2019 News Archives
December 10th, 2019 - Albany Herald
More than two dozen organizations — local, regional, statewide in Florida and Georgia, national, and international — have expressed opposition to the titanium mine that would be far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge provides boating, birding, fishing and hunting nearby to the tune of more than $60 million a year and more than 700 jobs, making it the NWR of most economic benefit to Georgia and Florida. The Okefenokee Swamp is a unique ecological treasure, and is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.
December 5th, 2019 - Brunswick News
In other business, the commission is set to discuss a consent decree ordering the cleanup of the Terry Creek Superfund site and the procedures for filling a vacant commission seat.
November 30th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Rachael Thompson, executive director of the Glynn Environmental Coalition, said she wasn’t surprised at the court’s decision, considering the judge’s job isn’t to act like a subject-matter expert.
November 8th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
City commissioners on Wednesday approved a conditional-use permit that will enable the new owners of the old Brunswick hospital on Norwich Street to convert the three-story building into an apartment complex.
September 21st, 2019 - ESPN Coastal Adventures
Glynn Environmental Coalition was invited on the air with ESPN Coastal Adventure to talk about the technical aspects of the environmental assessments being done by the Unified Command in response to the capsized ship the Golden Ray. In addition, representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard came on to talk about the rescue operations within the first 24 hours responding to the capsized ship. The U.S. Coast Guard segment starts at 8:23 and GEC Executive Director, Rachael Thompson’s, segment starts at 23:36.
September 18th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
The last day the LCP Chemicals plant in Brunswick operated without the threat of impending closure, some things weren’t dissimilar from now. In the more than 25 years since, work continues in dealing with the site — a record of decision went into effect for the marsh area in 2015, but the public comment period on a proposed plan for the upland soils is open currently, and the process of mitigating groundwater pollution is even further away from resolution.
September 16th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Right here in Brunswick, we have four properties on the Superfund list so when news broke that the proposed remediation for the Terry Creek site didn’t fit the wishes of the community, we needed to involve our elected representatives. That’s when Congressman Carter stepped in and hand delivered a letter to the EPA Administrator asking him to revisit the consent decree.
September 14th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
The EPA is currently taking public comments on the LCP Chemicals Superfund site. While the proposal for the LCP site hasn’t been as controversial as Terry Creek, it is important that people who live here in Glynn County express how they feel about the plan.
September 13th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Climate change is a critical issue that we’re all facing, and Women’s Voices of Glynn County is focused on society issues of concern,” said Martha Dismer, a member of Women’s Voices of Glynn County and an event organizer. “We thought this was really an appropriate time to address this issue.”
September 13th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Rachael Thompson of the Glynn Environmental Coalition asked whether the EPA believes workers are still protected, even though small, concentrated areas of chemicals remain on the property.
September 12th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Plans are currently going forward for what’s considered the long-term remedy of the upland section at the LCP Chemicals Superfund site. Right now, that plan is for no action, but with what’s called institutional controls.
August 19, 2019, The Islander, Pages 1,4, and 6
Last Thursday the City of Brunswick and Glynn County filed two amici curia briefs in opposition to
the consent decree recently filed in the Federal Court by the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Hercules Inc.
August 17th, 2019 - ESPN Coastal Adventures
Glynn Environmental Coalition on the air with ESPN Coastal Adventures talking about the state of air quality in Glynn County. Radio hosts Cody Queen and Cheston Bromell interview Executive Director, Rachael Thompson, starting in the recording at 9:41.
August 17, 2019 - The Brunswick News
As expected, Hercules filed a brief Thursday backing the federal government in its decision to stick with the Terry Creek outfall consent decree as originally negotiated between the parties, despite widespread public opposition, including that of the governments of the city of Brunswick and Glynn County.
August 12th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
As noted in your Aug. 5 editorial, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to do the right thing. Last month, the agency lodged a consent decree outlining a clean-up plan for Terry Creek that will not meet our community’s needs and will not protect our environment.
August 5th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Court documents filed Thursday in Brunswick state the EPA believes the plan it agreed to with Hercules to clean up Terry Creek is “fair, adequate, reasonable and consistent with Superfund objectives,” according to an email from Angela Miller, community involvement coordinator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 4 Office of the Regional Administrator.
August 5, 2019, The Islander, Pages 1 and 6
According to documents filed August 1 in the U.S. District Court Southern District, the Consent Decree (CD) filed in May 2018 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Hercules detailing the clean up of the Terry Creek outfall ditch or Operable Unit 1. (OU1) was approved by the court to move forward.
