2018 Dirty Dozen Report Telepress

by Dana Skelton | Nov 12, 2018 | Uncategorized

Press Release – Dirty Dozen 2018: Dirty Politics Lead to Dirty Water

Click here for the pdf of the slide deck.

Please RSVP for the press conference using the form below.

Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Amendment – Vote Yes on Amendment 1

by Dana Skelton | Oct 3, 2018 | Uncategorized

Vote YES on Amendment One!!!

The Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Amendment is on the ballot on November 6 as Amendment One. Georgians now have a chance to dedicate funding for conservation and it can be done without a tax increase!

The amendment will allow a portion of the existing sales tax we are already paying on outdoor sporting goods to the protection of the state’s land, water, and wildlife.

Over $20 million would be dedicated every year for the next ten years. This funding could not be used for any other purpose and would be subject to strict accountability provisions and public disclosure. Only projects consistent with the state’s established goals for conservation would be approved.

If passed, this funding would be used to:

• Protect lands critical to clean drinking water and the quality of Georgia’s lakes, rivers and streams
• Acquire and improve parks and trails
• Maintain and improve access to wildlife management areas and create new opportunities for hunting and fishing
• Support Georgia’s $27 billion outdoor recreation industry
We need your help to get the word out so that we can pass this historic Amendment. Please forward this email to everyone you can and let people know this is a chance we will have only once in a generation. Learn more at https://www.georgiaoutdoorstewardship.org/

Fighting Clean Water Act Repeals

by Dana Skelton | Sep 17, 2018 | Uncategorized

Several months ago, the Trump administration began its efforts to strip away long-standing clean water protections by proposing the suspension of standards under the Clean Water Act. The proposed 2-year suspension of the protections provided by the 2015 Clean Water Rule was the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ first step in a coordinated series of attacks.  Conservation groups argued before the U.S. District Court in Charleston that the agencies illegally refused to explain their rationale for the suspension and denied meaningful public comment. The court agreed, adamantly rejecting the agencies’ approach.

The ruling ends the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ suspension of clean water protections under the Clean Water Act and puts the Clean Water Rule back in effect for more than half of the country. This ruling does not apply to 24 states where other legal challenges are pending, including Georgia.  This win is important on its own, and perhaps even more so in preparation for impending efforts to permanently repeal the Clean Water Rule.

The Trump administration has already prepared a proposed rule that would degrade our rivers and streams that is expected to be released for public comment within the next two months. Under this proposal, which is backed by industrial polluters:

• Small streams that flow into Georgia’s rivers, drinking water reservoirs and eventually our coastal estuaries and waters would be made vulnerable to industrial pollution, putting drinking water for 53 percent of Georgia’s population at risk.
• Wetlands that absorb flood waters, improve water quality, support wildlife, and buffer our communities from hurricanes and storms would be at risk of fill and more pollution.
• Our drinking water supplies from the Upper Chattahoochee River, our favorite swimming holes along the Flint River, our North Georgia trout fishing streams, and so many other waters would be in jeopardy.

We can’t afford to let the Altamaha, St. Marys, Savannah, and Georgia’s other rivers become polluted. We have worked too hard to keep these waters clean, and we are prepared .

But it is not enough to strike the administration in court. Communities across the South are fighting against big polluters and bad politics to make sure that toxic pollution stays out of our waters and basic, long-lasting protections remain in place. Georgians must engage in concerted outreach efforts to enlighten our members and the public at large that we can’t take our cherished waters for granted.

Do you want to get involved in the defense of the US Clean Water Act? Contact Bill Sapp at SELC.

Georgia Becomes the Southeast’s Regional Dumping Ground for Coal Ash

by Dana Skelton | Sep 17, 2018 | Uncategorized

For decades, Georgia Power has stored toxic coal ash in ponds beside the rivers, lakes, and streams we depend on for drinking water and recreation. Under Federal regulations and a recent court decision, coal ash can no longer be stored in wet ponds. Closing down these leaky, unsafe ponds is a good first step for treating coal ash waste. Georgia Power plans to close all of its coal ash ponds by draining the water from the ponds and either covering up the ash in place or excavating it and moving it to dry, lined storage.

The excavated coal ash waste is being transported to lined landfills on Georgia Power’s property or to Municipal Solid Waste Landfills (MSWLs) across Georgia. Out-of-state utilities can also ship their coal ash to Georgia’s MSWLs, many of which are not designed to handle this toxic waste.

Now, thanks to a terrible provision snuck into legislation in the final days of the 2018 legislative session, Georgia Power has ensured that Georgia’s MSWLs will remain the Number One destination for out-of-state coal ash for at least the next seven years.

At the Georgia General Assembly in 2018, much-need legislation was introduced to increase “host fees,” which are fees paid to local governments in which MSWLs are located. The fees help local governments pay for services that mitigate the impacts that these large landfills may have on their communities. Georgia’s host fee has long been one of the lowest in the nation, stuck at $1 per ton of waste delivered to the landfill. House Bill 792 sought to raise the host fee to $2.50 to better reflect the costs incurred by these local governments in which MSWLs operate.

