North Charleston sued as groups hope to erode key port-city agreement on rail

Image by Flickr user --Mike--

In the ongoing North Charleston battle against more rail, the city has long used a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding that no rail would be used along the city's waterfront as a key counterpoint.

Well, the S.C. Department of Commerce, the S.C. State Ports Authority, and the state of South Carolina are saying that the agreement ought not bind all the activities of the state, just the port. 

(Never mind the contradiction when the port would look the other way when a train rolls up to a new port from along the waterfront after having said it wouldn't pursue such an option in the agreement with the city.)

The concern waged by the suit is: If one group enters into an agreement, how much does it bind other state groups?

For their part, the city says that it's a moot argument because the Department of Commerce signed off on it.

I'll point you over to the Charleston Regional Business Journal for my preferred report; read it here.

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