New Report Shows High Mercury Levels In Fish Downstream Of Augusta

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control say that anglers should not eat any large-mouth bass caught in the portion of the Savannah River south of Augusta.

They have put up warning signs because too much mercury can cause damage to internal organs. On the Georgia side, there are no such warnings.

Sonya Bonitatibus is a spokesperson for the environmental group Savannah River Keeper. She says that Georgia trails South Carolina when it comes to warning its citizens about mercury levels in the river.

"There is nothing in law stating that they have to restrict the amounts of mercury that are being put in the Savannah River. South Carolina does recognize that there is a problem. A good way to notice that is when you go on the South Carolina side they have the fish advisory warnings, the big signs sitting there right on the boat landings. Georgia does not offer that to it’s citizens."

The data used in the report was compiled over a 3 year period and involved testing 15 different species of fish.

It shows that further up river in Augusta it’s okay to eat fish. The mercury levels are significantly lower.

The Savannah River Keeper speculates that the mercury comes from various chemical industries on the south side of town.

New Interchange On Slate

The joint Georgia-South Carolina agency building a port on the Savannah River supports a new interchange on Interstate 95 to serve the terminal. The board of the Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Project on Tuesday endorsed the $122 million interchange project. Officials say the interchange would create 4,000 construction jobs and open up hundreds of acres to commercial and residential development. The states are cooperating on a $500 million shipping terminal on the South Carolina side of the river just downstream from Savannah.

(Associated Press)

Plant Vogtle Nuclear Expansion in Hearings

The construction of two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta will be before Georgia's Public Service Commission this week.

At the same time, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also consider the plan. The NRC will begin holding hearings Monday on how the plants would affect the Savannah River. Opponents say the plan will use too much water from the river. The reactors would draw millions of gallons of water each day for its cooling towers.

But the company that manages Plant Vogtle says the reactors will use a tiny percentage of river water, returning a portion to the Savannah.

The hearing will focus on those arguments and whether dredging the river to ship in large portions of the reactors would cause environmental problems.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board begins four-day public meeting to discuss the early
site permit application for Plant Vogle at the Doubletree Hotel and Convention Center, 2651 Perimeter Parkway, Augusta.
Contacts: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 301-415-8200

Organization wants lower flows to Augusta Canal

As the region endures an ongoing drought, an organization wants to hold back water flowing from the Savannah River into the Augusta Canal.

The Friends of the Savannah River Basin say reducing flows to the Augusta Canal would keep more water in reservoirs upstream from Augusta, according to the Augusta Chronicle. The canal is used for hydroelectric power generation and drinking water in for people in the Augusta-area.

The group wants less water flowing into the canal, so more water is available for the Augusta Shoals downstream. Insufficient flows threaten endangered fish and the endangered spider lily.

Critics of the idea, though, say lower flows would potentially mean that limits on allowable wastewater discharges would be reduced, requiring big changes for industries and municipalities.

Keeping more water in the reservoirs could also benefit tourism. Tourists often find lower lake levels to be unattractive. The lower levels also makes water recreation more difficult and even potentially dangerous.

Outflows from Savannah River near Augusta are reduced

Georgia's continuing drought is causing the U-S Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the amount of water flowing down the Savannah River near Augusta.

The outflow reductions from Thurmond Dam began Monday.

Officials hope the reductions will conserve water.

"We are predicting that this drought will extend further into 2009, and we may not see any relief for a while yet," says Billy Birdwell, a spokesman for the Corps.

The flows now fall to 3100 cubic feet per second, below the 3600 that's typically required as a minimum by Georgia and South Carolina.

The drop could possibly affect the shortnose sturgeon, an endangered species.

It also means a reduction in the amount of electricity produced by municipalities and electric cooperatives. To deal with that issue, the utilities have bought power from outside sources.

The reductions last only through January, and may continue through February, depending on how the sturgeon are affected.

Georgia asks for reduction of flows from Savannah River

The state of Georgia is asking that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reduce the amount of flow from the Savannah River downstream from Thurmond Dam.

The river stretches along the Georgia-South Carolina border.

Officials would lower the flow to 3100 cubic feet per second. The current flow, 3600 cubic feet per second, is the minimum allowed by both states. South Carolina "concurs" with Georgia's request, according to a Corps spokesman.

The reduction would conserve water in the three reservoirs there, reservoirs which are greatly depleted by the ongoing drought, say officials.

If approved by the Corps, the reduction would happen from November through February.

Officials expect that the drought in the Augusta area will worsen sometime next year unless there is a sustained period of rain.

The Corps is conducting an expedited environmental assessment, and is seeking public comment on the matter by October 27.

For more information, go to www.sas.usace.army.mil.

Drought affecting tourism along upper Savannah River basin

The drought and dropping lake levels have affected tourism in eastern Georgia.

J. Strom Thurmond Lake, in Clarks Hill, South Carolina, near Augusta, typically draws about six million tourists a year. It is one of the largest and most popular of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers parks in the country.

But lake levels are about eight feet lower since this time last summer, making the lake less attractive and recreation potentially more dangerous.

And, about 15 of the lake's 33 boat ramps are closed.

"There are a lot fewer people in the picnic areas. There's almost no one using the swim beaches because all of those beaches are out of the water," says Jay Weidman, a park ranger at the lake.

