McIntosh Reacts, Sea Level Surges

– July 17, 2024 –

Good morning! We start today with an update about Sapelo’s zoning, move on to disturbing observations about sea level rise in the Southeast and finish with roundups of two fires that made a sweltering weekend in Chatham County even hotter.

Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org

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McIntosh pushes back

Less than a week after McIntosh County residents submitted a petition to probate court seeking a referendum on the rezoning of Hogg Hummock, the county pushed back. Through a Cumming-based attorney, McIntosh County wrote to the probate judge Monday explaining why it believes the citizens’ effort is not constitutional. The county’s response is reminiscent of how Camden County tried and failed to quash its voters’ referendum on Spaceport Camden. Josiah “Jazz” Watts, a Sapelo descendant who works on environmental justice issues for One Hundred Miles, called on the county to cooperate with residents.

“Again, they fight against the voices of the very people they were elected to represent and serve,” Watts wrote in a text to The Current. 

Read the full story here.

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Sea level rise surges in South

Across the American South, tides are rising at accelerating rates that are among the most extreme on Earth, as Amy Green of Inside Climate News reports. Even scientists who study sea level rise are startled. “It’s pretty shocking,” said Jeff Chanton, professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University. “You would think it would increase gradually, it would be a gradual thing. But this is like a major shift.” How big is the surge? In the South the pace jumped from about 0.06 inches (1.7 millimeters) a year at the turn of the 20th century to at least a third of an inch (8.4 millimeters) by 2021. To learn why this is happening and how people are responding, read the full article here.

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Fires in Chatham

Chatham County was the scene of two environmentally relevant fires over the weekend. On Saturday, two 100-foot-tall domes of wood pellets ignited at East Coast Terminal . The fire burned for more than 24 hours before the Savannah Fire Department fully extinguished it. Wood pellets are exported to Europe to be burned as a fuel in power plants. Environmental groups, including the Dogwood Alliance, call wood pellets a threat to Southern forests and to climate. Dogwood Alliance has tracked fires at wood pellet facilities and offers an in-depth look at the risks here.

On Sunday, smoke from a wildfire on Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge reached downtown Savannah. Monica Harris, a spokeswoman for the refuge, said volunteers and staff at the Caretta Research Project on Wassaw reported the fire Saturday evening, but were not in danger from it. The 140-acre fire was likely begun by a lightning strike. “We have fire crews out there backburning,” Harris said. “Otherwise we’ll let Mother Nature do her work.”

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Also noted:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing a plan to clean up groundwater contaminated by mercury under the LCP Chemicals Superfund site in Brunswick, Michael Hall of The Brunswick News reports. EPA will host a public meeting about the site from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, July 18. at Zion Rock Missionary Baptist Church, 3200 Gordon St., Brunswick.
• Georgia’s sea turtles began hatching on July 2 on Sea Island. As of Tuesday, the site Seaturtle.org reported 1,759 hatchlings have emerged on beaches from Cumberland to Blackbeard islands. The nest count is up to 2,213.
• The Alabama-based company that wants to mine for titanium dioxide near the Okefenokee Swamp has a poor track record of regulatory compliance, Dylan Jackson and Drew Kann of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Records show Twin Pines and others affiliated with its parent company have committed more than 70 violations across multiple states. The Current previously reported on many of the same issues. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is evaluating Twin Pines’ mining permit application and has not given itself a decision deadline.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is ordering a Gulfstream G550 aircraft configured to support hurricane and tropical storm forecasts, atmospheric research and other NOAA missions. The aircraft expected to join NOAA’s fleet in 2028. This will be NOAA’s second G550. The first is expected to be delivered in spring 2025 and will replace NOAA’s aging Gulfstream IV-SP, which has been an essential part of the NOAA Hurricane Hunter fleet since 1996.

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