Wes James brought up a good point last night on the radio. Songwriters, you do not have to sing or play your song, although you do have to be on stage doing something related to the song. So yes, you can get your favorite musicians to sing and play for you, but you do have to be present to win.
Remember to send in your song:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting Continue reading
How can you participate with Suwannee Riverkeeper in what WWALS does, and how can you become a member, asked Wes James on the radio last night. So I talked about cleanups, trash traps, the real trash problem, and how you can paddle on the multiple WWALS monthly outings and cleanups, as well as how to become a WWALS member. There’s more below on WWALS outings and advocacy, and how you can help.
Here’s a WWALS video playlist:
Videos: Outings, cleanups, advocacy, join WWALS, Wes James, WAAC 92.9 FM 2021-04-20
Videos by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).
We do outings every month, usually more than one, including a full moon paddle at Banks Lake just west of Lakeland, Georgia, to watch the sun set and the moon rise, often with bats. That’s a good introductory paddle on a flat lake with free boat rental. Next one is 7:15 PM, Monday, April 26, 2021
Upcoming outings are listed online: Continue reading
Let’s put the end of the story up top:
John Quarterman, who is the Suwannee Riverkeeper with the WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., said he hopes potential new federal protections will highlight the need to shield part of the turtle’s potential habitat from a proposed mining project near the Okefenokee Swamp. The [Georgia] state Department of Natural Resource[s] is weighing whether to issue mining permits to Twin Pines [Minerals LLC of Alabama].
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is included in the turtle’s range outlined by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“It’s yet another reason to protect the swamp,” Quarterman said this week.
Please send your comments to Georgia officials asking them to thoroughly review and then reject the five permit applications from the miners:
https://waterkeeper.org/news/help-suwannee-riverkeeper-save-okefenokee-swamp/
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)
listed the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle as State Threatened in September 2018.
Jill Nolin, Georgia Recorder, 7 April 2021, Feds propose protection for hefty Suwannee alligator snapping turtle,
A rare prehistoric looking turtle only found in south Georgia and north Florida might soon gain federal protection after struggling to rebound.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week that it has proposed listing the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The announcement kicks off a public comment period that will wrap up this June.
The turtle is the largest found in north American rivers, with some males weighing in at more than 200 pounds. The Suwannee gator snapper makes its home in the waterways flowing through Tifton and Valdosta before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
The federal agency reported Tuesday that only about 2,000 of the turtles remain across the two states. The Suwannee alligator snapping turtle was only recently split off as its own species.
“The science that the Service has gathered on this turtle indicates Continue reading
Most of the south end of the Okefenokee Swamp drains west into the Suwannee River.
This is one reason Suwannee Riverkeeper is so interested in stopping titanium strip mine proposed far too near the southeast corner of the Swamp by Twin Pines Minerals LLC of Alabama.
Please send your comments to Georgia officials asking them to thoroughly review and then reject the five permit applications from the miners:
https://waterkeeper.org/news/help-suwannee-riverkeeper-save-okefenokee-swamp/
![[WWALS map: All Landings in the Suwannee River Basin]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-04-04--okefenokee-swamp-south-suwannee-creeks/map-wwals-landings.jpg)
WWALS map:
All Landings in the Suwannee River Basin
Highlighted on the left is the Little Swannee Creek Confluence with the Suwannee River, several miles downstream from Fargo. That creek connects with Breakfast Branch, which comes down out of the Swamp before crossing FL 2 (GA 94). Orange waterways are in the Suwannee River Basin, and red ones are in the St. Marys River Basin, according to USGS, but see below.
Next to the north is Cypress Creek, which has tributaries way out in the Swamp, and flows pretty much straight west, reaching the Suwannee River a couple of miles downstream of Fargo.
