2018 News Archives
GEC News, Updates, and Events
See what we were up to in 2018!
December 31, 2018 - The Brunswick News
As we say goodbye to 2018 and look to what 2019 has to offer, the situation at Terry Creek is yet to be settled, though the consent agreement entered into by Hercules and the EPA in federal court seeks to do that. Daniel Parshley, who recently retired from his leadership of the Glynn Environmental Coalition, spent nearly three decades closely involved with cleanup processes in Glynn County’s most polluted sites.
December 29, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“Keeping in mind that the community has repeatedly asked for a local community school, we believe that additional actions can be taken to diminish the potential human health risks,” she said at the meeting. “However, our initial recommendation would be not to build the school on the current site, which is less than 1,500 feet from the Hercules 009 Superfund site.”
December 12, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Environmental professionals were treated to a fly over of Glynn County Superfund Sites last week. Volunteer pilot Roy Brewer flew Glynn Environmental Coalition and EPA Region 4 staff over the legacy contamination sites to help them better understand the complexity of the sites and the holistic remediation efforts necessary for cleaning them up.
November 27, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“One piece that stood out to me immediately was the recurring theme that more can be done to prepare for the impacts to come or mitigate projected risks,” said Rachael Thompson, project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition. “When you have such a detailed report such as this, that outlines every possible projected impact from climate change — from environmental, to infrastructure and economic impacts, etc. — you have to ask yourself, ‘Why aren’t we doing more?’
November 7, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Glynn Environmental Coalition coordinated volunteers from the Glynn Academy STEM Club as they got an up-close look at marsh and the trash the plagues it along the Turtle River landing. This site was cleaned up a year ago, but students still pulled large items and plenty of bottles and cans out of the marsh mud and vegetation.
September 28, 2018 - The Brunswick News
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter announced Wednesday he sent a letter to and talked with Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler regarding the consent decree for cleanup of the Terry Creek Superfund site that the federal government and Hercules signed off on earlier this year.
September 24, 2018 - The Moultrie Observer
“Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, we’ve seen Georgia’s waterways become cleaner and healthier, but there’s still much that needs to be done,” said Joe Cook, advocacy and communication coordinator with Coosa River Basin Initiative, a Georgia Water Coalition member organization. “Those recognized in our Clean 13 report are setting new standards to protect, preserve and restore Georgia’s rivers, lakes, streams and coastal waters.”
September 19, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The EPA and Hercules’ plan invokes a concrete-lined channel and the removal of an additional 1,200 cubic yards of toxaphene-contaminated sediment. The city favored a different option that involved a box culvert as part of the plan, but the resolution the city and county announced Tuesday also called for a full cleanup of the site.
September 19, 2018 - The Brunswick News
While an agreement between the federal government and Hercules for remediation of the Terry Creek Superfund site appears rolling along regardless of the desires of local ofcials, the commissioners for the city of Brunswick and Glynn County voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose the consent decree and demand a full cleanup
August 27, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The Glynn Avenue Design Framework is a comprehensive set of guidelines developed by city staff and the Savannah-based planning rm Symbioscity. It was crafted over a two-year period with input from stakeholders, community members and property owners. For the second time this year, the commission deferred action on the framework amid concerns from some property owners.
August 23, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Rachael Thompson, project manager for Glynn Environmental Coalition, was among those who thought the framework didn’t go far enough. She noted a joint city-county meeting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday and said the framework should more actively encourage cleanup of the Terry Creek Superfund site. The site is contaminated with the carcinogen toxaphene and the EPA is formulating a site remediation plan.
August 22, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Commissioners for Glynn County and Brunswick did not seem pleased with the plan hashed out between Hercules and the Environmental Protection Agency for the Terry Creek outfall Superfund site, but all appearances are that the plan will go forward as agreed.