August 8, 2019 - The Brunswick News
U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheesbro ordered a stay of discovery in the lawsuit over nearly half an acre of wetland-filling adjacent to the Inn at Sea Island on St. Simons Island. The stay is in effect while the court considers Sea Island Acquisition’s motion to dismiss against the complaint brought by Glynn Environmental Coalition and the Center for a Sustainable Coast.
August 3, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Contrary to the expressed wishes of the governments of Glynn County, the city of Brunswick, numerous residents and elected officials, the federal government decided its proposed cleanup agreement with Hercules for the toxaphene-contaminated Terry Creek outfall is “fair, adequate, reasonable and consistent with Superfund objectives.”
July 27, 2019 - The Brunswick News
The Glynn Environmental Coalition and local resident Jane Fraser contended that, despite the land swap, Sea Island never owned the park because Glynn County didn’t have the right to transfer it.
June 24, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“One of the things we’ve heard in the community, based on this, is that weathered toxaphene is 300 times more toxic than technical toxaphene, and that’s not what this says,” Frederick said. “What it says is, we started at the same threshold, divided by different levels of uncertainty. There’s more uncertainty for weathered toxaphene. We don’t know, or are unable to say, whether that weathered toxaphene mixture is more or less toxic in total, but we have some additional uncertainty there.”
June 22, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“With Superfund sites in the 1st District of Georgia, it’s imperative that the process be updated to maximize the input and participation from the local community,” Carter said in a statement Thursday. “Those with the Superfund sites in their backyards should absolutely be involved with the cleanup throughout the entire process. I introduced this legislation today to ensure their voices are heard.”
June 4, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Following its motion to dismiss May 9, Sea Island Acquisition filed a motion May 20 to stay discovery in the federal lawsuit brought by Glynn Environmental Coalition and Center for a Sustainable Coast regarding the filling of 0.49 acres of wetlands next to the Inn at Sea Island. However, the plaintiffs in the case argue Sea Island isn’t abiding by the rules set down by the court.”
May 30, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Glynn Environmental Coalition and the Center for a Sustainable Coast responded Thursday to Sea Island Acquisition’s motion to dismiss regarding whether Sea Island acted in accordance with the law in filling nearly a half-acre of wetlands adjacent to the Inn at Sea Island property on St. Simon's Island.”
May 25, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“With a small tent nearby providing some amount of shade, around a dozen people or more kicked off a two-hour demonstration at the corner of Warde Street and U.S. Highway 17 — the southwest corner of Hercules’ Terry Creek property.”
May 23, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Glynn County had no right to give Twitty Park to the Sea Island Co. as part of a land swap in 1982 and as such the deed reverts back to the county, a Glynn County Superior Court judge ruled Monday. The decision is in response to a 2016 case between plaintiffs Glynn Environmental Coalition and county resident Jane Fraser and defendants the Sea Island Co., Glynn County and unnamed individuals. The GEC and Fraser alleged the county didn’t have the right to covey the property to the Sea Island Co., and Judge Stephen Kelley agreed.”
May 17th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“We were, and still are, confused why all the parties that made the agreement didn’t think a full cleanup was in the best interest of Terry Creek. Hercules doing the minimum to clean up a problem it created is one thing, but the federal government agreeing to it still boggles the mind. The lack of accountability by all the parties involved implies that they don’t really care what happens to the area.”
May 16th, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Glynn Environmental Coalition and the Center for a Sustainable Coast argued in their complaint that Sea Island obtained permits to fill these wetlands under the assertion it would build a commercial structure on the 0.49 acres, and as such it would qualify under a nationwide permit instead of individual permitting, which would have involved more perceived time, effort and money.”
May 15, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Now five months gone from a Department of Justice status update, U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheesbro ordered the federal government to respond as to whether it stands by the proposed consent decree it made with Hercules regarding cleanup of the Terry Creek outfall site.”
May 15, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Yamaha Marine, and its 1,350 employees in Georgia, is sponsoring a cleanup in all six of Georgia’s coastal counties. The coastal Georgia cleanup effort coincides with World Oceans Day on June 8. Teams of volunteers will meet at 8:30 a.m. June 8 in 10 locations throughout the Peach State’s coastal areas to begin cleanup missions that will prevent land litter from becoming marine debris.”
