Category Archives: River

Pilgrim’s Pride and Springsheds, SRWMD Board Packet 2019-09-10

Nestlé is still not on the agenda for the SRWMD Board Meeting, 3PM, Tuesday, September 10, 2019, at SRWMD HQ in Live Oak, FL. Don’t let that stop you from asking SRWMD not to let Nestlé withdraw more water from Ginnie Springs on the Santa Fe River, and maybe they should revisit Nestlé’s permit to withdraw at Madison Blue Spring on the Withlacoochee River.

[Location Map, Pilgrim's Pride Project, 2-121-219095-6]
Location Map, Pilgrim’s Pride Project, 2-121-219095-6

But a water permit involving new wells for Pilgrim’s Pride is on the agenda. Also on the agenda are as are four permits for agricultural withdrawal, two in the Ichetucknee Springshed. Here are the relevant maps from the SRWMD Board Packet. Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper at Our Santa Fe River Board Meeting 2019-08-28

Thanks, OSFR President Mike Roth, for the invitation. Jim Tatum, OSFR, 31 August 2019, Suwannee RiverKeeper Quarterman is Guest at OSFR Board Meeting,

[Suwannee RiverKeeper Quarterman is Guest at OSFR Board Meeting]
Suwannee RiverKeeper Quarterman is Guest at OSFR Board Meeting; Photo: Jim Tatum for OSFR

Guest speaker at the August OSFR board meeting was Suwannee RiverKeeper John Quarterman from Georgia.

John gave a detailed run-down of the benefits and responsibilities of a riverkeeper, of which there are around 350 scattered around the globe.

What does John do?

Actually he does quite a bit. A brief search ended up on the WaterKeeper Alliance website which had Continue reading →

Nobody needs Nestle water bottles from our river and spring water –Suwannee Riverkeeper on RT.com 2019-08-29

RT carried a surprisingly long objection to Nestlé’s water withdrawals from Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, interviewed via skype from London on Wednesday, posted Thursday.

[No need for water in plastic bottles]
No need for water in plastic bottles

Remember to send your comment to the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) asking them to deny Nestlé’s request to withdraw more water from the Santa Fe River at Ginnie Springs.

RT, YouTube, 29 August 2019, Nestle seeks to extract millions of liters of water from Florida’s ‘fragile’ Santa Fe river, Continue reading →

Need EIS, public hearings –Okefenokee Swamp Park to USACE about titanium mine 2019-08-22

Excellent comments from Okefenokee Swamp Park, requesting at least three public hearings by the Army Corps, plus independent research, in addition to a full Environmental Impact Statement. When I received them from Dr. Clark last night, he asked me to circulate them widely; see also PDF.

[About OSP]
About OSP

Continue reading →

Hurricane Dorian expected this weekend 2019-08-31

Update 2019-08-29: All Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses from Virginia to coastal Georgia cancelled for Sunday and Saturday, and flights even if not canceled are absurdly expensive at this late date, so I’m not leaving for Virginia today; I’ll be staying here for the duration. And these cancellations indicate Amtrak and Greyhound at least are considering Dorian something to worry about.

Hurricane Dorian is expected to be category 4 (130-156 mph winds) when it lands Monday somewhere on the east coast of Florida, and we could see tropical storm winds (39-73 mph) in Cedar Key Saturday and in Valdosta Sunday.

[Winds, Tropical Storm Force, Earliest Reasonable Time of Arrival]
National Hurricane Center: Hurricane Dorian, Winds, Tropical Storm Force, Earliest Reasonable Time of Arrival

The storm could go right over Valdosta like the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, Continue reading →

Okefenokee overflight with GA Rep. John Corbett 2019-08-24

Flying over the affected area appears to have made at least one elected official think harder about whether the supposed titanium mining jobs could be more important than the effects on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, both its economic importance and the potential environmental detriments to the swamp, to the Suwannee and St. Mary’s Rivers, and to the Floridan Aquifer. You can still write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking for denial or at least an Environmental Impact Statement.

Gordon Jackson, The Brunswick News, 28 August 2019, Getting the aerial perspective on a titanium mining project,

[WC6170, 22:40:34]
Photo: Jim Tatum, of the Chemours North Maxville Mine, Baker County, Florida. This is the mine pictured in the Brunswick News article.

…The mining company Twin Pines Minerals, LLC [(TPM)], said it plans to employ 150 people, but [Georgia State Representative John] Corbett acknowledged most of the employees will not come from Charlton County.