Unfortunately, Georgia Power decided it would not abide this increased fee, particularly while it is undertaking the largest consolidation and transfer of coal ash waste in state history. The utility frantically lobbied to freeze the fee increase so it would continue paying just $1 for coal ash waste sent to MSWLs. Georgia Power sought to delay the fee increase until after it has completed its efforts to close and consolidate its coal ash ponds and transfer millions of tons of the waste to MSWLs across Georgia.

However thanks to the United States Constitution, this kind of handout is only legal if it applies to all similarly situated entities across state lines. This means that Georgia’s abysmally low host fees would be frozen for allcoal ash waste shipments to Georgia landfills, whether the toxic sludge comes from Georgia or Florida or any other state. Thanks to its hold on our state legislators, Georgia Power succeeded: the host fee is frozen at $1 for all types of coal ash waste until 2025.

The message was received loud and clear: Georgia is the Southeast’s regional dumping ground for coal ash waste. We are sure to remain the cheapest option for utilities seeking to dispose of millions of tons of coal ash sludge well into the next decade.

There are currently six (6) MSWLs permitted by the State EPD to accept and store coal ash waste. These landfills are scattered across the state and situated along a variety of Georgia’s beautiful river basins.

• Cherokee County (Coosa River)
• Meriwether County (Chattahoochee River)
• Banks County (Savannah River)
• Taylor County (Flint River)
• Chatham County (Ogeechee River)
• Charlton County (St. Marys River)

These landfills are situated alongside streams and above vital groundwater aquifers that supply water to hundreds of thousands of Georgians. Current laws are insufficient to ensure that these landfills are capable of safely storing coal ash waste for the long-term. As such it is dangerous to consolidate high concentrations of Georgia Power’s toxic coal ash waste in these landfills. It is irresponsible and indefensible to pass laws that encourages other states beyond Georgia to ship their toxic coal ash waste into our communities.

Our elected officials must take legislative action to undo this egregious violation of the peoples’ trust. HB 792 sought to increase landfill host fees to allow local governments to mitigate the impacts these MSWLs have on their communities. Instead special interests hijacked the legislation and incentivized the shipment of millions of tons of out-of-state toxic waste into these counties.

When the 2019 session of the Georgia legislature convenes in January, the GWC Legislative Team will work to convince our state leaders to repeal the provision that gave Georgia Power and out-of-state waste generators this free pass to dump coal ash waste on Georgians.

Clean 13 Honoree, ACF Stakeholders, Impact in Tri-State Water Dispute at Supreme Court 

by Dana Skelton | Sep 17, 2018 | Uncategorized

Earlier this year at the Georgia Water Coalition’s Clean 13 Celebration, the work of Mark Masters was recognized for many contributions to water planning and conservation in Georgia, including his long-term efforts  coordinating and supporting the work of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Stakeholders while they developed a water sharing agreement between diverse interests from Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Since then, the ideas espoused by ACF Stakeholders and highlighted by GWC in the 2017 Clean 13 Report have gained the attention of the Supreme Court.

In June 2018, the high court sent the Florida v. Georgia case back to a special master for further deliberations.

In doing so the justices affirmed several ACF Stakeholders recommendations. The court has an expectation that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not simply sit on the sidelines, and that the health of the river ecosystem can be considered along with concerns over uses like drinking water or irrigation for agriculture.

During the court proceedings overseen by Special Master Ralph Lancaster in fall of 2016, he repeatedly referenced the ACF Stakeholders Sustainable Water Management Plan (SWMP) and questioned numerous witnesses about the plan.

In August 2018, the Supreme Court appointed federal appellate court judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. as the new special master in the case. While it remains to be seen whether Judge Kelly will lean on the SWMP as did special master Lancaster, it appears the ACF Stakeholders recommendations are reaching as far as Washington D.C. In recognition of the hard work and diligence of this stakeholders group, the GWC is honoring them as a recipient of our 2018 Clean 13 award.

Since 2011, Georgia’s taxpayers have paid NEARLY $50 million in legal fees for water wars litigation. The ACF Stakeholders SWMP, produced at a cost of $1.7 million, provides a road map for solving the dispute without additional, costly litigation. The 2018 GWC Clean 13 Report was released on September 19^th. To download a copy and read about all of the 2018 Clean 13 Awardees click here.

2017 – 2018 Legislative Updates

by Dana Skelton | Jun 5, 2018 | Uncategorized

Final Legislative Update – Click here.

Legislative Update Week 11 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 10 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 9 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 8 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 7 – Click here.  

Legislative Update Week 6 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 5 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 4  – Click here.

Legislative Update Week 3- Click here.