August 20, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“They spent 107 years polluting that, and the community just looked the other way, because they had money and they brought jobs,” Brunson said. “We’re stuck with the mess they left us. The taxpayers are going to have to pay for it, and its going to be expensive ... I think the community’s got to stand up at some point.”
August 16, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The city, county and joint water and sewer commissions responded to the 2015 EPA proposed plan for the Terry Creek Superfund Site, and got it right. The EPA recently released a proposed Consent Decree that all but ignores our local commissions recommendations and vision for the future.
August 11, 2018 - The Brunswick News
One Hundred Miles and the Glynn Environmental Coalition are teaming up to hold a webinar Tuesday evening regarding work done and proposed at the Terry Creek Superfund site.
July 12, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Women’s Voices of Glynn County were treated to a guided tour of the four superfund sites in Glynn County by Daniel Parshley of the Glynn Environmental Coalition.
July 12, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“It’s great that they are trying to move away from the Superfund site, and we’re really grateful that they decided to reconsider,” said Rachael Thompson, a project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition, who has addressed the school board publicly at several meetings over the last few months and asked members to pick a new site.
June 25, 2018 - The Islander
“Unfortunately this is not relevant since the pesticide manufacturing wastes were dumped into a water body,” said Daniel Parshley, project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition. The EPA’s administrative record the states that toxaphene released to water will not significantly biodegrade and will bioconcentrate in aquatic organisms.
June 23, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Daniel Parshley of the Glynn Environmental Coalition said the experiments the EPA used to observe the breakdown of toxaphene — the main pollutant of concern at the federal Superfund site — don’t stand up for an apples-to-apples comparison. The Terry Creek site is comprised of both dry land and water. Hercules discharged toxaphene-contaminated waste into the water for decades.
May 29, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The consent decree would put into motion directives specied in the interim remedy for the Terry Creek outfall, which is just north of the F.J. Torras Causeway. The plan, to deal with toxaphenecontaminated sediment, is to reroute the current discharge into a concrete-lined channel, with a “geotextile fabric (placed) over existing sediment in the outfall ditch.” There is also a long-term monitoring component
May 28, 2018 - The Islander
A Georgia congressman is blaming Environmental Protection Agency red tape for delays in cleaning up a Superfund site in Brunswick.
May 23, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The Glynn Environmental Coalition, Glynn County and SIA Propco II, a Sea Island company, faced off in the courtroom again Monday in a lawsuit over ownership of Twitty Park on St. Simons Island.
May 14, 2018 - The Islander
“We need to be sure that the children will be safe for the 50 years the new school is expected to serve our community,” said Rachael Thompson, project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition. “We don’t want to see the people living at Legacy Apartment Homes or the children attending Altama Elementary School becoming part of the Superfund Site.” “This Superfund Site has haunted our community for 39 years and it is time to once and for all clean it up,” said Thompson.
May 14, 2018 - The Islander
Rachael Thompson, Project Manager, Glynn Environmental Coalition (GEC) was the first to speak during the public portion of the meeting.
May 8, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“The board of education has this amazing opportunity to ×x a wrong that should never have happened in the first place,” said Jen Hilburn, the Altamaha Riverkeeper, who spoke at the meeting. “Move the children away from toxic pollution. Why is this not obvious?”
April 26, 2018 - The Brunswick News
April 19, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Georgia Power, which happens to be one of the responsible parties along with Honeywell, the current owner, for the cleanup of the site, could make great use of about 21 of the 88 acres of upland at the facility by building a solar farm there. Most of the property is exposed and not shaded, it is tucked away mostly out of sight from passersby and it will likely not be attractive for other uses.
April 19, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Brunswick City Commissioners voted Wednesday to begin the engineering phase of a project aimed at improving roadway and drainage conditions in the Magnolia Park neighborhood.
April 18, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Glynn County Commissioners talked about the possibility of using part of the LCP Chemicals Superfund site for a solar farm at a Tuesday work session.
