EPD: Actually, About That PFOA Testing...

For ten months, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division publicly said it was testing Northwest Georgia drinking water for a likely carcinogenic chemical. But now, the EPD says it never tested for PFOA in drinking water intakes.

The revelation comes after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set a drinking water advisory for PFOA.

The chemical is found in high amounts in the Conasauga River, a source of drinking water for Northwest Georgia, including Rome. After a series of critical media stories were aired and published, the EPD announced it would test drinking water intakes for the compound. And for the past ten months, officials confirmed testing would take place.

Now, the project manager, Jeremy Smith, tells GPB there has been “a mix-up,” and that another EPD official misspoke. No further explanation was given. The EPD has no plans to test the drinking water.

The agency is still testing fish pulled from the river for PFOA, and those results are expected by spring.

11th Hour PFOA Advisory Issued by Bush Administration

Before leaving office, Bush administration officials issued a first-ever advisory on how much PFOA, a likely carcinogen, should be in drinking water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says drinking water should contain only .4 parts per-billion of PFOA.The likely carcinogen has been found in concentrations as high as five-parts per-billion in Northwest Georgia's Conasauga River, a drinking water source to Rome and other communities.

The chemical compound gets in the river from a spray field operated by energy provider Dalton Utilities.The advisory, however, is not mandatory and Dalton Utilities says, it won't take any action on it until told to do so by the company's permitting authority, the state Environmental Protection Division.

So far, the EPD hasn't commented on the federal advisory, a first of its kind. Other states, including Minnesota, have put even stricter limits on PFOA, measuring its acceptable levles in parts per trillion.

For all of GPB's coverage of PFOA in the Conasauga, log onto:
http://www.gpb.org/georgiagazette/conasauga

Fishing Advisory Possible On Parts of Conasauga

A spokesman for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division says a fishing advisory could be issued for the Conasauga River in Northwest Georgia. That's if a report showing high levels of a likely carcinogen is confirmed.

The EPD expects their testing of four sites on the Conasauga to be completed by the end of the month.

This is the first time the EPD has publicly raised the possibility of a fishing advisory since a University of Georgia study showed high levels of PFOA contamination in the river in January. PFOA, or C-8, as it’s also called, is a chemical produced during carpet finishing. It is also used for other applications, such as Teflon.

The US Environmental Protection Agency calls PFOA a “likely carcinogen.” It ends up in the river through a sewage spray field in Whitfield County. Jeremy Smith, a project manager for the EPD, says it would be premature to consider other regulatory measures until further studies are completed. And that research, which is expensive, would come only if necessary. However, Smith says a fishing advisory may be needed.

"If they're [PFOA LEVELS] around those concentrations that Minnesota listed as potentially harmful, if they are, that [fishing advisory] could happen.”

The UGA study showed levels in the Conasauga are two times higher than Minnesota's allowable standard in ground water. As GPB reported earlier this year, internal documents show US EPA sampling found PFOA levels higher than the UGA study.

You can view GPB's extensive reporting on PFOA contamination in the Conasauga by clicking here: http://www.gpb.org/georgiagazette/conasauga

Georgia EPD considers toughened regulations on chemical discharges into Savannah River

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is reviewing a proposal to limit chemical discharges into the Savannah River from industries and cities.

Dissolved oxygen breaks down chemical pollutants in the Savannah River.

The pollutants come from 64 industrial and municipal wastewater treatment sites and their levels are so high, they're using up the oxygen.

That, in turn, means more chemicals in the water. And that can kill fish.

The EPD is holding public hearings on their proposal in Augusta on Thursday, Savannah on Friday and Atlanta on Monday.

"These discharges are too high, so we're going to have to look at a way to re-parcel the pie," says Jeff Larson, of the EPD.

The depletion of dissolved oxygen is threatening striped bass and the endangered sturgeon in the Savannah Harbor.

Water war study held up by Congress

Georgia's top environmental official says the three states battling over water shouldn't wait for Congress to pay for a study. Instead, Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch, says Georgia, Florida, and Alabama should pay for it. The three states have been fighting over water-sharing for decades. Officials believe an independent study of the waterways could help resolve the dispute.

Builders still banking on SW Georgia power plant

LS Power, the company seeking to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia, says it will appeal a recent court ruling that halted construction.

Mike Vogt, project director with LS Power told the Dothan Eagle newspaper,

“We’re 100 percent committed to staying the course to begin construction.”

In a landmark ruling on June 30, the Fulton County Superior Court reversed an earlier administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit that had okayed the $1.2 billion project in Early County.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.

