| Some of my friends in the environmental community still don’t seem to get it. In a recent guest column printed on the editorial page of a daily newspaper, Sierra Club Director Dell Isham praised Governor Mark Sanford's use of the word sprawl in his State of the State address. He opined that the Governor seemed uncomfortable with the word, but prodded Mr. Sanford to embrace his organization's belief that stopping sprawl is a top priority.
I venture to say that Governor Sanford may have been uncomfortable with the term for the same reason I sometimes am. The word is often misappropriated to negatively define any growth, planned or sporadic, urban or rural, good or bad. But the last time I checked, the term sprawl refers to careless, irregular, and awkward growth. So to all who carelessly, and regularly toss around the term, I colloquially say, all growth ain't sprawl.
In his State of the State Address, Governor Sanford referred to sprawl only once and in the following context: "In addition to depriving many students of a quality education, ... remotely sited mega schools also accelerate developmental sprawl into our rural areas - and what comes with it - increased car trips, lengthened bus routes, and a disappearing countryside. Please help me to bring back smaller community-centered schools."
I couldn't agree with the Governor more. This is exactly what recently happened in Calhoun County. Two elementary schools in the black area of the county near Lake Marion were closed, and those students are being bused to a brand-new "mega school" in Sandy Run, a bedroom community in the majority white area of the county. Their parents now face “increased car trips” and “lengthened bus routes.”
This does not have to be and it should not be. I have been passionately working to bring potable water and build an environmentally safe and economically beneficial bridge in the area of the two closed schools. This bridge will be more than a more direct and shorter route between Sumter and Orangeburg, it will enhance the quality of life in all communities along the routes it connects. It will provide better accessibility to health care, educational opportunities and job possibilities. It could be key to an expanded tax base for Calhoun and Clarendon County school districts.
Now faced with environmental impact studies concluding the bridge will not be harmful, and economic impact findings that the bridge will be helpful, opponents are claiming the bridge will encourage sprawl.
Some pseudo-environmentalists are opposing many good, economically beneficial, and environmentally friendly rural initiatives by speciously invoking the threat of sprawl. It does not matter to them that homes and schools have burned down because they lack a water source to fight the blaze, or that the water many of these citizens are drinking test unfit for human consumption. They could care less about the people who call and visit my offices complaining about their increasing insurance rates, or about being unable to do laundry and take showers because of the contaminants that stain and discolor.
They know that the odds of sprawl in these areas are about as remote as the communities themselves. To them, their vivid imaginations are much more deserving of official attention than all the facts and figures to the contrary. I often wonder if sprawl is the real reason for their opposition or just a euphemism for the widely held belief that African American communities are not worth such attention and assistance.
I said before, all growth ain’t sprawl, and I now know, all environmentalists ain’t creditable. ‘Nough said.
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U.S. Congressman 
