The N&O reports on a proposed mega-port endorsed by the N.C. Senate, but rebuked by the House.
The notion of spending taxpayers’ money on a proposed North Carolina mega-port didn’t float many boats in the state House late last week, and that’s good news for the coastal environment and the state’s finances. This is a well-intentioned project that simply doesn’t make sufficient sense.
The House’s emphatic 104-to-11 vote against funding a port study was on the mark. The Senate, in contrast, has endorsed the study (estimated to cost the state about $5 million) and no decision is final until the legislature adjourns. To avoid a taxpayer commitment to what Rep. Pricey Harrison of Greensboro called “a Global TransPark on steroids,” the House’s view should prevail.
(Private investors are not yet aboard.)
Note that the N&O authors have no problem with taxpayers subsidizing what should be a private business investment, they merely object because they think the port doesn’t have a solid enough business plan. The lack of private backers is enough to tell us that.
Implied in this article is that if the N&O editors believed the port had a more viable business plan (or made “sufficient sense”), they would be all for it. But does anyone really believe it is in our best interests to further politicize our economy and shift the decision-making process of how our scarce resources are allocated even further into the hands of politicians?
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