Upstream from Fargo, almost halfway to Griffis Fish Camp, is a creek for which USGS has no name. I’m calling it Strange Island Creek, because it comes west out of the Swamp past North Strange Island and Middle Strange Island. It has branches coming south down from Jack Island. Those islands show up Continue reading
Hahira, Georgia, April 1, 2021 — You can send in your song now, April 1 (no fooling) through July 7, 2021, for the Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, with a $300 cash First Prize, plus one day of recording studio time.
![[Entry form banner]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21--songwriting/big/Entry-Form-Banner-2021-SuwRK-Songwriting-Contest-0001.jpg)
Use the
entry form to send in your song.
In addition to the First Prize, there will also be two $50 prizes, one each for best song from inside the Suwannee River Basin, and best song from outside. Plus plaques to winners in each musical genre.
The studio time is new this year. Also new this year, we will have online voting for finalists. The Contest Committee will take those votes into account when selecting finalists.
The Finals will be at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia, 7-10 PM, Saturday, August 22, 2021. Tickets for $10 will be available online soon, or $12 at the door. Headliners play, and three judges will each play a song themselves.
There will be food, cash bar, silent auction, and a kayak raffle. There will be brief talks about outings and advocacy, so you can know what your money is going to, in this fundraiser for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. Sponsors will speak, and any elected officials present; briefly, of course.
Everyone will listen to the finalists, as the judges select winners.
“Georgia Beer Co. is back as our top-tier sponsor, which helps us get these new songs about our rivers, swamps, springs, and sinks,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “Brian Blount of WKUB asked me to talk about the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest on 105.1 FM.”
Here is that radio interview: Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, March 25, 2021 — With online voting for finalists, and judges selecting winners at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, GA, with $300 in cash to the First Prize winner plus one day of recording studio time, the Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest seeks songs. Submissions open Thursday, April 1, 2021. Yes, no fooling!
“Georgia Beer Co. is back as our top-tier sponsor, which helps us get these new songs about our rivers, swamps, springs, and sinks,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.
Submissions can be songs about any river, stream, spring, sink, swamp, lake, or pond in the Suwannee River Basin or Estuary (except not the Santa Fe Basin; that has its own contest).
“There’s always room for a new song about the Suwannee River, or other rivers in the Basin or Estuary!” said 2018 winner and 2019 headliner Laura D’Alisera, scribe for the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee.
This year we will have online voting on the songs submitted, which the Committee will take into account when selecting finalists.
Finalists will play at the Contest, 7-10 PM, Saturday, August 21, 2021, and judges will judge at the Turner Center for the Arts, 527 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31601. There will be food and a cash bar, as you watch and listen, and you can browse the artworks at the Turner Center. There will also be a kayak raffle and a silent auction, as well as a range of buttons, stickers, hats, notecards, signs, shirts, and posters for sale (this is a fundraiser for WWALS Watershed Coalition).
![[Submissions open April 1, 2021, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Headliners last year]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21--songwriting/bannerflu.jpg)
Submissions open April 1, 2021, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Headliners last year
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS, of Dirty Bird and the Flu,
Headliners at the 2020 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
“We hope that one or more songs will become well-known and enter the Great American Songbook, at the 2021 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest!” said Tom H. Johnson, Jr., who is the Committee Chair and WWALS President.
So you’ll know what you’re supporting, there will be talks about WWALS advocacy, from water quality testing to opposing pipelines and mines and plastic water bottles, to promoting water trails and a Troupville River Camp.
You do not have to be a songwriter to come listen to the finalists. Judging of finalists will take into account Continue reading
Meeting in the most populous city in its region, on tax day 2021, the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council. Worth attending. 9:45 AM, Thursday, April 15, 2021, Valdosta City Hall Annex, Suite # 206, 300 N Lee St. Valdosta, GA 31601.