LS Power will appeal the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals in August.

Proponents say the project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.

A group of area residents and environmentalists fighting the project say the plant will emit unchecked amounts of carbon dioxide, harmful amounts of dust, and other pollutants.

The Longleaf Power Plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last two decades.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the issues at stake in the case.

EPA Emails Show PFOA Levels Five Times Higher than Previously Reported, Researchers Also Skeptical of Carpet Industry Claims

According to emails obtained by GPB through a Freedom of Information Act request, EPA researchers found PFOA levels in “water from Dalton” at levels of five parts per billion (ppb). The emails do not specify where the sample was gathered.

A previous study showed PFOA to be present in the Conasauga river that runs through Whitfield County at about 1 ppb.

The EPA classifies PFOA as a “likely carcinogen.” Studies have linked the chemical to cancer in lab animals, fish, and prostate cancer in humans.

Both levels found in the Conasauga are higher than what some other states with PFOA contamination allow.

The Conasauga eventually joins another river to form the Oostanaula, which is a source of drinking water for the cities of Calhoun and Rome.

PFOA comes from the manufacturing of carpet. Carpet executives have told GPB the compound is a manufacturing byproduct.

Yet, in the emails obtained by GPB, a PFOA expert at the EPA, is skeptical. In 2006, John Washington, who is based in Athens, wrote “While the industry has claimed that PFOA is an unintended impurity, I now suspect that it has been intended---or at least very onvenient---because it helps to stabilize the …particles.”

Meanwhile, sources working on a PFOA water monitoring project with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division say their work “is being held up.” Georgia EPD announced the plan to test for PFOA in drinking water sources earlier this year. However, these sources told GPB the sampling is being bogged down because there are questions of whether EPD has the testing standards in place to acquire accurate results.

The sampling is considered a first step in establishing the severity of PFOA contamination in the Conasauga.

Drought relief legislation now law

Governor Sonny Perdue signed the Water Conservation and Drought Relief Act of 2008, SB 342. The legislation will expedite the construction of new reservoirs throughout the state.

The Water Conservation and Drought Relief Act of 2008 brings state agencies together to ease reservoir construction and expansion. The Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will assist local governments' efforts to expedite aspects of permitting for new reservoir applications. This legislation creates a Water Supply Division (WSD) and establishes the Georgia Reservoir Fund (GRF) within GEFA.

The WSD will assist local governments with the reservoir and water supply permitting process in coordination with EPD. The WSD may also plan, design, acquire, construct, operate, manage and maintain new reservoirs on behalf of local governments. The GRF will be used for allocating the reservoir and water system infrastructure funds recommended by the Governor and approved by the General Assembly.

Initial funding for the Georgia Reservoir Fund was included in the Amended FY 2008 and FY 2009 budgets. In the Amended FY 2008 budget, Governor Perdue recommended, and the General Assembly appropriated, $40 million in grants for local governments to develop reservoirs. In the FY 2009 budget, the Governor recommended, and the General Assembly approved, $30 million in loans for local governments.

The legislation also seeks to minimize government expansion by requiring the WSD to use existing staff and the private sector to fulfill its mission. One final provision of this legislation emphasizes the importance of water-efficient products by extending the same sales tax break to qualified water-saving items during the upcoming sales tax holiday.

Chemicals in the Conasauga

The Environmental Protection Division may be testing drinking water sources across the state for a chemical used to make stain resistant carpet; this comes after a study that found high levels of the man-made chemical in a north Georgia river.

For two years, University of Georgia scientists have been monitoring the Conasauga River for traces of a chemical called PFOA likely to cause cancer. They found it in very high amounts.

The river surrounds a wastewater treatment site where millions of gallons of water containing PFOA are sprayed. It is supposed to break down in the soil, but the study shows it doesn’t.

In response to the study, the EPD could begin testing this summer for the chemical in lakes across Georgia. Liz Booth monitors rivers and streams for the EPD. Booth said, "One of our engineers came down and talked to us about this article and concern with elevated PFOA’s in the Conesauga River, and we do have supplemental money that we can use to monitor sediment in lakes of drinking water intakes."

The testing does not include rivers in the Conasauga system, however. Scientists said the water flowing downstream of the river should be tested and not to eat fish coming out of those waters.

Local officials slam state water plan

Shoal-marker and vegetation, both once submerged in West Point Lake, show extent of drought. (file photo/Dave Bender)

An eleventh hour change in the plan seeks to allocate water according to so-called “service delivery regions,” and not by watershed.

