Tag Archives: GA EPD

Draft TMDL for Suwannee River Basin

Downstream from Valdosta and Tifton on the Withlacoochee River, and downstream from Fitzgerald on the Willacoochee River: room for improvement in fecal coliform, Figure 2. Impaired Stream Segments in Suwannee River Basin said the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in a draft report issued Friday. The comment deadline is January 20th, 2016. On a quick read, the various wastewater treatment plants do not seem to be the main source of the contamination. Other likely culprits include leaking septic tanks, concentrated livestock operations, and landfills and land application sites, both closed and operating. Also notice the proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline would cross most if not all of these TMDL locations in Lowndes County. Would drilling under the Withlacoochee River and open cuts in these areas help the TMDL problem?

Here’s the NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF PROPOSED TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS FOR WATERS AND POLLUTANTS OF CONCERN IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA November 20, 2015, which includes: Continue reading →

Stop the Sinkhole Trail Pipeline tonight in Albany, GA: Public Hearing, Sabal Trail Compressor Air Quality Permit, GA-EPD 2015-11-05

FERC requires state permits, including an air quality permit from GA-EPD: no permit, no pipeline. You can help stop Spectra Energy’s the Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline 6:30 PM tonight, 5 November 2015 at Albany Technical College, Kirkland Conference Center, 1704 S. Slappey Boulevard, Albany, GA 31701. There will be a press conference by the opposition about 5:45.

Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition and Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper
Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition and Gordon Rogers, Flint Riverkeeper, last night with the banner he had made for the occasion.

Here are Press release and other details.

You can oppose this unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous pipeline in many other ways, including supporting WWALS opposition to an FDEP permit to drill under the Suwannee River in Florida.

-jsq

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

Hazardous Site Inventory –GA-EPD

Press Release, 28 August 2015, Public Advisory: Georgia EPD Issues 2015 Hazardous Site Inventory with Interactive Map,

Hazardous-sites The Hazardous Site Inventory (HSI) is a list of sites in Georgia where there has been a known or suspected release of a regulated substance above a reportable quantity and which have yet to show they meet state clean-up standards. The HSI is published annually by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. The new interactive Map uses the familiar Google Maps interface and includes basic information about each site as well as links to individual Site Summary pages. More information about the HSI, including the Google Maps feature, is available at: http://epd.georgia.gov/hazardous-site-inventory.

Follow that link and you’ll find an interactive map plus an introduction and lists by name, county, site number, and class.

Not all the hazardous sites shown above are in WWALS territory. For comparison, Continue reading →

Two GA-EPD water advisories about US 84 widening project

Thirty-day comment periods closing 12 August 2015 to comment on the US 84 widening project, say 300x175 Greasy Branch, CSX Railroad, Upper Suwannee River Watershed, in Two GA-EPD water advisories about US 84 widening project, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 13 July 2015 two Public Advisories from GA-EPD Watershed Protection Branch. One is in the Satilla River watershed, about “two existing open water ponds (outflowing into jusrisdictional[sic] wetlands associated with Lees Branch)”: those ponds are next to the groundwater-contaminating CSX railyard in Waycross. One is in the Upper Suwannee River watershed, about “three existing open water ponds (outflowing into jusrisdictional[sic] waters associated with Greasy Creek and the CSX railroad)”. Maybe the Southern Environmental Law Center letter to GDOT and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got some results, although these advisories are from a different state agency.

The Upper Suwannee one starts at Continue reading →

DuPont withdraws permit application for Jesup mine –Riverkeepers and Greenlaw

Land use planning can make even a $60 billion market cap company think again about a mine in our sensitive karst limestone aquifer. details here. Greenlaw pictures here. -jsq

Press Release

For Immediate Release: August 27, 2014

Public Outcry Against Proposed Mine Continues to Grow, Mining Company Withdraws Permit Application

JESUP, GA-After hundreds of local residents, conservation groups, and elected officials expressed concerns Continue reading →

Sabal Trail has applied for a Withlacoochee River water permit with Florida DEP

Sabal Trail is asking for permits for its fracked methane pipeline from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. One of them is for our Withlacoochee River.

ERP is Environmental Resource Permit, and here’s a permit found in ERP Exemption Permit applications, FL DEP Northeast Office: Continue reading →

EPD Flint River Drought Protection Act Stakeholder Meeting

6PM Tonight at Albany State University, you can advise GA EPD about a bill that affects the Flint River and could easily affect WWALS rivers in the future.

peanut irrigation Advised by Flint Riverkeeper and Niall Herring, and found online at Nochaway Ag Update, EPD Flint River Drought Protection Act Stakeholder Meeting,

EPD Stakeholder Meeting

Watershed Protection Branch

Discussion of Possible Rule Changes

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Watershed Protection Branch will hold a stakeholder meeting to discuss possible changes in the Flint River Drought Protection Act Rule. The meeting will be held on July 24, 2014 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the following location:

Albany State University
ACAD Building Auditorium
Continue reading →

Seven Out Superfund Assessment Public Meeting 2014-07-17

6-8PM Thursday 17 July 2014
Memorial Stadium, 715 Dewey St., Waycross, GA 31501

The Environmental Protection Agency, GA Environmental Protection Division, and Georgia Department of Public Health will be present to discuss sample collection and results from the Seven Out Tank site in downtown Waycross.

EPD will also be available to address issues and answer questions regarding CSX.

From Satilla Riverkeeper’s facebook event. Here’s a map: Continue reading →

WWALS in Waycross at EPA Seven Out Superfund meeting

It’s a serious situation in Waycross, with people getting sick and dying. The contamination, whatever it is, may have crossed into WWALS watersheds, as well. Good interactions between WWALS, Satilla Riverkeeper, and silentdisaster.org, plus EPA, GA EPD, and GA Health Dept.


Matthew J. Huyser, EPA (l. standing blue shirt), Jim Brown, GA EPD (c. standing white shirt), Ashby Nix, Satilla Riverkeeper (facing Brown, paper in hand), Joan Martin McNeal, silentdisaster.org (r. in group)

For details, see these posts on Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE): Continue reading →

Entering Floridan Aquifer Recharge Zone

Maybe we need signs like that around here to remind people that what goes into the ground comes out in our drinking water. For example, San Antonio has its Edwards Aquifer Protection Program. Maybe our local governments need to have Floridan Aquifer Protection Programs. Georgia state law seems to indicate they should.

GA Secretary of State has GA Code §391-3-16-.02 Criteria For Protection of Groundwater Recharge Areas. (more legible copy on GA EPD website),

Georgia's Groundwater Recharge Areas (1) Background. Variable levels of recharge area protection can be based upon the State’s hydrogeology (e.g., areas such as the Dougherty Plain where a major aquifer crops out would receive a relatively high degree of protection whereas other areas, such as the shale hills of northwest Georgia, would receive a lower degree of protection). Recharge area protection within the significant recharge areas would be further refined, based upon the local susceptibility or vulnerability to human induced pollution (e.g., high, medium, or low). The significant recharge areas have already been identified and mapped (about 22-23% of the State). Pollution susceptibility mapping is ongoing. Existing statutes are adequate for protecting the remaining recharge areas (about 77-78% of the State).

[…]

(2)(f)3. In the Coastal Plain, the significant recharge areas are Continue reading →