Legislative Update Week 2 – Click here. 

Legislative Update Week 1 – Click here.  

Revising the GWC’s Biennial Report of Recommendations

by Dana Skelton | May 31, 2018 | Uncategorized

Revising the GWC’s Biennial Report of Recommendations

Every two years, since 2002, the Georgia Water Coalition has released a report of recommendations for protecting and restoring Georgia’s water resources. This report serves as the foundation for our water advocacy work. All of our GWC members are given the opportunity to provide input during the revision process. We work to address new issues that have developed since the last report and also to determine if any old issues have since been resolved. For instance, during the revision process in 2016, we added language about pipelines, fracking, and sea level rise. All changes to the report are agreed upon by consensus of those members that are present at the biennial revision meeting.

This summer on July 18th we will be revising our 2017 Biennial Report at the Alcovy Conservation Center in Covington. The revision process will be in two parts:

1. A team recently pulled all of the policy positions/recommendations that were in the report and put them in a spreadsheet. They asked some questions in the spreadsheet that we need our members to answer.  Questions like “How did this position originate?”  “Is it still relevant?”  The spreadsheet was sent to all of our GWC members on June 15th.  Members were asked to answer the questions for the policy positions that matter the most to them.  We also asked our members to let us know of any new water related issues that have arisen since our last revision in 2016. All input should be submitted to Chris Manganiello at cmanganiello@chattahoochee.org by July 5th.
2. On July 18th we will meet in person and go over the entire report, all recommendations that were sent in early, additional recommendations that are presented at the meeting, and vote on the changes to the report.

The new report will be created during the fall of 2018 and will be released in January of 2019. Watch your email for announcements about the revision process and for information about registering for the July 18^th membership meeting. If you have any questions please contact Gina Rogers, GWC Director of Operations at Gina@gwf.org

Bills to Protect Communities From Coal Waste Introduced

by Dana Skelton | Feb 13, 2018 | Uncategorized

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennette Gayer
jennette@environmentgeorgia.org
0-404-370-1764, M-703-475-3228

BILLS TO PROTECT COMMUNITIES FROM COAL WASTE INTRODUCED
Georgia Water Coalition applauds legislators for taking steps to protect communities and waterways

ATLANTA, GA (February 13, 2018)—The Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) applauds state Representative Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick) and a bipartisan list of cosponsors for their work to protect communities around Georgia from the toxic contaminants found in coal ash. After working to address concerns from Georgia Power and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division regarding legislation filed last year, Representative Jones introduced two bills that will help keep coal ash out of the water in which we swim and from which we drink, and people informed about coal ash present in their communities.

The first bill HB 879 would require Georgia Power and other power generating utilities to notify local communities when they plan to drain coal ash pits into local waterways. The second, HB 880 would require notification and more stringent testing at landfills that are accepting coal ash. It would also prohibit municipal solid waste landfills located in floodplains or too close to shallow aquifers from accepting coal ash.

“Keeping coal ash out of our public waters is a top priority for the Georgia Water Coalition,” said Juliet Cohen, chair of the GWC’s legislative committee and Director of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “More than half of the state’s major river basins are affected by coal ash. This is something that the 200 plus groups in our coalition are very concerned about.”

“These are common-sense bills that will ensure that Georgians know what is going on in their communities,” said Representative Jones. “Georgia is one of the country’s largest repositories of coal ash. Some is already here, and some is shipped in from other states. We must make sure, by law, that this ash does not contaminate our waters.”

Coal ash is the toxic-laden waste left behind after coal is burned to generate energy. Coal ash waste contains many heavy metals and other toxic elements, which are concentrated in the ash when they are prevented from escaping through the plants’ smokestacks. The toxic contaminants in coal ash have been linked to serious health impacts and include arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, cadmium, and chromium. Georgia Power has 29 unlined coal ash pits and roughly 90 million tons of coal ash.

Following major spills and damage in North Carolina and Tennessee, a federal rule is requiring dry storage of coal ash moving forward in most cases. This is driving utilities across the southeast, including Georgia Power, to drain their coal ash ponds, and it also means Georgia landfills are now accepting coal ash from inside and outside of the state.

The GWC plans to make HB 879 and HB 880 top priorities on March 1, when the GWC hosts Capitol Conservation Day. Water lovers from all over the state will visit the Capitol to discuss important legislation with their representatives.

About Georgia Water Coalition:
The Georgia Water Coalition’s (GWC) mission is to protect and care for Georgia’s surface water and groundwater resources, which are essential for sustaining economic prosperity, providing clean and abundant drinking water, preserving diverse aquatic habitats for wildlife and recreation, strengthening property values, and protecting the quality of life for current and future generations. The members of the Georgia Water Coalition work collaboratively and transparently with each other to achieve specific goals conservation goals.

For further details, please contact
Jennette Gayer, jennette@gawater.org
www.gawater.org | 706-549-4508