Gov. Nikki Haley on White House’s Charleston port announcement

COLUMBIA, SC – July 18, 2012 – Governor Nikki Haley released thefollowing statement after the White House announced plans to expediteexpansion and modernization for the Port of Charleston:

“This is a huge win for Charleston and for all of South Carolina.  Backin February, I stressed to the President how important deepeningCharleston’s Port was and how frustrating the Army Corps’ timetable was,and I’m thrilled to see the Administration has sped up our project.  We’ve said all along that Charleston was the class of the ports on theeast coast, that we weren’t afraid of competition, and that at the endof the day we would have a 50 ft deepwater port that was envied aroundthe world.  Today is a huge, huge leap forward for our state.”

As a part of his own statement tonight, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham praised Gov. Haley’s work and vision on ports issues:

“I want to thank Governor Haley for her work in helping pushCharleston’s case forward and creating a new, national vision forports.  She continually brought this issue up in her meetings withPresident Obama and Vice President Biden.  She helped ensure thiscritical project was on their radar.”