April 11, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“Keeping in mind that the community has repeatedly asked for a local community school, we believe that additional actions can be taken to diminish the potential human health risks,” she said. “However, our initial recommendation would be not to build the school on the current site, which is less than 1,500 feet from the Hercules 009 Superfund site.”
April 9, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Of Glynn County’s Superfund sites, the Brunswick Wood Preserving site receives less attention than other higher-profile areas like LCP Chemicals and the Terry Creek outfall. However, that could be changing, because as one expert states, what was supposed to be working is not.
April 2, 2018 - The Islander
The Dr. William T. Lipscomb Grand Prize Scholarship and Awards are sponsored by the Glynn Environmental Coalition, Georgia Power, and Pinova, are presented annually to the students whose science projects best epitomize concern and hope for a clean environment and healthy economy for coastal Georgia.
April 3, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Several people — parents and environmental advocates alike — expressed their feelings on the matter recently at a public hearing of sorts about the school system’s plans for the much-needed replacement of one of the oldest elementary schools in the county.
April 2, 2018 - The Islander
Core Dance has partnered with Glynn Environmental Coalition, Satilla Riverkeeper, and Brunswick Stewdio to build community by uniting arts and environmental organizations on the local, state, and national levels.
March 30, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Some parents and community members, including Daniel Parshley, the project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition, expressed concern at the forum that more testing needed to be done on the current site to determine that a nearby former Hercules landfill, which the Environmental Protection Agency placed on a national priority list for contamination in 1984.
March 29, 2018 - The Brunswick News
“They didn’t find a current issue because the property was not in use,” Parshley said. “To summarize, there’s a little bit more work they need to do at this site. I’m not telling you not to build the school. I’m not telling you to build the school. I’m only here to provide the information that the EPA provided in their 2016 report.”
March 29, 2018 - The Brunswick News
The performances will be site-specific, taking place near water — rivers, bays, lakes and oceans. The goal of the event is to bring awareness of the importance of clean water and protecting that resource. The event will be streamed live on Core Dance’s YouTube and Facebook Pages that can be found at coredance.org.
March 19, 2018 - Broadway World Atlanta
Core Dance has partnered with Glynn Environmental Coalition, Satilla Riverkeeper, and Brunswick Stewdio to build community by uniting arts and environmental organizations on the local, state, and national levels.
March 5, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Rachael Thompson of the Glynn Environmental Coalition presented the concerns on behalf of the Magnolia Park and College Park Neighborhood Planning Assembly at the board’s Feb. 28 meeting, according to a press release from the coalition.
February 27, 2018 - Autostraddle
Although conditions are reportedly safe, project manager Daniel Parshley from the Glynn Environmental Coalition (GEC), a local environmental nonprofit, says the soil at the school has never been appropriately tested for contaminants. GEC is involved in community organizing, advocacy, and providing technical assistance to Superfund sites to assure “a clean environment and healthy economy for citizens of Coastal Georgia.”
February 27, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Friday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced the responsible parties for the site — Honeywell and Georgia Power — are working on a pilot study covering two-thirds of an acre of contaminated marshland.
February 7, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Brunswick’s city commissioners began to prioritize some of the most important projects going into 2018 at a city planning meeting Monday.
February 5, 2018 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Georgia congressman is blaming Environmental Protection Agency red tape for delays in cleaning up a Superfund site in Brunswick.
January 23, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Daniel Parshley of the Glynn Environmental Coalition said in a conversation with The News before the hearing that from photographic evidence on hand with the GEC, there has been significant damage to the marsh at LCP, but seafood sampling at the end of this year would be able to tell a lot about any mass toxin release.
January 13, 2018 - The Brunswick News
Recent testing on the west portion of Altama Elementary School’s property, where the Glynn County Board of Education has considered building a new school, returned results showing no detection of the dangerous chemical compound toxaphene.
January 13, 2018 - The Brunswick News
State environmental regulators declared a plant in the heart of Brunswick to be in violation of Georgia air quality laws for the second time in a little more than a year.