Tag Archives: south Georgia

FPL opposes rooftop solar, deploys utility-scale solar 2021-12-20

FPL profits from deploying utilty-scale solar fields, but its executives and shareholders do not profit by home and business solar panels reducing need to generate power and reducing purchases of expensive mid-day electricity. So FPL opposes rooftop solar while bragging about being a world leader in solar energy.

FPL is regulated as a public utility, so you can demand the Florida legislature stop this bad bill. How about some solar financing instead?

[Rooftop vs. utilty-scale solar]
Rooftop vs. utilty-scale solar

Mary Ellen Klas for the Miami Herald and Mario Alejandro Ariza for Floodlight, 20 December 2021, Revealed: the Florida power company pushing legislation to slow rooftop solar; Florida Power & Light delivered bill text to a state lawmaker. Its parent company sent $10,000 to her campaign coffers,

The biggest power company in the US is pushing policy changes that would hamstring rooftop solar power in Florida, delivering legislation for a state lawmaker to introduce, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald and Floodlight.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Banks Lake Full Cold Moon paddle 2021-12-18

The wind was brisk but died down as soon as we started paddling on a warm winter night, to see the sun set and the moon rise over Banks Lake, our mini-Okefenokee just west of Lakeland, Georgia.

[Banners, Sunset, Moonrise]
Banners, Sunset, Moonrise

Russell even saw an osprey nest. Continue reading →

Good up and down water quality, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-16

Update 2021-12-25: Bad upstream, watch out below, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-23

There’s been no rain to speak of, and all the tests show no river contamination.

So, happy swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend.

[Chart, Rivers, Map]
Chart, Rivers, Map

Thanks to WWALS tester Elizabeth Brunner for Folsom Bridge Landing @ GA 122 on the Little River. Continue reading →

Riverbank camping, Suwannee River, Fargo to Turner Bridge, 2022-03-05-06

Update 2022-08-29: Pictures: Fargo to campsite, Suwannee River 2022-03-05.

Join us for the first-ever WWALS riverbank camping outing. We’ll paddle from Georgia to Florida, and we’ll probably camp slightly downstream of the GA-FL line so as to pitch our tents and hammocks on state land.

Spaces limited to 14 paddlers. RSVP on meetup to get a space. https://www.meetup.com/Withlacoochee-Alapaha-Suwannee-RIvers-WWALS-Outings/events/282688733

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10:30 AM, Saturday, March 5, 2022, End 2PM, Sunday, March 6, 2022.

Put In: Fargo Boat Ramp. Half a mile southeast of Fargo on US 441, the boat ramp is on the northeast side of US 441 and on the west (right bank) of the Suwannee River, in Clinch County, Georgia. Downstream there are plenty of turtles, cypress, oaks, pines, some creeks, many white sand beaches, maybe a small shoal if the water is low enough, and and no roads for 23 river miles in Georgia and Florida.

GPS: 30.681833, -82.560167

Take Out: Turner Bridge Ramp. From White Springs, travel north on SE CR 135; cross over SE CR 6 onto NE 180 Boulevard (Woodpecker Route); travel north to NE 38 Trail; turn right and follow road to ramp, in Hamilton County, Florida.

Bring: a tent or hammock and tarp or whatever you want to use for camping, along with 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.

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

[Suwannee River, Shirley Kokidko, 30.621387, -82.660998]
Suwannee River, Shirley Kokidko, 30.6213870, -82.6609980

Continue reading →

WWALS facebook page and group 2021-12-11

Facebook confuses everybody. As soon as you figure it out, Facebook will change it.

WWALS has a facebook page, which anybody in the world can see. We use the page to get the word out about advocacy, paddles, events, etc. You can share any post you see on the WWALS fb page.

WWALS also has a facebook group, which only WWALS members can join. The group is a perq of WWALS membership, with frequent discussions.

[WWALS Facebook Page and Group]
WWALS Facebook Page and Group

The WWALS facebook page doesn’t say “page” on it, probably because that’s the main thing facebook has.

While you’re on the page, please like it if you haven’t already. Invite your friends to like it, and soon we’ll get more than 3,000 likes. The more likes, the more distribution our outings and advocacy get. Continue reading →

Video: Drawing for WWALS raffle kayak 2021-12-11

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman mixed up all the raffle tickets since June, Outings, from Juneteenth, from the WWALS Boomerang paddle race and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, from the Hahira Honeybee festival, gotten from WWALS Board members, or online.

Yesterday she transcribed all the online tickets onto paper so they would be the same as all the others.

Then she shook them all up.

And drew a winner.

The winner of the Vibe 120 Yellowfin Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle, $950 value, is…

[Delivery]
Delivery

Kristin Kuntz, of Lancaster, New York.

Gretchen called her up, and the winner was thrilled!

They agreed to figure out delivery later.

So, who wants to donate another another kayak for another raffle?

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Kayak Raffle Drawing high noon today 2021-12-11

Update 2021-12-11: And the winner is….

The raffle tickets are in, and at noon today WWALS will draw one ticket for the winner of a Vibe 120 Yellowfin Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle, $950 value.

