Bill Reeside
LibertarianQ1 The cost of electricity and water are on the rise with nearby data centers straining current resources in combination with increased energy costs to consumers. How will you navigate the economic, public health, and environmental impacts when considering new data centers and data center permissions, in general?
I spent 40+ years in the construction, maintenance and operations of power plants (hydro, coal and nuclear). South Carolina has historically had relatively low price/ kw-hour due to utility decisions to use hydro and nuclear and coal (geographically close to coal supplies). State and county elected officials MUST stop offering incentives to data centers and MUST start negotiating for the prospective operators to: bring their own environmentally benign power supplies; use closed loop cooling and/ or cooling towers to reduce water usage and use available technology to mitigate noise issues.
Q2 How will you ensure science workforce preparedness in community-based institutions like K–12 schools and community colleges across our state?
I am running for a federal office. We can do the following: stop having the federal government mandate non educational priorities on local schools. Let the states and counties dictate curriculum, which must include science and trades. Take the federal government out of the student loan programs, which will reduce the costs for students to attend community colleges. As a large employer, the federal government must give regular feedback to K-12 and community colleges regarding the science preparedness of the students emerging from those schools.
Q3 What steps, if any, do you believe government should take to protect public health and community wellbeing (e.g., vaccine access, environmental health risks such as PFAS or asbestos, disease prevention, or emergency preparedness)?
Although I am a small government advocate, there is a place for regulation when it comes to public health and environmental protection. Vaccine science must be apolitical and focused on the relationship between doctor and patient. Whistleblowers and contrarians must be included in government work on public health and environmental protection. The best thing government can do is fund unbiased research on all the issues listed and turn that data over to decision makers in private industry and education. Plus, the public can elect more ENGINEERS and fewer lawyers!
Q4 As the world is becoming more information dense, science mistrust has grown. How do you think elected officials can work with scientists to build the general public’s trust in science?
As a federal elected official, I can root out the government bureaucracy that, for example, allowed the COVID 19 response to be political rather than science based. I can use zero based budgeting to force government funded research to focus on data driven, not political driven research. I can be an elected official that recognizes that science evolves and ALWAYS be transparent and always let contrarian views come into the sunlight.