Georgia’s water councils are nothing like Florida’s Water Management Districts. The Georgia councils have no ability to tax or fine, and no staff. Their appointed and unpaid members just plan, with assistance from GA-EPD staff and some consultants. Continue reading
To send your comments to Georgia officials,
follow this link:
https://waterkeeper.org/news/help-suwannee-riverkeeper-save-okefenokee-swamp/
![[Great Blue Heron flying, Suwannee River, Okefenokee Swamp, 2019-12-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-11-17--gwc-dd/2019-12-07--jsq-gbh-suwannee-river-okefenokee-with-boaters.jpg)
Great Blue Heron flying, Suwannee River, Okefenokee Swamp, 2019-12-07
Julia Widmann, Waterkeeper Alliance, March 18, 2021, Help Suwannee Riverkeeper Save Okefenokee Swamp,
Today, you can take action to help Suwannee Riverkeeper protect Okefenokee Swamp and the surrounding community in Southern Georgia and northern Florida from the risk of dangerous mining pollution.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is home to the beloved blackwater Okefenokee Swamp, a Wetland of International Importance and a proposed World Heritage Site. Okefenokee Swamp is an ecologically diverse wetland, loved by boaters, fishers, and birders, as well as alligators and blue herons, and hunters on nearby property. It’s an important tourist attraction for members of the public all across the country and provides great economic benefits to the local area. Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman has helped lead the way in protecting this special place.
In 2019, Twin Pines Minerals LLC, an Alabama-based company, first proposed a titanium mine beside the swamp. Twin Pines’ proposed mine poses dangerous risks Continue reading
This fact sheet from a month ago says the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) will hold “a public meeting” and “Comments will also be accepted at TwinPines.Comment@dnr.ga.gov. It’s not clear what they will do with comments if you go ahead and send them to that address. Since any such correspondence would be public record, retrievable via open records request, it would be odd if GA-EPD did not consider those comments in their permit review process.
![[GA-EPD Fact Sheet, TPM Mine, and Okefenokee NWR]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-08--tpm-ga-epd/many.jpg)
GA-EPD Fact Sheet, TPM Mine, and Okefenokee NWR
Checking with GA-EPD this morning, the public hearing is not expected to be scheduled for several months yet, because they’re still waiting for documents that the miners did not previously supply. Plus they are communicating with the Army Corps about documents the Corps received before abdicating responsibility. Apparently the GA-EPD Land Division is taking the lead, perhaps because this is a mining project, near the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the Suwannee River.
It’s good GA-EPD is being thorough, although this last paragraph casts some doubt on that: “ Any additional mining operations not included in the demonstration area will be considered new and unique and will require a new set of permits and a full permitting process.”
![[Map: Twin Pines Minerals land and Okefenokee NWR]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-08--tpm-ga-epd/map-tpm-onwr.jpg)
Map: Twin Pines Minerals land and Okefenokee NWR
in the WWALS
map of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail and the Okefenokee NWR Canoe Trails.
Sure and if that happens the miners will claim they have sunk costs and they’ll sue if they don’t get further permits. So expansion should be considered along with the original permit applications. And it’s much better to nip this whole thing in the bud.
Here are four of the five permit applications to GA-EPD from Twin Pines Minerals, LLC:
https://wwals.net/2020/11/05/twin-pines-minerals-permit-applications-to-ga-epd/
Since GA-EPD has confirmed they did actually receive an Air Quality permit application, I guess it’s time for me to request that one again.
GA-EPD has a Twin Pines Minerals, LLC web page, whic currently has a link to this one one-page PDF fact sheet.
![[Twin Pines Minerals LLC Permitting Fact Sheet]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-08--tpm-ga-epd/Twin-Pines-Minerals-LLC-Permitting-Fact-Sheet-0001.jpg)
Twin Pines Minerals LLC Permitting Fact Sheet
PDF
GEORGIA
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Environmental Protection Division
Twin Pines Minerals, LLC
Permitting Fact Sheet
Twin Pines Minerals, LLC has submitted environmental permit applications to the Environmental Protection Division (Division) proposing a demonstration project for mining heavy minerals sands near St. George, Charlton County, Georgia. The northern boundary of the site is located approximately 2.9 miles southeast from the nearest boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
How many permit applications have been submitted?
