– Sept. 13, 2023 –
Good morning. It’s been a busy few days in McIntosh County, where plans to rezone the Geechee community of Hogg Hummock have brought out residents in droves to protest. But that’s not all going on. We also have brief updates on two long-running Coastal Georgia issues: Spaceport Camden and proposed mining near the Okefenokee. And finally we turn our attention to a baffling question: Why don’t more warehouses have solar panels on their roofs?
Hogg Hummock rezoning
McIntosh County Commissioners voted Tuesday night to change the zoning on the historic Hogg Hummock — also written Hog Hammock — on Sapelo Island. The 3-2 vote came despite hundreds of residents repeatedly attending county meetings to voice their opposition when allowed on Thursday and to demonstrate it silently when no public comment was permitted on Monday and Tuesday. Their main concern is that larger houses and the monied, non-descendant investors they will bring are likely to push out the Gullah-Geechee people and culture that makes Hogg Hummock special.
Environmental concerns stayed mainly in the background, but are numerous. More development and bigger houses on Sapelo likely means more impervious surface, increasing flooding and runoff problems. Population growth would mean a strain on the island’s ability to handle waste of all types, including in septic systems. Last week’s version of the zoning included a possible golf course and marina, though the zoning board struck both those items after residents objected to them as out of keeping with Hogg Hummock’s character and impossible to build in an environmentally sound manner.
Ossoff sounds off on mining
As regulators at the Georgia Environmental Protection Division continue to evaluate a permit application from Alabma-based Twin Pines Minerals to strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is speaking out against the project.
“I’m calling today on the state of Georgia to reject strip mining near the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge,” Ossoff told partygoers Friday at the Georgia Rivers Gala, a fundraising event in Atlanta hosted by the Georgia River Network, a nonprofit that protects waterways statewide and is opposed to the mine.
“Ossoff also name-checked the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), which is in charge of reviewing the company’s permit applications, and said there is ‘clear and convincing evidence’ that the mining plan does not meet the state’s standards,” reports Drew Kann in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Spaceport litigation update
Camden County’s spaceport goals progressed only as far as getting a license from the Federal Aviation Administration before reality — in the form of voters — grounded it. In a March 2022 referendum, voters overwhelmingly rejected Spaceport Camden. But the project lives on in litigation. Three ongoing cases revolve around the spaceport.
In One Hundred Miles v. Camden County, the nonprofit is still trying to wrangle loose more open records about the project. But the county insists some records remain protected by attorney-client privilege or federal security issues. In Camden County v. Union Carbide, the county is suing to recoup up to $2.6 million in its costs related to the failed option contract to buy land for the spaceport.
Then there’s litigation pending in federal district court in Washington, D.C., in which the Federal Aviation Administration is defending the Dec. 2021 issuance of a launch site operators license to Camden. That’s National Parks Conservation Association et. al. v. Federal Aviation Administration. Camden intervened on the FAA’s side.
On Aug. 25 the Federal Aviation Administration filed a motion to dismiss the Camden County spaceport license lawsuit on the grounds that the harms the plaintiffs are worried about are unlikely because the spaceport itself is unlikely.
In this last one there’s some quirky logic at play lately.
Camden chimed in a week later, in support of the FAA’s position. In agreeing with the FAA, Camden’s two-page filing seems to be arguing the county shouldn’t lose its FAA license to build a spaceport because it’s impossible for the county to build a spaceport.
Warehouse solar?
It’s no mystery why so many warehouses are popping up all over coastal Georgia. The growth of the Savannah port is a big driver of warehouse development, as The Current’s Kailey Cota explained recently.
More of a head scratcher is is why all those warehouses, with their acres of flat, sun-soaked roofs, lack solar panels. Spoiler alert: It’s mostly because of money, Electricity is relatively cheap in Georgia, especially for industry. (That’s part of what makes Georgia “the best to state to do business.”) But there’s more to it than that, including a lack of government-sponsored incentives for warehouse solar and concerns about hurricanes, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports.
If you have feedback, questions, concerns, or just like what you see, let us know at thecurrentga@gmail.com.
McIntosh votes to rezone Hogg Hummock
The new zoning allows larger, taller homes in the 427-acre community on Sapelo, where the descendants of enslaved people who worked the island’s plantations have lived for generations.
Update: Controversial Sapelo rezoning moves forward to final vote. See changes.
McIntosh County Commission advances controversial Hogg Hummock zoning proposal toward a vote.
McIntosh discusses changes for Sapelo’s historic Black community
Georgia’s historic Black enclave on Sapelo Island wants county leaders to halt changes that erase the unique character of the community in favor of new white homeowners.
Why don’t Coastal Georgia warehouses have solar on their roofs?
Warehouses seem like a no brainer for rooftop solar, but few of these enormous, flat-roofed buildings take advantage of the sun for their energy needs.
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