October 7, 2026
Good morning! We start today with a recap of a record sea turtle nesting season, move on to a postponed wild oyster harvest and wind up with the latest on Westwin, the company that earlier this year proposed a nickel refinery in Richmond Hill.
Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org
FEATURE: ENVIRONMENT
See turtles!
How successful was this year’s sea turtle nesting season in Georgia? Consider this data point: More than 333,000 loggerhead eggs were recorded on beaches from Cumberland to Tybee. The Current GA‘s Mary Landers and Justin Taylor chronicled the human effort involved in documenting and protecting this year’s record number of nests, including a look inside a loggerhead-centric ecotourism project on Wassaw Island.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Wild oysters stay off limits
Georgia officials extended the annual wild oyster harvest closure beyond its usual September 30 end date due to unusually warm ocean temperatures driven by human-caused climate change. While the state typically bans wild harvesting from June through September to prevent bacterial growth, this extension marks the second such occurrence since 2018, Emily Jones of WABE/Grist reports. But you can still buy local oysters: Permitted oyster farmers are able to continue operations by using controlled floating gear designed to keep their crops safe.
Westwin heads to Natchez
Westwin Elements, the Oklahoma-based company that earlier this year tried and failed to locate a nickel refinery in Richmond Hill, has set its sights on Natchez, Mississippi. Westwin announced Monday that it plans to invest $502 million over five years to establish a nickel refinery there at the Belwood Industrial Site. The project is expected to create 134 full-time jobs at an average salary of about $84,000, according to the company’s press release. A Natchez area official hailed the announcement as a “big win,” The Natchez Democrat reports. The plan appears to echo what the company promised in Bryan County, though Westwin has scrubbed its website of any mention of its foray into Coastal Georgia. The proposal here was met with widespread public pushback and was ultimately rejected because the site was not zoned for a nickel refinery.
Also noted
- At Healthy Coastal Neighborhood’s meeting last week in Brunswick, residents met scientists from each of the five research projects Georgia’s first Superfund Research Center will support. Called the Community Oriented Action Science Translation, or COAST, the center will host more than 25 scientists from six universities, working on research ranging from flooding impacts to an expanded health study. Residents interested in participating in the health study can sign up here. You must have lived in Brunswick for at least 10 years, and you will start to receive your results in year two of the research timeline. Participants will be compensated.
- Keep an eye on a possible tropical storm forming in the Gulf, but don’t get too worried locally, advises Chuck Watson of Enki Research, a Savannah-based hazards research site. While a tropical storm is likely to impact the northern Gulf Coast next weekend, “it’s not likely to be much of a factor” for Coastal Georgia, he writes in Tuesday’s blog. As of late Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center predicted the likely formation of rip currents related to the tropical depression for the entire length of the Georgia coast today.
- Drawdown Georgia, a statewide initiative to take action on climate change, recently released a free data center toolkit for communities. It walks elected officials, local residents and business leaders from project proposal through permitting and post-approval, and it’s built to inform decisions rather than steer them: no endorsements, no opposition, no position on any specific project.
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Peek inside Georgia’s record-setting sea turtle nesting season
Georgia beaches recorded a record 4,292 loggerhead sea turtle nests this season, rebounding from a low in 2004.
Georgia extends oyster harvest closure due to unusually warm water
Georgia officials extended the annual wild oyster harvest closure beyond its usual September 30 end date due to unusually warm ocean temperatures.
Private interests overshadow stakeholders for new DNR dock rules
While a 12-member stakeholder group worked for months to craft new rules for private recreational docks in Coastal Georgia, draft regulations allowing docks up to 1,500 feet long are being shaped by behind-the-scenes lobbying from a former EPD commissioner and consultants.
New rules could double size of private docks in Coastal Georgia
Georgia officials have proposed new regulations for private recreational docks in Coastal Georgia that would allow walkways to be up to six feet wide and cover more than a tenth of an acre of marshland.
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