CO2 refills in Columbia SC

Two parter:

1) Anyone know of a good place in Columbia or the surrounding area to get CO2 refills? If I buy a new tank, the last thing I'd want to do is exchange it for one that was made during the Bush administration.

2) If you take your tank to a welding shop (or a place that uses CO2 for something other than beverage consumption), have you noticed a difference in your beer/soda/cider/etc? Some swear there's no difference, others say they can taste a difference, and the recent article on the front page has given me a bit of pause about taking it to just any old place.

another non-homebrew place to check is fire extinguisher equipment places. Thats where Ive always filled mine and its never been "dirty" or anything

I can't say much in regards to your location but I can comment on the source of the CO2. I had been swapping tanks at my LHBS and was getting a consistent off-aroma and slight off-flavor. It didn't matter what style of beer was coming off the taps. As soon as I bought brand new tanks and began having them filled at the local fire extinguisher supply shop (always a good place to investigate for refills if you haven't yet), the off-aroma and flavors vanished. Nothing else in my procedure changed.
I would think you'll be in good shape with brand new tanks and a local refill, regardless of what business they practice.

Just went through this conundrum last week. I called around a dozen places, but finally found Carolina Fire and Safety on Rosewood who filled my new C02 tank that same day, they just needed 2 hours to chill it. FWIW, they told me they were the only folks in the area who filled homebrew tanks.

Both Praxair & Airgas on Shop/Bluff Rd will swap out to a new cylinder if you ask.

And by the way, in regards to the gas, itself. At least for Airgas, they distribute to all of the bars so the gas/cylinder you receive from them is EXACTLY the same gas that is pushing all of the beer in Five Points/Vista.

Not to get in a pissing match with the author of that article but there are a ton of things to obsess over before worrying about the CO2.

Just one man's opinion. Take it as you will.