Sign the Letter Urging Senators to Vote No On the Reconciliation Bill 2025-06-14

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Your organization can still sign onto this letter to all U.S. Senators:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJYPPq-I7vrVSDmC3qoo4SrN9WwFpOacdMcPkacGpEn-5rwg/viewform

The letter specifically opposes pipeline pay-to-play: the section that would give pipeline companies expedited permitting if they pay the lesser of $10 million or 1% of their expected construction costs, while removing the ability of any state or federal agency to reject such a permit.

The letter also opposes the bill’s prohibition on state regulation of so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) operations, which consume vast amounts of power and emit noise and pollution.

The latter has already been sent to all U.S. Senators, but they will get updates as more organizations sign on.

[Sign the Letter Urging Senators to Vote No On the Reconciliation Bill: No pipeline pay to play]
Sign the Letter Urging Senators to Vote No On the Reconciliation Bill: No pipeline pay to play

Dear Senators,

The “Big Beautiful Bill” strips states rights, property rights, and turns the United States into a Pay to Play nation whereby big industry polluters can very literally buy the permits they desire, States and regulatory agencies are stripped of the ability to reject damaging projects, and impacted property owners and impacted communities are too often denied their day in court, all in service to advance major fossil fuel pipelines, export facilities and associated infrastructure.

We, the undersigned organizations, Continue reading →

Questions and call for Public Hearing on Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

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This is what I filed by the Thursday deadline as public comments on the latest Chemours mining permit application. This one is to expand the Trail Ridge South Mine onto land owned by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). I continue to wonder why SRWMD bought this land, allegedly for conservation, if they were going to let Chemours mine on it?

Several other organizations also filed comments, some of them also calling for a Public Hearing.

[Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin --WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12]
Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek 2025-06-12

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WWALS got some OK E. coli results on Sugar Creek this week.

And Valdosta Utilities got clean results for the Withlacoochee River.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Rain is predicted this weekend and every day this coming week.

Since these recent tests were after previous rains, apparently we’re past first flush. That means whatever was in the woods has washed out now, so more rain may not cause much contamination.

So as near as we can tell, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend, if you can beat the rain!

[Clean Withlacoochee River, and Sugar Creek, More Rain coming, 2025-06-12]
Clean Withlacoochee River, and Sugar Creek, More Rain coming, 2025-06-12

Maybe join us Thursday evening by zoom for How Humans Affect the Aquifer, a WWALS Webinar, by Dennis J. Price, P.G., 2025-06-19
https://wwals.net/?p=67740 Continue reading →

Sampling Sugar Creek 2025-06-12

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Update 2025-06-13: Clean Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek 2025-06-12.

This afternoon I sampled water at four Sugar Creek locations: Baytree Road, the Norfolk Southern RailRoad, Gornto Road, and the WaterGoat.

Here’s a WWALS video:
https://youtu.be/rWVpBjeaUu4

Then I pipetted sample water onto PetriFilms, and put those in an incubator.

After 24 hours at 95F, I’ll count the blue bacteria colonies with bubbles, and compute the colony forming units (cfu)/100 mL of E. coli.

[Sampling Sugar Creek, Baytree, Railroad, Gornto, WaterGoat, Upstream from Withlacoochee River, June 12, 2025]
Sampling Sugar Creek, Baytree, Railroad, Gornto, WaterGoat, Upstream from Withlacoochee River, June 12, 2025

Along with results from other WWALS testers and from Valdosta Utilities (who presumably sampled the Withlacoochee River Wednesday at GA 133 and US 84), WWALS will publish the usual weekly water quality report Friday afternoon or evening.

Plus bonus snippet with the WWALS water quality testing trainer, Gretchen Quarterman.

If you want to get trained to be a water quality tester, go to wwals.net, and in the menu select issues, then testing. Then pick “get trained”:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#signup Continue reading →

Willacoochee River overflow Satilla Road variance 2025-07-11

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The deadline to comment on GA-EPD environmental variance request BV-077-25-01 is July 11, 2025. (PDF)
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/GADNR/2025/06/11/file_attachments/3290440/BV-077-25-01%20Irwin%20County%20PUBLIC%20NOTICE.pdf

It’s for replacing a bridge at County Road (CR) 181/Satilla Road at Willacoochee River Overflow (GPS Coordinates:_31.563505, -83.170928).

