Action Alert: Help stop Georgia HB 1150, the Bad Neighbor Farm Bill

Georgia farmers are already protected by some of the strongest farm laws in the U.S. against frivolous lawsuits and for property rights.

Now lobbyists for global food conglomerates and insurance companies are trying to weaken these protective laws with a Bad Neighbor Bill. HB 1150 weakens Georgia’s long standing laws. It guts protections for property owners, and makes it easier for global meat companies to operate without regard to their neighbors.

STOP the corporate takeover of Georgia’s farmland. Send a message to your legislators today. STOP HB 1150.

To email them, click here for a convenient form:
https://www.protectgeorgia.org/farm.html#/317/

Photo: Waterkeeper Alliance via Sierra Club

You can also find telephone numbers for Georgia House members here:
https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/.

If you don’t know which legislator is yours, you can find out here:
https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

Floridians, Georgia hog lagoons in the Suwannee River Basin would be upstream from Florida. So please ask all your Georgia friends to call their legislators. Or Floridians can call them, too, to emphasize it’s a problem spread beyond one state.

People from anywhere can do that.

While you’re at it, you can ask them to Support Georgia HB 1289 to protect the Okefenokee Swamp 2022-02-24.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Trash beyond fence not finished at Flying J, I-75 exit 2 2022-02-26

Update 2022-03-21: Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19.

Well, they never finished the fence behind the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2, after Lowndes County Code Enforcement made them and Dennys clean up back there in 2019. The trash is not as bad as it was, but definitely room for further improvement.

Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence

That’s Flying J Travel Center #631, 7001 Lake Park Bellville Road, Lake Park, GA 31636.

As near as I can tell, that containment pond eventually drains into Deese Tract Creek that runs into the Withlacoochee River just upstream from Sullivan Launch.

I will mention this to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →

Langdale Park, Sugar Creek, Troupville Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2022-05-07

2022-05-05: Reroute: Langdale Park becomes Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek Cleanup 2022-05-07.

Leisurely paddle promoting ecotourism on the Withlacoochee River, from Langdale Park to Troupville Boat Ramp, stopping halfway for lunch at the Salty Snapper. Each participant will be responsible for purchasing their own lunch.

Water levels may change rapidly. We will keep you updated.

We will gather at Langdale Park at 9am and perform a team shuttle at 9:30 returning to Langdale and launching at 10:00 am. We will arrive at the Salty Snapper (3 miles) for lunch/beverages around 11:30 shortly after they open. Lunch should wrap up around 12:30 and paddle on down to Troupville Boat Ramp (4 miles) arriving and finishing up around 2:30pm.

Along the way, we will see where the Mayor of Valdosta proposes building a boardwalk along the last thousand feet of cypress knees on a strip of land Lowndes County owns from Gornto Road down to the river, just downstream from Sugar Creek, the railroad, and the YMCA.

If we’re lucky, Valdosta will have cleaned up its trash problem by then.

And we will bring saws in case we encounter more deadfalls (trees across the river) than usual. There may be a few brief portages over deadfalls, but don’t worry: everyone will help.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Saturday, May 7, 2022

Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp, 3781 N. Valdosta Rd., Valdosta, GA 31602. I-75 Exit 22, east on North Valdosta Road, cross the Withlacoochee River, turn right on Hyta Mederer Drive, continue to the boat ramp.

GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395

Lunch: The Salty Snapper, 1405 Gornto Road, Valdosta, GA 31602.

Take Out: 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.

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat, paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. Mosquitoes can be bad at dusk so come prepared.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net/outings

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

Around the bend, 10:26:40, 30.8867740, -83.3239680, 2021-05-15.

Continue reading →

Trash and 12-foot alligator at Valdosta City Council 2022-02-24

Mayor Scott James Matheson said he and Council had been discussing solutions to the trash problem, before last Thursday’s Valdosta City Council meeting. Afterwards he came outside and discussed that a bit more. Stay tuned.

There’s also a new Neighborhood Development and Community Protections Manager, Anetra Riley. Community Protections Manager is what they call Code Enforcement, so that is relevant to the trash problem. Continue reading →

Public Hearing about Air Quality Rule changes by GA-EPD 2022-03-31

The two Adel wood pellet plants are examples of air quality permits can be relevant to water.