That concept didn't sit well with Bob Tant, Columbus Water Works vice-president:

"They introduced this change right at the last minute, and it was such a major change, it almost begs anyone who follows this process to have to bail out on the plan."

Critics decried what they say was a lack of local influence in decision-making. They fear the water plan serves political and business needs of Atlanta, more than those of communities downstream.

About 40 officials and experts attended the final round of these statewide meeting.

The final draft will go before the state legislature in January.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the water crisis.

Water Council Holds Last Policy Draft Session

Once-floating boat dock, now high and dry at West Point Lake, due to drought. (File /Dave Bender)

A series of public meetings on the statewide water plan wraps up today. The plan was drafted by the Georgia Water Council, under the direction of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division.

The agency's asking for public input in this last round of meetings, one of which will be in Columbus.

Community leaders outside Metro Atlanta have long-criticized what they view as the capital's water-guzzling policies. They fear that the water plan favors metro Area.

But the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has countered that notion saying the proposed Water plan does not make preferences.

The water Council will submit the final draft to the state legislature when they convene in January. The plan asks for 30 million dollars to actually plan some more, so that Georgia can avoid critical water shortages experienced in North Georgia right now.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the water crisis.

EPD opens Columbus office

EPD districts and offices.
The State Environmental Protection Division has opened a new field office in Columbus.

Officials told reporters that the new office is located at the Cunningham Center on the Columbus State University campus. The bureau will aid them in in serving area residents and monitoring environmental issues in the West Central District area. The district's central office is in Macon.

On June 28th, 2007, the EPD submitted a "Draft Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan" to the Water Council. Details of the plan are viewable here. More information about the EPD's activities is available at their website.

More GPB News coverage of the EPD is here, and on the water crisis, here.

Waste-processing plant fighting closure order

The EPD and a Jackson County waste-processing company went head-to-head in court on Tuesday over whether their plant should be shut down.

The Environmental Protection Division ordered the waste-treatment plant in Talmo, north of Athens to stop taking in grease and poultry remains in late August, citing health ordinance violations going back to 2005.

The facility's owner appealed that decision. They charge that they should be allowed to remain open until a final ruling, expected in November.

On Tuesday, the EPD argued before a superior court judge that the Agri-Cycle facility should remain closed for the interim.

Local residents complain that contamination of nearby Allen Creek and smells from the three-year-old plant are making their lives unbearable.

The judge's decision is expected within a few weeks.

Click here for more GPB coverage of events surrounding the facility.

Tougher EPA proposed standards could challenge Georgia

Federal officials proposed tougher ozone standards Thursday. If adopted, Georgia would face an uphill climb to meet them.

The Enviromental Protection Agency has proposed that states cut ground level smog, or ozone levels, by up to 12-percent.

Kevin Green is executive director of the Clean Air Campaign. He says Georgia has no choice but to step-up and meet the challenge:

"Breathing is not optional, and air quality standards are set-up so they can be revisited. I think everybody's in favor of sound science influencing good policy decisions…and I think the process just needs to play out".

The state's Enviromental Protection Division Air Protection branch chief recently said she'd like to see more time given to the current standards.

In Georgia with tougher rules, Augusta and Columbus would be in trouble meeting air quality standards, joining metro Atlanta, Macon, and northwest areas of the state already in non-compliance.

Federal officials will public hearings over the next few months on the proposed standards. A final proposal wouldn't come until next year.

Harris Cty. bans outside watering

The Harris County Water Works has placed a ban on all forms of outside water use until further notice.

The step comes one day after a public meeting in Columbus held by the Georgia State Environmental Protection Division, where the agency outlined a comprehensive state water management proposal.

Some 150 residents, state water officials and legislators commented on the plan, in a discussion session held at Columbus State University.

“I find that in the process of legislation, this is not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an issue of those of us who are south of Atlanta and those that are north of Atlanta,” State Senator Seth Harp (R) told the group.

A series of local citizens and farmers, conservationists and eco-activists, business leaders, teachers and children cautioned against a part of the plan that would divert more water from the Chattahoochee River to Atlanta's growing needs, at the cost of downstream communities and ecosystems.

Tracy Spencer, board director of Chattahoochee River Watch said his group opposed so-called “inter-basin transfers,” saying they should not be considered an option in a statewide water plan.

The session is one of a series of meetings the State Environmental Protection Division is holding throughout Georgia.

The EPD wants to gather input and gauge the proposal's impact before a legislative vote on the plan next January.