Corbett went on a two-hour flight Saturday Continue reading →

No more promiscious issuance of water withdrawal permits to Nestle –Suwannee Riverkeeper in The Independent, U.K. 2019-08-26

“Suwannee Riverkeeper is opposed to continued promiscuous issuance of permits to withdraw water from the Floridan Aquifer, which is already overtaxed and sinking. The Suwannee River Water Management District not only should reject Nestle’s application to withdraw water from the Santa Fe River at Ginnie Springs; it should also revisit Nestle’s permit to withdraw water from the Withlacoochee River at Madison Blue Spring.”

That’s what I told a reporter yesterday, and SRWMD does have statutory authority to revoke permits in addition to refusing new ones. You can tell SRWMD these things.

[BLUE SPRING, MADISON COUNTY, FL]
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS. Note “BLUE SPRING, MADISON, COUNTY FL” and “NESTLE WATERS NORTH AMERICA INC., STAMFORD, CT 06902”. Why should a Swiss company with North American headquarters in Connecticut get to take our water for free and pollute our waterways with its plastic bottles?

Lily Puckett, The Independent, 26 August 2019, Nestle attempts to to pump 1.1m gallons of water per day from fragile US spring: The water system has been officially “in recovery” for years, Continue reading →

Charlton County Commission passed resolution supporting titanium mine near Okefenokee Swamp 2019-08-15

Causing outrage from the packed house, the Charlton County Commission refused Thursday to let anyone speak who did not live in the county or own land there. This was after the Commission unanimously passed a resolution supporting the proposed titanium mine, without any public hearing and with citizens at all permitted to speak beforehand. The resolution apparently says it depends on the miners getting permits, and Charlton County does not decide on those permits. The opposition is now even more determined to stop those permits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the state of Georgia. You, too, can comment to USACE and GA-EPD by the current deadline of September 12, 2019.

[Signs]
Photo: John S. Quarterman, before 2019-08-13 TPM meeting. L-r: Mark Lyons of Citizens Against Phosphate Mining, Alice Keyes of One Hundred Miles, Hilda Gilchrist of Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), Jim Tatum of OSFR and WWALS, Rena Peck Stricker of Georgia River Network, Mike Roth and Kristin Rubin of OSFR and WWALS, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper, Merillee Malwitz-Jipson of OSFR and WWALS.

The Charlton County Commission’s public speaking rule is indeed new, since the previous month Continue reading →

Mining Resolution Premature –Suwannee Riverkeeper to Charlton County 2019-08-15

Sent just now:

August 15, 2019

To:James E Everett, Chairman, jevephotochristianbooks@windstream.net

      Alphya Benefield, Vice Chair, alphyab@yahoo.com

      Hampton Raulerson, County Administrator, hraulerson@charltoncountyga.gov

      Jenifer Nobles, County Clerk, jnobles@charltoncountyga.gov

Re: Applicant: Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, USACE Application: SAS-2018-00554

Dear Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Staff,

Thank you for your hospitality at your July Regular Session. Especially thanks to the County Clerk for letting me back in to get my hat, and to the County Administrator for coming to St. George Tuesday to find a spot in the shade. Please distribute this letter to the rest of the Commissioners.

On your agenda for tonight is a resolution in support of the titanium mine proposed by Twin Pines Minerals (TPM). While I understand everyone wants jobs, I respectfully submit that far too many things are still unknown, so the time is premature for the Commission to support or oppose this proposed mine.

[Premature for resolution]
Premature for resolution
PDF

Please note that the jobs numbers given by the miners have varied quite a bit, and Continue reading →

WWALS Boomerang paddle race in Albany Herald

Picked up from the WWALS PR, in the Albany Herald, 11 August 2019, Watershed coalition to host ‘Boomerang’ paddle event,

VALDOSTA — WWALS Watershed Coalition will host a fun-filled day of “Boomerang” paddle racing and leisurely paddling on the idyllic blackwater Withlacoochee River on Oct. 26 with plenty of water, no deadfalls, plus shoals. Participants will paddle from State Line Ramp in Georgia, with staggered starts for turnarounds in Florida at 1, 2 and 3 miles, then back to where the event started.

Tickets are $20 until Oct. 15, then $30.

[Flyer]
Flyer
PDF

“Sign up to race and get a beer for participating,” Boomerang mastermind Bobby McKenzie said in a news release. “Thanks to Georgia Beer Company.”

Vendors vested in conservation or stewardship of the state’s waters already Continue reading →