Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2025
Good morning! Welcome to the first Coast Watch of the new year. Today we’re taking a look at a newly announced modification to Hyundai’s water supply. We also recap what’s happened with the expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. And we remember Jimmy Carter’s environmental legacy as we consider a major environmental announcement from outgoing President Joe Biden.
Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Hyundai to be weaned early from aquifer
The Hyundai Metaplant’s thirst, estimated at 4 million gallons a day, has been a point of contention for many in Bulloch County, where wells are being drilled to supply the EV manufacturer and associated development. The Ogeechee Riverkeeper challenged the water withdrawal permits and over the holidays reached a settlement agreement with the Savannah Harbor – Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority to modify some permit conditions. The biggest change is a shortening by a decade of the time Hyundai will be allowed to rely on Floridan aquifer water, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports.
FEATURE: ENVIRONMENT
Jimmy Carter’s wild Georgia
Jimmy Carter famously installed solar panels on the White House, but his environmental legacy in his home state gets less attention. Georgia Recorder’s Ross Williams chronicles the late president’s special connection to Georgia rivers, including his participation in the first-ever tandem canoe descent of the Bull Sluice rapids on the Chattooga, a feat he accomplished while governor.
“It kind of opened my eyes to a relationship between a human being and a wild river that I had never contemplated before that,” Carter told American Rivers.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Offshore drilling off the table
President Joe Biden on Monday banned offshore drilling along the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. The environmental and economic risks and harms of drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential, The White House stated in a fact sheet. There are currently no active oil and natural gas leases in federal waters off the eastern Atlantic coast.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons, who supports an “all-of-the-above” energy policy, nevertheless backed off his support of offshore drilling off Georgia five years ago, after local and state lawmakers passed resolutions opposing it. Carter wrote to the Department of the Interior in 2019 asking that Georgia be excluded from offshore energy plans. Carter’s social media accounts make no mention of the recently announced ban as of Tuesday evening.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Okefenokee expansion OK’d
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is moving forward with a plan to expand the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Capitol Beat’s Dave Williams reports. The refuge can now grow within its new perimeter wherever there are willing sellers. The swamp’s supporters hope the possibility of incorporating into the refuge the site of Twin Pines Minerals’ planned titanium mine will help sink that controversial project.
Twin Pines doesn’t see it that way. A spokesman for the Alabama-based company sent the following statement regarding the expansion to The Current: “Rather than opposing this proposal, we will take FWS at its word that its sole effect to allow FWS to acquire property from willing sellers; that it will not have any effect on the permitting process at Georgia EPD; and that FWS not will not use the expanded boundary as a basis to assert control over private property it is unable to acquire.”
Plans to mine near the Okefenokee have brought the issues of private property rights and willing sellers to the forefront, as The Current’s Mary Landers reported in a recent profile of Charlton County forester Joe Hopkins.
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Settlement hastens Hyundai’s switch from Floridan aquifer water
Settlement with bring more monitoring, quicker end to Hyundai’s use of Floridan aquifer water.
Jimmy Carter’s connection to Georgia rivers flowed through his terms as governor, president
Jimmy Carter would tell interviewers over the years that life on the farm taught him to respect nature and the resources it provides, especially when it comes to rivers.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge expansion gains final approval
Scientific studies have concluded the proposed mine would significantly damage the largest blackwater swamp in North America by drawing down its water level and increasing the risk of drought and fires.
Okefenokee mining controversy spotlights property rights
Timber magnate Joe Hopkins keeps mining hopes alive by championing private property rights, even though he distrusts the company poised to strip mine near the Okefenokee.
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