Glynn County Denies Request for
Contaminated Seafood Awareness Funding
 

The first indication that something was terribly awry was the call from The Brunswick News reporter asking to how much of the $18 million settlement Glynn County received in the LCP Chemical suit the GEC feels entitled.  After getting the minutes from the April 3, 2007 Finance Committee meeting, the reason for the call from the reporter became clearer.

   The minutes stated: "Glynn Environmental Coalition - Ms. Becky Rowell, Assistant County Administrator, stated that this agency was asking for a portion of the $18 million settlement and they felt that since they had educated the public on the contamination issue that they should get some of the money."

   The actual proposal the GEC submitted follows.  You can decide for yourself what the GEC requested from Glynn County, and if Ms. Becky Rowell's representation of our proposal was accurate.

    "The Glynn Environmental Coalition (GEC), like the Glynn County Commission, understands that significant impacts have been made to our community as a result of operations at the LCP Chemicals Superfund Site.  In partnership with health and natural resource agencies, the GEC worked over a 5 year period to develop an educational program to warn about the threat from contaminated seafood. Glynn County used the work of the GEC in the recent LCP Chemicals court case as an example of the human health threats from the site.

The GEC is requesting that the Glynn County Finance Department consider recommending funding for continuation of the Contaminated Seafood Awareness Project at $27,641.60 per year (budget attached).  The majority of the funding will be used for community outreach to subsistence fishers who are at the greatest risk due to the amounts of locally caught seafood they consume.

   The Contaminated Seafood Awareness Project was developed and implemented in Glynn County under a one-year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grant during 2005. The EPA understood there was a risk to seafood consumers and saw our proposal as a viable method of reducing risk.  The GEC has sought support in 2006 but the program did not receive funding. 

Subsistence fishers obtain seafood from many out-of-the-way locations in contaminated areas.

The GEC welcomes the opportunity to provide more information about the Contaminated Seafood Awareness Project, including the Quality Assurance Project Plan and our partners in this project."

    We would like our GEC members to know that the GEC has been asked repeatedly by Glynn County over the past 12 years to provide information in support of their case.  When Glynn County entered the Seafood Advisory Brochure into Court as evidence, the political repercussions were swift.

   The GEC agrees that Glynn County is not obligated to fund our proposal for future community education, but to misrepresent our request is unconscionable.  As for any payment for our part in support of their case against LCP Chemicals, a simple thank-you would be sufficient.