nation pump prices also reflect the state's
fourth-lowest total taxes on gasoline.
All of which may be some small comfort in dealing with the fact that prices
in the Charleston area are still up 15 percent in the past three months and
nearly a third from a year ago.
Island fever
Sullivan's Island has been in the news lately for its decision to enact a
smoking ban. But something else is smoldering in this well-heeled beach
community of roughly 1,900 residents: property values.
With a median home sale price of $1.22 million last year, Sullivan's ranked
No. 64 on Forbes magazine's recently released list of the nation's most
expensive ZIP codes.
That placed it right between San Francisco and Sunol, Calif., in Alameda
County.
Other statistical tidbits about Sullivan's: The median resident's age is just
under 42 years old and the median household income is $80,874, according to
Forbes. That's better than paychecks earned at the No. 1 ZIP code on the list,
the Hamptons on Long Island.
Andy Benke, town administrator for Sullivan's, hadn't seen the list as
of Friday, but he's hardly surprised by the findings about real estate
values.
"Think about the phenomena of Southern migration and coastal migration, and
look at Sullivan's," Benke said. "It's an island. We're not annexing, we're not
growing. So it wouldn't surprise you that prices of property would continue to
rise."
Farther down on the Forbes list is the Isle of Palms, which came in at No.
267 based on its 2005 median home sale price of $785,000.
No other South Carolina ZIP codes - not even South of Broad's pricey 29401
sector, Kiawah Island or Hilton Head Island - made the cut.
Gust in case
In an effort to boost safety on the waterfront, the State Ports Authority
has installed a series of wind speed sensors in the areas of its terminals
where it stores empty containers.
The measure is expected to help protect dock workers in areas where empties
are stacked up to seven units high.
The sensors work by sounding an alarm when wind speeds reach a sustained
level of 32 knots.
The system cost about $30,000, including a radio system to broadcast an alarm
to equipment operators.
In May the port handled enough exports to fill the equivalent of 59,000
20-foot-long containers, said SPA spokesman Byron Miller.
Each shipment required an empty at this end of the global supply chain.
In May alone, the port repositioned 31,000 empty 20-foot equivalents, Miller
said.
Similar technology is used on the Port of Charleston's dock-side
cranes, which are activated when sustained winds hit or exceed 40 knots.
