Tense Brunswick town hall on ‘fugitive dust’ ends in commitments to ‘being good neighbors’

On Thursday evening, dozens of residents from Brunswick’s south side gathered at the city’s library to hear updates on how a bane of their existence — the “dust bowl” — might finally be rectified. 

At long last, frustrated homeowners from Fourth Avenue and Newcastle Street had a chance to hear directly from representatives from companies responsible for the dust blanketing their homes and, according to some residents, endangering their health. 

“We’re standing together today to say that our health, our homes, and our peace of mind must take priority over the industrial convenience. We are bound by dust. We’re shaken by trucks,” said Susan Bates, a resident. “The impact of the heavy wood pellet and biomass shipping logistics right here at the terminal is becoming an unbearable financial and physical burden on our households.”

Logistec, a stevedoring company with a warehouse in Brunswick with wood pellet operations that often emit dust, promised by the end of the meeting that they would be more responsive to citizens’ complaints about what environmentalists call “fugitive dust.” 

“This is important to you all, and is important to us. Being good neighbors is incredibly important in this process,” said Eugene Young, Jr., chief external affairs officer for Enstructure, a North American marine terminal and logistics company that acquired Logistec in June. 

In 2024, The Current GA reported on struggles faced by residents who had concerns about the dust and noise from the warehouse but were also more troubled by the public health threats that inhaling the dust poses. 

Rachel Thompson, executive director of Glynn Environmental Coalition, put the meeting together to allow residents to tell their stories and to establish next steps for how to address the particulate matter pollution. 

Lin DeLassus, Logistec general manager, told residents that the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week facility is nonhazardous and the company only handles natural materials. 

The inside look at the operations was not enough to satisfy some residents, such as Cathy Willis Spraetz. 

“Our neighborhood has been here longer than you all were, and we should not be penalized in the way that we have been because you haven’t been a good neighbor. In my opinion, the only solution is either to shut down your plant in Brunswick or move to another part of the terminal where there are no residents,” she said.

Among the companies and governmental entities present were Georgia Ports Authority, BWC Terminals, Georgia Department of Transportation and the City of Brunswick Fire Department.

Notably, representatives from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Department of Natural Resources were absent despite being invited by Thompson. 

“This is my district, and these families have been dealing with this for a very long time. You need to solve this otherwise, the nuclear option will be done,” said Allen Booker, Glynn County District 5 Commissioner.