Twin Pines Minerals, LLC has applied for environmental permits from all branches of the Environmental Protection Division (Division). These permits are the same as those that may be required for any surface mine: NPDES Industrial Stormwater, NPDES Industrial Wastewater, Groundwater Withdrawal, Air Quality, and Surface Mining Permit. The Division is early in the process of conducting a thorough review of each of the applications received.
How will the Division ensure the Okefenokee is being protected?
The Surface Mining Land Use Plan (MLUP) will require an addendum detailing the environmental provisions for protection of the environment and resources of the State. Once this environmental provision addendum is received, the Division will conduct an initial review and ensure it is complete and adequate, with a focus on how the project’s proximity to the National Wildlife Refuge may impact the area’s groundwater hydrology.
Will public be able to provide comments?
Yes. After the Division has reviewed the MLUP and the environmental provisions addendum, a public meeting will be held to receive comments on these documents and to provide an update on the permitting process. Comments will also be accepted at TwinPines.Comment@dnr.ga.gov. We will then consider all public comments and request the applicant make any necessary changes to address those comments. Please note, the Division may be unable to respond individually to each comment received. However, we will post a collective response to comments on our website after the official comment period closes.
Once the MLUP and the environmental provisions addendum are finalized, the Division will proceed with the draft permit process, including a public notice and comment period on the Surface Mining permit as well as any additional public comment periods required for the other permits. These permits are for the proposed 740-acre demonstration mining area.
Will the mine be able to expand after it is permitted?
Any additional mining operations not included in the demonstration area will be considered new and unique and will require a new set of permits and a full permitting process.
February 8, 2021
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
This public hearing for a wastewater permit far away from the Suwannee River Basin is of interest because apparently the instigator of this biomass plant is also the president of Twin Pines Minerals, which wants to strip mine for titanium far too near the Okefenokee Swamp.
When: 7 PM, Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Where: https://gaepd.zoom.us/j/96881364173
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice of Application for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit to Discharge Treated Wastewater Into Waters of the State of Georgia.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has received a new NPDES permit application for the issuance of a new NPDES permit. Having reviewed such application, the Environmental Protection Division proposes to issue for a maximum term of five years the following permit subject to specific pollutant limitations and special conditions:
GRP Madison Renewable Energy Facility, LLC, P.O. Box 909, Colbert, Georgia 30628, NPDES Permit No. GA0050283, for its steam electric facility located at 268 Office Drive, Colbert, Georgia 30628. A maximum of 3.55 MGD treated boiler blowdown, boiler feedwater, boiler area drains, reverse osmosis reject water, STG sump area drains, cooling tower blowdown, and stormwater is discharged to an unnamed tributary to Beaverdam Creek in the Savannah River Basin.
EPD will host a public hearing via Zoom software at 7:00 p.m. on March 2, 2021. Zoom is a free web conferencing platform that also allows participation by phone. In accordance with EPD’s safety precautions regarding the COVID-19 virus, EPD encourages members of the public to participate in the public hearing via Zoom. The purpose of the public hearing is to receive comments on the draft NPDES permit for GRP Madison Renewable Energy Facility, LLC.
To log into the public hearing on your computer, please click this link or copy and paste it into your browser to join the meeting: https://gaepd.zoom.us/j/96881364173
To ensure that you are ready to participate when the meeting begins, we recommend that you download Zoom in advance. Zoom can be found here: https://zoom.us/
To dial in by phone, please call this number: 1-470-381-2552
The meeting ID is 968 8136 4173
The passcode is 572750
Please note that if you choose to participate by phone, your number may be visible to other meeting attendees.
The public hearing is a formal process to Continue reading
![[Notice, Region and Assessment]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-04-15--ssrwpc/many.jpg)
![[Property Location]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-03-02--grp-wastewater-npdes-permit-hearing/ga-epd-permit-application-0051.jpg)