Letters to the Editor

Fuel savings by shopping Wal-Mart?

The recent opposition to a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on James Island was formed by a group of concerned residents called Islanders for Responsible Expansion. To date, IRE has collected more than 6,000 signatures in opposition to the supercenter. This indicates widespread concern.

The land that Wal-Mart tried to buy from the city of Charleston is part of a 20-plus-acre tract of mitigated wetlands. The wetlands are protected to compensate for the initial wetland fill that occurred in 1994. These wetlands and the surrounding buffers serve a vital role in the overall health of the Stono River by removing pollutants from runoff water.

With seven grocery stores already operating on James Island, it should require little fuel to travel to buy groceries. Most residents will drive past several existing grocery stores on their way to a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

If one is concerned about fuel savings, then consider this information: Wal-Mart has the nation's largest private trucking fleet, with more than 7,200 trucks logging more than 900 million miles last year. Wal-Mart consumed more than 6.3 billion gallons of diesel fuel in the U.S. alone in 2007. That number does not take into account the fuel consumed to transport goods from China to the U.S. A single 747 round trip between the U.S. and China consumes almost 100,000 gallons of jet fuel.

One cannot disagree that Wal-Mart usually has lower prices. However, there are many hidden and deferred costs to all of us that result from big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart.

Amy E. Fabri

President, Islanders for

Responsible Expansion

James Island