Gov. Whitman Highlights Job Creation in South Carolina
South Carolina State University (SCSU) – the only Historically Black College with a nuclear engineering degree program – hosted a panel discussion in April to explore job creation in the nuclear industry. Joined by community leaders, academic experts, and industry professionals, Gov. Whitman highlighted the role that nuclear power could play in creating jobs in the Palmetto State – where unemployment currently stands at 11.4 percent.
The panel, which was moderated by Westinghouse Electric’s Mark Fecteau and included Public Service Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, focused on the role that South Carolina colleges and universities can play in providing the new education and training needed to fill positions created by additional nuclear facilities.
“With four reactors under consideration here in South Carolina, that means jobs,” Whitman said. “You are in a position to provide the clean energy jobs of the future.”
Media coverage of the panel discussion included The State and South Carolina Radio Network. Both outlets interviewed Gov. Whitman after her presentation and cited job figures from the CASEnergy white paper, Job Creation in the Nuclear Renaissance. The State’s article was picked up by a number of outlets, including Greenville News on-line.
While in Orangeburg, Gov. Whitman also attended a luncheon with about 50 influential South Carolinians, including several representatives from the Public Service Commission, state legislators and staff members from Congressman Jim Clyburn’s office.
And in Charleston, Gov. Whitman attended a reception with a variety of environmental leaders, which served as a perfect opportunity to discuss the benefits of using emission-free nuclear energy.
Gov. Whitman was also interviewed live on The David Mack Show (WZJY 1480 AM), a popular urban radio show hosted by S.C. State Representative David Mack III. Additionally, Gov. Whitman sat down with the editorial board of The Charleston Post & Courier, which subsequently featured a profile piece on her that ran in the paper. In The Charleston Post & Courier article, associate editor Frank Wooten said that “the former (1994-2001) New Jersey governor didn’t just persuasively pitch nuclear as non-greenhouse-gas-emitting ‘green power.’ She pitched the practical proposition that ‘we can’t keep saying no to drilling, foreign oil, nuclear and coal.’”
