The Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer affected by the Sabal Trail pipeline is #9 in the Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2014: A Call to Action, and here’s the press release,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 22, 2014 — Today, Georgia’s leading water coalition named its “Dirty Dozen” for 2014, highlighting 12 of the worst offenses to Georgia’s waters. The annual Dirty Dozen shines a spotlight on threats to Georgia’s water resources as well as the polluters and state policies or failures that ultimately harm—or could harm—Georgia property owners, downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers, and boaters and swimmers.
“The Dirty Dozen is not a list of the most polluted water bodies in Georgia, nor are they ranked in any particular order,” said Joe Cook, Advocacy & Communication Coordinator at the Coosa River Basin Initiative. “It’s a list of problems that exemplify the results of inadequate funding for Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), a lack of political will to enforce existing environmental protections, and ultimately misguided water planning and spending priorities that flow from the very top of Georgia’s leadership.”
WWALS submitted #9 of the Dirty Dozen:
9. Withlacoochee River & Floridan Aquifer: Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
The Sabal Trail pipeline’s path across southwest Georgia would require boring underground pipelines beneath the Withlacoochee, Flint and Chattahoochee rivers as well as numerous smaller streams, and will course underground above the Floridan aquifer. While the Sabal Trail pipeline’s parent companies would have residents believe their 3-foot-diameter pipe is a benign neighbor, the history of gas pipeline accidents and environmental ills paints a different picture. (Item 9)
Here’s the rest of the Dirty Dozen 2014:
- Georgia’s Water: State Water Policy Threatens Streams, Aggravates Water Wars, Wastes Tax Dollars
- Georgia’s Coastal & Freshwater Wetlands: EPD Refuses to Enforce Clean Water Laws
- Floridan Aquifer: State Leaders Drop Well Water Protections to Experiment With Risky Water Injection Schemes
- Chattahoochee River: Weakened State Agency Allows Industries to Foul River
- Coosa River: Long Delayed State Clean Up Plan Allows Power Company to Continue Polluting
- Flint River: Textile Manufacturer’s Pollution, State Water Policy Create Conundrum
- Savannah River: Pollutants, Nuclear Reactors Suck Water and Life out of Savannah
- Georgia’s Small Streams and Wetlands: National Rule To Protect Georgia’s Streams and Wetland Treasures Under Attack
- Withlacoochee River & Floridan Aquifer: Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
- Turtle River: Toxic Legacy Poisons Dolphins, Drinking Water
- Satilla River: Toxic Legacies Threaten Waycross Residents
- Little Satilla Creek & Penholloway Creek: Titanium Mine Threatens Wetlands, Well Water
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