Log fumigation plan meets opposition in Liberty County

About 40 citizens and activists from both Liberty and McIntosh counties showed up Monday for a press conference at Riceboro City Hall, where local, state, and county officials urged them to flood the Georgia Department of Natural Resources with letters against a proposed log fumigation plant. 

Weyerhaeuser, which owns tens of thousands of acres of forest in and around Riceboro, has applied to Georgia EPD’s Air Protection Division for an expedited permit to use methyl bromide, a highly volatile and toxic chemical, to prepare logs for shipping overseas. Weyerhaeuser’s EPD air permit application places the site just outside the city limits in unincorporated Liberty County.

Weyerhaeuser’s permit plan

Weyerhaeuser’s application notes that methyl bromide “is regulated as a volatile organic compound (VOC), HAP [hazardous air pollutant], and toxic air pollutant (TAP).” An Airgas safety data sheet included in the application states that methyl bromide is an acute, long-term water hazard; a hazard to the ozone layer; and causes damage to the human respiratory tract, kidneys, and central nervous system. It can be fatal if inhaled and it can cause burns or freezing on the skin.

According to Weyerhaeuser’s permit application, the company plans to stack logs or “place them in sealed shipping containers on one of four concrete pads.” The application does not say how many logs are in a stack, but each would be 130 feet long, 40 feet wide, and an “estimated” 14 feet high. The company estimates it will process 300,000 tons of logs per year at the site.

Then, the company will shoot up to 220 pounds of methyl bromide into the enclosure holding the logs — “a plastic tarp or container that will be sealed to the concrete pad…for 24 hours per fumigation event.” Only one stack will be fumigated at a time, Weyerhaeuser said, noting that 220 pounds per hour is the legal limit “for compliance with the Georgia Air Toxic Guidelines.”

Next, the logs will go through an “aeration process.” The methyl bromide is removed using a fan that draws the fumigant out and up 50 feet into the outside air.

Weyerhaeuser also is asking Georgia EPD for permission to create several extra ventilation stacks on site it says, as backups. Eleven stacks were marked on a map and identified throughout the application packet. A request for comment submitted to Weyerhaeuser’s media representatives had not been acknowledged by Tuesday night.

Weyerhaeuser estimates that “100% of the amount of fumigant [methyl bromide]” will be released into the atmosphere.

Other emissions would come from debarking tree trunks and from trucks coming to and from the site. The application also says the operation will require an Industrial Stormwater Discharge Permit and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).

‘Citizen participation’

Liberty County Commission Chairman Donald Lovette told the crowd, “We lay this at the feet of Weyerhaeuser and  the feet of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.”

“This is what’s called citizen participation,” state Rep. Al Williams said to the crowd. “And that’s great. The information about this chemical, as you’ve heard the chairman state, was upsetting to many of us. And for the record on the very front end, I’m not opposed to Weyerhaeuser Corporation. I’m opposed to this plant coming to our community.”

Williams said he has several concerns about the project as he addressed Weyerhaeuser and EPD: “First and foremost, it is detrimental to the health of the citizens of this area. …Secondly, it’s detrimental to the economic progress of this part of Liberty County,” he said. “We feel as though it’d be very difficult to locate other industries and build worker housing in this area with a plant of this nature so close to us.” And so we’re here to let Weyerhaeuser know that we’re opposed to this development. Secondly, we’re here to let the Environmental Protection Division of the State of Georgia know that we’re opposed to this.”

Williams said countering the plan would take time. “Now, do I think that it’ll go away immediately  because we are opposed to it? No. Seen it before. It won’t go away that quick. But we will have to make sure that our voices are heard from the state house down to make sure. And I think there is pretty much a consensus that this is a no-no for this community.”

Lovette credited Riceboro Mayor Chris Stacy and environmental group 100 Miles with raising the issue as the expedited public comment period began. He said the county officials and citizens participated in the public comment period.

Lovette said the officials including Jeff Rickertson, executive director of Liberty County Planning Commission, submitted a letter of comment stating the release of methyl bromide will be detrimental to public health and would likely undermine the Liberty County Comprehensive Plan for the area.

Lovette said he consulted with the county attorney and county administrator and submitted a letter citing public safety as a major concern. “If this plant is allowed to operate, a substitute chemical that does not pose a threat to the environment, first responders, and the communities, must be used,” he said.

Balancing business with public safety

The crowd shouted down Rickertson when he told them the county’s position is that it is business-friendly.

“[Weyerhaeuser] simply said that they were going to use a fumigator,” Rickertson said. “They didn’t say what kind. We don’t ask them that. We don’t ask Interstate Paper what they’re using, we don’t ask Chemtall what they’re using. That’s a process that is regulated by the state EPD. And that’s why we’re here. They’ve turned in an application to the state EPD.”

“Why can’t we ask?” someone in the crowd asked.

“You can,” Rickertson replied. “But that’s handled, it’s regulated by the state. It’s not—”

“We have said no to the rezoning,” the woman answered.

“Well, I think that the environment in the county is that we are pro-development, pro-industrial development, because it provides jobs and it provides livelihood.”

The crowd shouted its disapproval.

“If 100 Miles didn’t bring it to our attention, this might have just went by and went through, and we all could have missed it,” she said.

Some wanted to know why the county doesn’t just pull Weyerhaeuser’s zoning. Others questioned why Liberty County signed off on the zoning if it had no idea what the company’s plans were for the site.