[Kayak Raffle Drawing 2021-12-11]
Kayak Raffle Drawing 2021-12-11

WWALS Watershed Coalition is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Kayak Raffle Drawing
Time: Dec 11, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84329170582?pwd=anRLaXp2c0ZVVldhQ2RkVFppc0xXZz09 Continue reading →

Resolutions for Okefenokee Swamp, against strip mine –Suwannee Riverkeeper @ SGRC 2021-12-09

Yesterday I asked members of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) to pass resolutions supporting the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers against a proposed titanium strip mine. SGRC’s members include 18 counties, which is almost all the Georgia Suwannee River Basin counties, and 45 municipalities. Some of them have already passed such resolutions: Valdosta, Waycross and Ware County, Homeland, Kingsland, and St. Marys.

You can ask your local city or county government to pass a similar resolution. The previous resolutions are on the WWALS website:
https://wwals.net/pictures/okefenokee-resolutions/

Update 2024-03-14: Atkinson County.

Update 2024-02-29: And Hamilton County, Florida, making four counties downstream on the Suwannee River from the Okefenokee Swamp: Ware, Clinch, and Echols Counties, Georgia, and Hamilton County, Florida.

Update 2024-02-06: And Berrien County.

Update 2024-02-01: and Nashville 2024-01-08.

Update 2024-02-01: Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) supports HB 71, Okefenokee Protection Act, January 5, 2024

Update 2024-01-25: and Savannah.

Update 2023-10-24: and DeKalb County.

Update 2023-09-12: and Clinch County.

Update 2023-08-07: and Echols County.

[Suwannee Riverkeeper; Okefenokee Swamp, mine site]
Suwannee Riverkeeper; Okefenokee Swamp, mine site

You can also ask GA-EPD for a moratorium on mining permits, or to deny the permits, or at the very least to examine them very thoroughly and produce the equivalent of the Environmental Impact Statement that the Army Corps should have been working on.
https://wwals.net/?p=55092

You can also use Protect Georgia form to end a message to your Georgia statehouse delegation.

Floridians, this mine site is upstream from Florida, and you can also use these forms.

Thanks to SGRC Council Chair Joyce Evans and Assistant Director Chris Strom for inviting me to come speak to SGRC.

See also Continue reading →

Weird upstream, clean downstream, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-09

Update 2021-12-18 Good up and down water quality, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-16.

Odd bad results upstream, at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, and at Folsom Bridge (GA 122) on the Little River Clean downstream, though. Last time we saw high Valdosta results for GA 133, they never showed up downstream.

So I’d swim, fish, or boat on the Withlacoochee River this weekend, although not at GA 133, and I’d avoid Folsom Bridge on the Little River.

[Chart, Rivers, Map]
Chart, Rivers, Map

Valdosta’s Wednesday results for GA 133 are way too high, and Fecal coliform was also high for US 41.

Elizabeth Brunner’s Thursday results for Folsom Bridge on the Little River were above the 410 one-time E. coli limit, which is very unusual for that location. But her other two GA 122 sites, at Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River and at Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, were well within limits.

Downstream, Jacob and Michael Bachrach got good Thursday results at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps, and Gus Cleary the same for Wednesday at Cleary Bluff below Allen Ramp, all on the Withlacoochee River. Gus also tested last Friday, and got nothing out of the ordinary, after Valdosta last saw high results at GA 133 for Wednesday a week ago. Continue reading →

More water questions from GA-EPD about TPM strip mine too near Okefenokee Swamp 2021-12-07

Since September, GA-EPD has twice more asked the miners for more information on their permit applications to strip mine for titanium dioxide too near the Okefenokee Swamp. We have more questions beyond those. You can ask GA-EPD questions, and to deny the mining permit applications.

On October 20, 2021, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) asked more questions about water: retention, disposal, reclamation. The miners’ answer on November 19th apparently was not satisfactory, because on December 7, 2021, GA-EPD asked more water questions.

[TPM Ponds and Another GA-EPD Letter]
TPM Ponds and Another GA-EPD Letter

I’ve got another: how can Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) with a straight face promise “zero discharge of wastewater” and in the next paragraph say “Overflow from the process water primary overflow pond may occur due to heavy rain events.” That’s exactly what happened after Hurricane Irma at three north Florida Chemours mine sites where TPM was processing tailings, resulting in TPM still being under a Florida Consent Order. What if wastewater overflows into the Okefenokee Swamp during a hurricane or other “heavy rain event”? What stops wastewater even in TPM’s proposed retention ponds from seeping down into the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink?

And another: TPM still shows piezometers for water monitoring on property it does not own, with a disclaimer that it has no access to. So how will TPM monitor that area, which is downhill towards the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers?

You can ask GA-EPD for a moratorium on mining permits, or to deny the permits, or at the very least to examine them very thoroughly and produce the equivalent of the Environmental Impact Statement that the Army Corps should have been working on.
https://wwals.net/?p=55092

You can also use Protect Georgia form to end a message to your Georgia statehouse delegation.

Floridians, this mine site is upstream from Florida, and you can also use these forms.

All of this GA-EPD correspondence with the miners and the permit applications is Continue reading →