GEC: A History & Heritage of Enviromental Advocacy

GEC At A Glance & Our History
of Environmental Advocacy

Our Mission
A community nonprofit organization committed to assuring a clean environment and healthy economy for citizens of Coastal Georgia.

Our Goal
Make Glynn County a safe and healthy place to live and raise our families.

GEC At A Glance

Who? We are you, your neighbor and anyone else interested in the environmental and cultural
health of Glynn County.

What? We work for a safe and healthy place to raise our families by assuring a clean environment and healthy economy for citizens of coastal Georgia.

Where? Glynn County, Georgia which resides within one of the most environmentally unique ecosystems on earth.

When? Now, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Why? Because we share a desire for and commitment to a clean environment & healthy economy.

How? We do it through a broad choice of activities in areas such as: Community Organizing; Technical Assistance; Water Quality; Air Quality; Education; Public Hearings; Lobbying Efforts; Clean-Ups; and Superfund Work.

To see our most recent newsletters, click here.

GEC: A History & Heritage of Enviromental Advocacy

For more than 18 years, we have worked diligently to make Glynn County a safe and healthy place to raise our families by assuring a clean environment and healthy economy for coastal Georgia. Serving as your environmental advocates, we are committed to protecting and preserving our home which resides within one of the most environmentally unique ecosystems on earth although our work has had implications nationwide. The need is great as Glynn County is home to 17 identified hazardous waste sites, four Superfund Sites, and four actively polluting industries. Community awareness of health risks associated with these polluters and toxic waste sites led to the formation of the Glynn Environmental Coalition (GEC) in 1990.

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We work for you through community organizing, educational presentations, technical assistance, submitting comments, and requesting public hearings. The focus of the GEC has since expanded about to include governmental oversight and environmental justice. GEC is working to preserve our right to information and input into the decisions that affect our lives.

The many toxic sites in Coastal Georgia threaten the environment at large, but are particularly dangerous to nearby neighborhoods in Brunswick. Predominantly low-income minority residents who depend on fish caught in highly polluted waters live in these neighborhoods. The LCP Chemicals, Hercules, and Terry Creek Superfund Sites are directly title

adjacent to low-income neighborhoods. Years of inadequate environmental enforcement have resulted in extensive distribution of the pesticide toxaphene, dioxin, mercury and many other chemicals throughout nearby schoolyards and neighborhoods. The GEC has focused on organizing community groups, and in doing so we have succeeded in objectives like getting polluters and government agencies to remove toxic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals from a neighborhood, elementary schools, and a daycare center.

We empower citizens by providing technical assistance at our four Superfund Sites by administering EPA Technical Assistance Grants, which provide our community with answers to questions and an independent review and analysis of Site documents. We also submit comments on clean-up plans and "permit to pollute" requests. Since the inception of the GEC, focus has been on Glynn County, but we increasingly collaborate with local, state, and national organizations to address the environmental quality of life in all of coastal Georgia.

GEC maintains a 24-hour Hotline (912-466-0934) for confidential reporting of environmental violations and a Resource Center for information and educational materials.

P.O. Box 2443, Brunswick, GA 31521 ♦ 912-466-0934 ♦ gec@glynnenvironmental.org
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