Looking for help from state

“The first thing that needs to be done has been done to inform the state who is the applicant, as part of the issuance for the permit, that the community does not want it,” Williams said. “The county does not want it, I don’t want it. That’s the first step. The next step is Weyerhauser, whether or not they step back. If not, then the next step becomes a legal fight. But the steps that are necessary have been taken. And that is to put them on notice. We don’t want it! And so they have to reply to what the request of the county has been: that we don’t want it. And then the next step is deter it.”

After the press conference, Lovette called the response “overwhelming.”

“Concerned,” added District 1 Commissioner Marion Stevens, Sr.

“And I’m glad they’re concerned,” Lovette said. “We just need them to follow up with writing their letters [to EPD and the Georgia Forestry Commission]. I’m not so much in favor of petitions, you know. Every little bit helps. But I want those letters to go to EPD, you know. Voluminous amounts of letters to go to EPD, letting them hear from the people of Liberty and McIntosh counties that they’re concerned by this and we don’t want this in our community.”

Stevens urged citizens to follow up in writing to Georgia EPD. “When you have a group of citizens, taxpayers, that are uninformed, that’s the worst you can ever have. So if we can keep them informed and updated, then I think we can work this out. But like I say, no to the chemical in which they are trying to use. It’s almost banned throughout the United States, so why try to bring it here in this little pocket of Liberty County to use it to harm our citizens? So I said no to the chemical. Yes to the industries, but no to the chemical.”

Asked whether they believe the proposed use of methyl bromide at Weyerhaeuser’s facility posed an environmental justice issue, Stevens said, “Yes.”

Rep. Buddy DeLoach, who represents McIntosh County, said the Georgia legislature could take steps to halt the project.

“I don’t understand how we got where we are,” DeLoach said. “We’ve fought this thing in the Okefenokee Swamp now for many many, many years. The reason we established EPD was to bring scientists and professionals in to examine all these issues and help us — well, actually we brought them in and make those decisions, but now they can help us. And the legislature has some options to stop it if they don’t agree with EPD. We have the power to ban things in certain locations.

“The Georgia Constitution gives us a lot of power. If we exercise that judiciously, because we generally don’t want to get involved in EPD’s business,” DeLoach said. “When you establish those agencies of professionals that make these decisions for us, then the normal thing of the legislature is we let them do what we charged them with doing. If things get totally out of line, we can act.”

Current plan may threaten future

Lovette said Weyerhaeuser owns “thousands of acres of property. And this is definitely a property that is surrounded by that property. But the potential impact of what they’re planning to use crosses property lines. That’s our concern.”

Stephens pointed out that the interchange at I-95 near South Newport is ripe for development, but a fumigation plant a couple of miles away would sink those plans: “This goes down there, you can almost forget about that interchange being developed. And you have I-95 right there. Like Chairman Lovette made in his statement that we do not have the protection, safety protection, if anything happens. Probably our closest responding agency could be as far away as Jacksonville, Florida.”

Threat to wetlands

Keeping the areas’s limited water resources clean is another concern, Stephens said:  “We don’t have the water supply. I’m concerned about the runoff. When it rains, what’s going to happen? And you’ve quite naturally got wetlands right there, joining into their property. So you’ve got wetlands down there. So all of this is going to run together. You’ve got a contamination issue. It could get into the water stream.”

Christa Hayes lives about seven miles from the site. “My concern is — there’s the marshes. I drew a straight line from generally where they say they’re going to put it to the nearest marsh. It was less than a mile and a half. And that’s the marsh. That’s nothing about the freshwater areas that are coming up to the marsh. That’s a water resource. And I think the application was to the air quality division, right?”

The methyl bromide safety sheet reads in part, “This material is very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Fire water contaminated with this material must be contained and prevented from being discharged to any waterway, sewer or drain.”

Hayes, an ecologist and resource manager, also said she was worried about the people who would bear the brunt of environmental risks from methyl bromide.

“The people that are gonna work here, we know they’re gonna be contaminated,” she said. “There’s no way around it. They will be. And are you [Weyerhaeuser] — is this a full-time employment for the rest of their life? Are you providing health insurance for the rest of their life? Because they knew these people are desperate for jobs, they get these jobs, and then they’re sent away.”

Stevens said, “I don’t know what their employee rate would be, but I think the harm that could do, harm that could be given to the citizens of this area, and Liberty County, and McIntosh County, I don’t think it could equal up to the amount of employees they could have.”

Williams urged citizens to take action: “Continue to let your voices be heard, because this is definitely not the end of it. We’re talking about a lot of money here. So we’ve got to be vigilant to make sure.”

Lovette said the county wants to do business, but not in a way that harms local residents or the fragile coastal environment.

A community mobilizes

Later Monday, Stacy held a State of the City meeting in the Riceboro Youth Center gym. About 15 people showed up, all opposed to Weyerhaeuser’s proposed use of methyl bromide. The gathering wasted no time organizing against it. Citizens volunteered to go door to door and explain the problem to their neighbors. Stacy said the city would put information on its signboards. Councilwoman Louise Brown said she would send out a link for people to write online letters opposing Weyerhaeuser’s EPD application and to type up paper copies to leave at City Hall for people who don’t use computers. The group discussed whether anyone would read a notice put in with the December water bill.

Again, Stacy urged those present to write individual letters to state and political officials to express their feelings.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.