The Public Hearing will be “1:00 p.m. on March 31, 2022. EPD will be hosting this public hearing via Zoom.”
https://gaepd.zoom.us/j/93237284952?pwd=UytaUUdVU21pdlNJRUcrZk1aSGZkQT09

Public Notice

The text of the Public Notice is below. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers Again 2022-02-24

Update 2022-03-04: All Rivers Clean 2022-03-03.

Another clean week on the Little, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, according to the water quality test results we have from WWALS and Valdosta. No rain is predicted, and no sewage spills have been reported.

So happy boating, fishing, and swimming this weekend!

Chart, River, Swim Guide

With no rain, no E. coli washes out of Okapilco Creek (or Sugar Creek) into the Withlacoochee River.

Thanks to WWALS tester Elizabeth Brunner for the results at the three GA 122 locations for Thursday. Continue reading →

Valdosta trash in creeks and rivers 2022-02-22

We even saw the Valdosta trash problem on the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. One paddler fell in picking up trash, and two more collected a huge bag of trash in a canoe. I think those two live in a different county.

Maybe you’d like to come say a few words tonight to the Valdosta City Council. 5:30 PM, City Hall, 216 E. Central Ave., Valdosta, GA 31601.

The WWALS trash boom at Sugar Creek is showing some promise, but there need to be more of those and people dedicated to cleaning them out, plus something done about fast food parking lots upstream, including on Threemile Branch.

Valdosta Trash on Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, Little River

For all about the Valdosta trash situation, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

SB

Remember the second boom we put across Sugar Creek? Here’s a report from the last day of January: Continue reading →

Support Georgia HB 1289 to protect the Okefenokee Swamp 2022-02-24

Please ask Georgia legislators to pass HB 1289 against mining near the Okefenokee Swamp. Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, an Alabama-based company operated by people with a history of misrepresentation and pollution, is proposing a mining operation that threatens the Okefenokee Swamp and tourism-related jobs in the area, as well as the Floridan Aquifer and the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.

Otter, Okefenokee Swamp, 2019-12-07. Photo: Gretchen Quarterman

Floridians, you can do these things, too. The Swamp is upstream from Florida, both aboveground and through the Floridan Aquifer. You can call these Georgia legislators using the numbers in here: House and Senate.

For what’s in the bill and some other ways you can stop such mines, see Continue reading →

Federal water grants funneled through Georgia to Suwannee River Basin

The Georgia Governor’s office yesterday announced grants to many cities and counties for water projects. The funds come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.

Of the eighteen awardees in the Suwannee River Basin, adding up to $57,285,314.00, no surprise, Valdosta got the most. No, it’s not to fix some more of those sewer and manhole problems. It’s to build a new drinking well system, “southwest of the City limits, west of I-75 on Highway 84 near exit 16…”

Hahira, with about 5% of Valdosta’s population, got the second most, to fix its wastewater treatment plant and some stormwater drainage. Maybe that will stop Hahira from leaking E. coli into Franks Creek and the Little River.

Treatment Plant Flow Diagram

Ray City got a substantial amount to fix its aging wastewater treatment plant, which should be good for Cat Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Unfortunately missing is Quitman, which wanted $482,000 to top off local funds for fixing its lift stations. So no ARPA help to Quitman for stopping sewage spills into Okapilco Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Here are those awardees, most to least: Continue reading →

Litter in the City of Valdosta: Sources and Solutions 2021-09-10

This public health, well-being, and eco-tourism issue may be brought up at the Valdosta City Council meeting at 5:30 PM this Thursday, February 24, 2022, down at City Hall, 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601.

You can thank whoever brought it up, or bring it up yourself, at the end of the agenda in Citizens to be Heard.

Here’s a facebook event so you can encourage others to attend.

And if you can’t go in person, you can watch on Valdosta’s facebook livestream.

Meanwhile, if you see trash, report it with Valdosta Click N’ Fix: https://www.valdostacity.com/public-information/click-n-fix

The Valdosta trash situation is still much like this summary from last fall. For new wrinkles, see https://wwals.net/issues/trash/.

White Paper, Trash down Sugar Creek to Withlacoochee River

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.