[Willacoochee River overflow, Satilla Road variance, BV-077-25-01, Irwin County 2025-06-12]
Willacoochee River overflow, Satilla Road variance, BV-077-25-01, Irwin County 2025-06-12

That’s six miles east of Ocilla, in Irwin County, Georgia. Continue reading →

Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar 2025-08-21

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A Wildlife Biologist with GA-DNR, Samuel Holst, will talk about the bats of Georgia, including in Banks Lake and the Okefenokee Swamp. Plus some of our rare small mammals that are found around the Okefenokee.

When: 12 PM, Thursday, August 21, 2025

Put In: Register to join with Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/L4lMEWAMRyCE66LTG7CyQg
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin will give a brief introduction.
Questions and answers will be at the end.

[Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar, Thursday, August 21, 2025]
Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar, Thursday, August 21, 2025

Continue reading →

Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations of planners 2025-06-10

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If you care about the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink, or underground caves, or surface creeks, or the Santa Fe River, or government transparency, please go to the Alachua City Commission meeting tonight, 6 PM, Monday, June 9, 2025.

That’s at James A. Lewis City Commission Chambers, 15100 NW 142 Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615.

Or call or write them:
https://www.cityofalachua.com/government/city-commission/meet-the-commissioners

[Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations 2025-06-09 of planners and City Manager, Tara Forest & Mill Creek Sink]
Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations 2025-06-09 of planners and City Manager, Tara Forest & Mill Creek Sink

Thanks to Vickie Bashor for this cogent explanation:

3 planners with over 50 years experience at the City of Alachua resigned earlier this year within a 2-week period. One of the planners, Justin Tabor, sent an open letter to the Alachua City Commission alleging Continue reading →

Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia 2025-06-06

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The future looks cloudy for the Alabama miners.

You can ask GA-EPD to end the suspense by denying their permit application:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

Dylan Jackson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 6, 2025, Controversial Okefenokee mine project delayed as company fails to post required funds: Georgia EPD says Twin Pines Minerals has not provided the $2 million in collateral required to obtain a permit.

[Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia --AJC, June 6, 2025]
Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia –AJC, June 6, 2025
AJC posted a picture captioned in part:
“Twin Pines began storing equipment at this site in Charlton County near the Okefenokee Swamp.”
They’ve been doing that since at least 2019, as this WWALS picture shows.

Twin Pines Minerals has not produced the $2 million bond or other collateral required to receive its permit to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp, a delay that comes as the company and its affiliates continue to show signs of financial distress.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division spokeswoman Sara Lips confirmed on Wednesday that Twin Pines has yet to submit the financial assurance required for permit approval. The agency requested a bond or other collateral from the company in February 2024, shortly after draft permits were released.

Continue reading →

Send Florida RTCW petitions to Election Supervisor by end of June

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Registered Florida voters, please sign the Right to Clean Water (RTCW) petition and send it to your Election Supervisor by the end of June.

Here is the petition to get the RTCW constitutional amendment referendum on the ballot:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/_files/ugd/d9c45c_8210360ac2c740a586a2717c4f64ec3f.pdf

Ignore the address on the petition. Send it to your county Supervisor of Elections (or hand it to them):
https://dos.fl.gov/elections/contacts/supervisor-of-elections/

And get your friends and relatives to do the same.

[RTCW Today]
RTCW Today

Why? According to the organizers of the Florida RTCW initiative: Continue reading →

Okefenokee Gateway Getaway at The Farm at Okefenokee 2023-10-26

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It was quite a do, at The Farm at Okefenokee.

[Okefenokee Gateway Getaway, The Farm at Okefenokee, Next to Okefenokee NWR, October 26, 2023]
Okefenokee Gateway Getaway, The Farm at Okefenokee, Next to Okefenokee NWR, October 26, 2023

The Okefenokee Gateway Getaway was put on by Charlton, Clinch, and Ware Counties, whose leaders “collaboratively strive to harness the potential of our region’s crowning jewel – the Okefenokee Swamp and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.” It was apparently the first-ever collaborative venture of those three Georgia counties. Continue reading →