Pinova fire sparks questions

– April 24, 2024 –

Good morning! Unwelcome deja vu in Brunswick this week has environmental groups renewing their call for greater transparency about the Pinova plant’s shutdown, as described below. Monday’s Earth Day brought news of a program that could bring rooftop solar to more Georgians. But the adoption of EVs is another matter, as a look at Georgia’s ranking reveals.

Clarification: The April 17 Coast Watch newsletter was updated to clarify that RYAM manufactures cellulose fibers used in items ranging from cigarette filters to diapers. It doesn’t manufacture those finished products.

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

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Pinova fire renews questions

Just after the one-year anniversary of the massive fire that signaled the end of operations at Pinova in Brunswick, the facility suffered another fire Sunday, as The Brunswick News reported. Lightning struck containers of resin to cause the latest blaze, according to the Brunswick Fire Department. That struck Lericia Harris of One Hundred Miles as odd.

“What we were told previously was that all the chemicals had been disposed of and that they weren’t on the property,” she told The Current. “So, to read some of the articles and see that the fire was caused by lightning, but it was there from resin that was on the property. Okay, well, how did that happen?”

Late last month, One Hundred Miles, along with Glynn Environmental Coalition, Environmental Safety Collaboration, Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc., Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and Community First Planning Commission wrote to top regulators at the U.S. EPA and the Georgia EPD requesting information, transparency and a seat at the table as the Pinova decommissioning continues in the already pollution-burdened city. No one responded. (Read the letter here.)

“We want to ensure that there are some sort of regulatory processes that are being had, and that the people are informed about that,” Harris said. “That’s what we’re hoping for, is more communication, more transparency throughout this entire process.”

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More solar for low-income Georgians

A pilot program that has already provided rooftop solar to 10 low-income homeowners in Coastal Georgia is poised to expand dramatically.

The U.S EPA announced Monday it is awarding $156 million to the Capital Good Fund, a nonprofit community development financial institution, to develop cost-saving solar programs across Georgia over five years. The funding will allow Capital Good Fund’s solar lease program, Georgia BRIGHT, to bring solar panels to an estimated 5,000 rooftops in Georgia, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports.

The pilot phase of the project showed organizers that many low income homeowners want not only solar power, but battery storage as well. And it highlighted that others needed repairs to their roofs or electrical systems before they could benefit from solar, so the expanded program will address these need.

Read the full story here.

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Nearly first to nearly worst on EVs

Georgia is shaping up as a center of EV manufacturing, but it’s not such a great place to own an electric vehicle. A report from researchers at EV Charger Reviews used six factors to rank states for ease of EV ownership: the number of registered electric vehicles, electricity cost, number of electric vehicles per charging port, tax credits, annual savings, the ratio of a square mile per 1 charging port and electric vehicles per service center. Georgia came in third to last with a lack of tax incentives, high annual registration fees and too few charging stations.

Georgia was a leading EV ownership state just a decade ago. The Department of Energy ranked the Peach State among the top five states for EV registrations in 2014. But in 2015 Georgia’s previous income tax credit of up to $5,000 for the purchase or lease of an electric vehicle was discontinued. In that same year Georgia instated a $200 annual registration fee for EVs. Now the state has slipped below the top 10 for EV registration rates.

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Also noted:

• Gov. Brian Kemp appointed James Jeffery Andrews to the 18-member DNR Board on April 12. He replaces Dwight Davis, who resigned. Andrews, a longtime operator of nursing homes, is now Chairman and Acting CEO of KGM Technologies, a Peachtree Corners-based manufacturer of firearm suppressors. The Vote Smart website lists Andrews as Kemp’s 21st highest donor in the 2022 cycle, with campaign contributions of $153,100.

• The Georgia Coast got an overall score of 78, or “moderately good,” on its latest ecological report card, the Coastal Resources Division announced. A team at the University of Maryland helps evaluates a dozen coastal indicators, from water quality to sea turtle nesting to produce the document each year. Read the report here.
• An extremely active Atlantic hurricane season is likely in 2024, the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team says in its latest seasonal forecast, Yale Climate Connections reports.  CSU predicts almost 10 more named storms than a recent typical season. However, the prediction says nothing about if or where storms will make landfall. Hurricane season begins June 1.

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