Daily Archives: March 1, 2025

Ashburn spill locations and causes in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2025-02-26

After GA-EPD forgot to list sewage spill locations or causes for several days, we can finally see where and why Ashburn had its late-January and mid-February spills into Hat Creek, which runs to the Alapaha River.

Plus an amusing update on Pinehurst, which is outside the Suwannee River Basin.

Ashburn spill locations and causes

The locations are listed as different: “Rockhouse Rd. Lift Station” for the 2025-01-31 spill and “Rockhouse Rd and Sylvia Dr.” for the 2025-02-14 spill. But from time to time GA-EPD lists the latitude and longitude of spills, and these two have the same latlong: 31.691673, -83.632582.

That’s at this manhole at the corner of Rockhouse Road and Silvia Drive: Continue reading →

Georgia House Committee meeting on Okefenokee Bills Monday 1PM 2025-03-03

Monday at 1PM or after the House adjourns, the Georgia House Natural Resources and Environment Committee (HNRE) will meet to consider the two bills against mining near the Okefenokee Swamp.

This is the committee where previous bills have died. So this is a very important meeting. Please contact your Georgia Statehouse Representative.

Feel free to mention that many city councils and county commissions have passed resolutions supporting the Okefenokee Swamp against mining. And all the Riverkeepers of Georgia and Waterkeepers of Florida have written letters.
https://wwals.net/pictures/okefenokee-resolutions/

Floridians, please ask your Georgia friends, relatives, and business associates to do the same. And you can contact those Representatives directly. Part of the Okefenokee Swamp is in Florida, and all of it is upstream from Florida, on the St. Marys River and the Suwannee River, of the Florida state song.

To find your legislator (and see below):
http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

Georgia House Committee Meeting 2025-03-03 1 PM, on Okefenokee Bills, Natural Resources and the Environment

These are the bills:

HB 561: Okefenokee Protection Act; similar to a previous bill
HB 562: a five-year moratorium on mining permits on Trail Ridge; this one is new

More about those bills here:
https://wwals.net/?p=67055

Here is another place to register your support for the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://protectgeorgia.org/okefenokee/

GWC Flyer
PDF

Facebook event to remind you and others:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1333575764358362/

Plus you can vote for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as #1 in the USA Today 10 Best poll. Poll ends March 10, and you can vote every day.
https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-national-wildlife-refuge-2025/okefenokee-national-wildlife-refuge-folkston-georgia/

HNRE members whose districts include part of the Suwannee River Basin are: Continue reading →

Try again: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River upstream from Troupville 2025-03-04

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Come out Tuesday morning before the rains, start at Troupville Boat Ramp, down around the the Little River Confluence and up the Withlacoochee River towards Sugar Creek, seeking deadfalls to chainsaw and trash to collect.

Thanks to TJ Johnson for coming up from Live Oak, Florida, to lead this one.

Looks like the water will be about a foot higher than last time, when we were stopped by the CiHiG (Cut it Here, I Guess) Deadfall, so this time we should be able to get up over that one to see what’s upstream.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 2 PM, Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Put In: Troupville Boat Ramp, 19664 Valdosta Hwy, Valdosta, GA 31602. I-75 exit 18, west on GA 133 (St. Augustine Road) away from the Valdosta Mall, at the traffic light for Val Tech Road, turn left down to the boat ramp, in Lowndes County.

GPS: 30.851842, -83.346536

Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, upstream from Troupville, Saturday, March 4, 2025

Continue reading →