May 11, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“Things have a tendency to change quickly in the effort to pursue Trump administration policy on offshore drilling. On Thursday, Green Scene of Coastal Georgia hosted a small talk by the Glynn Environmental Coalition and One Hundred Miles on what’s going on and what the stakes are regarding drilling off the Georgia coast.”
May 6, 2019 - The Islander
In an order issued April 29, Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley granted summary judgment, in part, in favor of plaintiffs, the Glynn Environmental Coalition and Jane Fraser in their lawsuit against Glynn County and a Sea Island Company entity regarding a 1982 conveyance of Twitty Park on St. Simons Island. The court’s ruling voided the 1982 conveyance from Glynn County to Sea Island Company and requires that Twitty Park be owned and maintained by Glynn County for the benefit of the public.
May 2, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“The Brunswick City Commission unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with Glynn County on Wednesday to pay for a study to resolve ongoing flooding problems in the College Park area.”
April 29, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“City officials believe they have a solution to the numerous flooding problems experienced by residents in the College Park subdivision in recent years. The Brunswick City Commission at Wednesday’s meeting will consider an intergovernmental agreement for the construction of an alternative storm drainage outfall route that would run along Georgia Spur 25 to the marsh. The proposed project is the first of four phases planned to improve drainage within the overall basin.”
April 10, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“It might come as a surprise to some that federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said he’s allayed local concerns about the federal government’s settlement with Hercules regarding the Terry Creek outfall, but he said he believed those concerns had been addressed — before walking them back — in a U.S. House subcommittee hearing Tuesday.”
April 2, 2019 - The Brunswick News
The federal Environmental Protection Agency awarded two grants Thursday to the Glynn Environmental Coalition in order to help the GEC help the local community regarding ongoing operations at the Terry Creek outfall and the LCP Chemicals site.
March 19th, 2019 - The Albany Herald
Georgia’s leading water protection coalition recognized 13 “water heroes” during its annual Clean 13 celebration during ceremonies in Atlanta recently. At the event, the Georgia Water Coalition honored individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and government entities “that have made significant efforts to protect Georgia’s water” and were recognized in the coalition’s annual Clean 13 report released in September. Among the groups honored at the event were Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint stakeholders.
February 25, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Hercules chemical resin plant opened in the early part of the 20th century and the Georgia-Pacific pulp mill opened in 1937. The pair sucked a lot of water out of the Floridan aquifer, peaking at more than 80 million gallons per day in 1980.
February 20, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“One thing, when we’re here on the coast, I want us all to remember that we are downstream,” said Laura Early, the Satilla Riverkeeper. The Satilla and St. Marys riverkeepers, along with the Glynn Environmental Coalition, hosted the event, with the idea that, “Good beer needs clean water.”
February 20, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Glynn Academy students Philip Albenice and Lucas Hurley recently won the 2019 Dr. William T. Lipscomb’s Grand Prize Scholarship Award at the Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Savannah State University. Their project, “Turning Plastic to Oil” used advanced technology to create oil from plastic grocery bags.
February 1, 2019 - The Brunswick News
The Glynn Environmental Coalition, in partnership with the Satilla Riverkeeper and College of Coastal Georgia, hosted a chemical monitoring training session Thursday in one of the college’s labs. More than 20 people went through the three-hour training that is required to earn certification to become a water quality monitoring volunteer.
January 23, 2019 - The Brunswick News
A location that’s on the path to come out of the Superfund program is the Brunswick Wood Preserving site. It went on the NPL in April 1997. In 2011, the EPA instituted a groundwater treatment system on the western end of the site that used “in-situ chemical oxidation,” in essence, treating the contaminated water where it was. The EPA reported it was successful in dissolving the vast majority of the groundwater plume and ended in 2013.
January 12, 2019 - The Brunswick News
Critics of that plan have since commended the school board for responding and changing track. Rachael Thompson, project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition and one of those who spoke out against building the new school next to a Superfund site, applauded the new plan in an email to school system leadership Thursday evening. “We are grateful for all your hard work in selecting the new site and also appreciate your mindfulness in placing the school away from the adjacent wetlands on the new site,” Thompson said.
January 5, 2019 - The Brunswick News
“We have been working with the community for them to contribute recipes for, what are the traditional local ways they like to prepare fish?” Kimberly Andrews, director of the Applied Wildlife Conservation Lab at the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, said at a lunch meeting Friday of the Glynn Environmental Coalition.