Upstate benefits from 2010 federal earmarks

By Cindy Landrum  

MAY 19, 2010 10:45 a.m. (0)

Earmarks in the 2010 federal budget helped purchase lightweight compact medical equipment for combat medics from a Greer company, continued Milliken’s research into a moldable fabric armor to reinforce military vehicles and will improve busy intersections in the Upstate.

In all, private companies and governments in Greenville and Spartanburg counties received $7.04 million in earmarks.

Clemson University received another $4.23 million.

But in 2011, that money may be harder to come by.

Earmarks are a controversial way for Congressmen to pay for pet projects and they have come under fire during this election year. While they account for less than one-half of a percent of the nation’s budget, critics have pointed to earmarks as a symbol of wasteful spending.

Democratic House leaders have barred earmarks for private businesses, while House Republicans, including Rep. Bob Inglis, R-Greenville, have called for a one-year moratorium.

Work on the 2011 federal budget will start in about a month.

North American Rescue in Greer got the largest earmark to an Upstate private company.

The company received $2.4 million to upgrade medical equipment used by U.S. Army combat medics. The lightweight, compact equipment is designed to reduce preventable combat deaths and speed recovery of the wounded by giving medics the medical equipment they need to provide care during the critical “golden hour.”

Spartanburg’s Milliken and Co. received $2.24 million to continue to develop Tegris, a self-reinforcing thermoplastic composite, for use in armor systems for U.S. military vehicles. The material is already being used on some vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to information provided on Inglis’ Web site, the company plans to conduct mold trials and produce a full-sized molded composite armor system. The research is designed to lead to lighter weight, higher performing armor protection from conventional small arms to armor-piercing rounds to non-conventional blasts.

The next largest appropriations for non-universities were $750,000 to expand the taxiway at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center, formerly known as the Donaldson Center, and $500,000 for professional development at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

While the U.S. House is moving to reduce earmarks, there has been no such effort in the U.S. Senate yet.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, has posted a list on his Web site of earmarks he’ll request be inserted in the 2011 budget.

If they are approved as submitted, Greenville would get $250,000 for entrepreneurial development in the Upstate.

According to Graham’s Web site, Greenville and the surrounding area is experiencing unprecedented declines in income growth and employment levels. To combat that, the area must expand its approach to economic development and build infrastructure and initiatives to support the growth of globally-impactful startup companies.

The city would also get $250,000 for sewer rehabilitation in the Haynie Sirrine neighborhood, where 35 percent of the sewer system was in poor condition.

The city would also receive $300,000 for a feasibility study of a project for habitat restoration, water quality and flood damage reduction on the Reedy River.

Clemson University’s Restoration Institute would receive $1 million to research and develop advanced materials for the next generation of large offshore wind turbines.

The project would build on a Department of Energy grant to develop a drive train test facility at the institute in North Charleston.

According to Graham’s Web site, the project will promote the development of green energy jobs, establish offshore wind power as a viable and cost-competitive technology and launch new markets in marine resilient materials.

Clemson would also receive $1.5 million for a veterinary institute. The project would establish centers for veterinary education in South Carolina. The state has no veterinary school.

The centers would improve the veterinary care of agricultural and companion animals, safeguard the health of the state’s animal industry and allow South Carolina students to pursue careers in veterinary medicine.

According to information from Graham’s office, once the four veterinary centers are established, Clemson would produce 20 to 25 veterinarians and PhDs annually.

Clemson researchers would also get $300,000 for peach tree research to identify genes that influence the progression of disease in the trees and also controlled quality and yield.