The drought has left tree stumps and rocks exposed, affecting boaters. Swimmers outside of the "swim beaches" need to watch for drop offs, holes and stumps.

"Probably the biggest word to remember is common sense," says Weidman. "Keep your wits about you when you're out there and don't do something crazy."

The number of campers in the park next to the lake remains steady.

The lake is a part of the upper Savannah River basin. It's level hovered at 316.14 feet above sea level on Tuesday. Lake Hartwell, which is also located along the Savannah, dropped to 646 feet on Monday, triggering a more serious drought designation for the area by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The designation moved from level two to level three.

Officials urge caution for people using the lakes along the Savannah River.

Augusta area hits Drought Level 3

The Augusta area has reached a more serious drought designation.

The region along the upper Savannah River Basin moved from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' drought level two to level three at about 2 p.m. on Monday. It happened when Lake Hartwell's level dropped to 646 feet above sea level.

The new drought level means the Corps can only release 3600 cubic feet of water per second into the Savannah River.

The Corps has been releasing that amount voluntarily, anyway, since 2007, to try and slow the drop in water levels.

The main concern right now is for people who use the lake for recreation. The lower levels make boating and other activities more dangerous.

The Corps expects levels to continue dropping, unless there's a sustained period of tropical weather.

EPD considers tougher standards for Savannah River

State officials say there's not enough dissolved oxygen in the Savannah River.

So Georgia's Environmental Protection Division is considering standards that may limit the amount of pollutants discharged along the river.

The EPD says the depletion of the dissolved oxygen could harm fish, such as the striped bass and the endangered sturgeon, in the Savannah River.

They've held public hearings in Augusta and Savannah, and will hold one in Atlanta on Monday.

Scientists say the dissolved oxygen breaks down the pollutants, like biochemicals, ammonia or other substances, found in industrial and municipal wastewater discharges.

But officials from the state's Environmental Protection Division say those discharges are too high, and are depleting the oxygen.

The EPD's proposed standards could lead to tougher restrictions on the discharges.

That could be expensive for the 64 cities and companies that own the wastewater treatment plants along the Savannah River.

"Our community has a lot of low income folks in it," says Allen Saxon, the assistant director for wastewater treatment for the Augusta utilities department. "Our community has a lot of low income folks in it. It could raise the rates to our users if we have to do this right away."

Saxon attended the public hearing in Augusta on Thursday.

The EPD's proposed standard sets an expectation for how much of the dissolved oxygen should be in the water. Any limitations expected of companies and municipalites would follow. The EPD could consider variances or schedules for them to comply.

As the public reviews the EPD standards, there is disagreement among the EPD and wastewater treatment plant owners on whether the the discharges upstream, such as in Augusta, have caused the lack of oxygen in the Savannah Harbor.

The EPD expects the standards to be finalized by December.

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.

New drought low for lake

As Georgia's drought continues, an east Georgia lake is expected to hit a five-year low. Thurmond Lake in Augusta could reach that low within 10 days. That would trigger a Level 3 drought classification. Under that category, water from Lake Hartwell would be moved to Thurmond to keep up minimum necessary flows to communities downstream along the Savannah River.

Marina dispute could affect coastal growth

Michael DeMell, environmental consultant to Cumberland Harbour development, stands on a newly constructed dock that comes off a deep water lot in St. Marys, Ga. The marina and housing development takes up part of a peninsula frequented by northern right whales. (Stephen Morton / AP file)

A legal fight over whether the law protecting Georgia marshlands can extend to residential developments on dry land is headed to the state Supreme Court, which could set a precedent imposing tougher standards on construction near salt marshes along Georgia's 100-mile coast.

The court will hear arguments Monday in a dispute between environmentalists and the developer of Cumberland Harbour, a 1,014-acre gated subdivision built on a peninsula surrounded by marsh in Camden County near the Georgia-Florida border.

The developer, the Land Resource Companies, was granted a state permit in 2005 to build two marinas and three community docks at Cumberland Harbour. They would make up the largest marina complex in Georgia with more than 17,500 linear feet of floating docks.

View Larger Map

Opponents have tied up the project in court ever since, arguing state regulators granted the marina permit without considering potential harm to the marsh from polluting stormwater runoff from the entire development - including homes built on the peninsula's uplands.

It will be the first time the state Supreme Court has considered whether development on land, rather than in the marsh itself, is covered by safeguards in the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. The regulatory committee that issues permits says it lacks that authority under the law.

"It's a big deal because there's been a wholesale failure of government to protect the marsh other than to keep it from being filled in," said Gordon Rogers, the Satilla riverkeeper and one of the plaintiffs in the case. "The act is broader than how they're using it."

The 1970 state law was passed to protect Georgia's 378,000 acres of marshland, about a third of the total on the East Coast, from destruction. Salt marshes serve as wildlife habitat, help shield coastlines against flooding and erosion, and feed marine animals miles offshore with their decaying grasses.

The law requires a regulatory permit for any development "on or over marshlands." Attorneys for Land Resource, as well as Georgia's attorney general, say the only upland construction the law has been applied to are portions of marinas such as fuel tanks, storage buildings and parking lots.

"We are confident in the correctness of our legal argument that (the law) was not intended to and does not regulate the uplands residential development at Cumberland Harbour," said Patricia Barmeyer, an attorney for the developer.

Part of the area to be developed. (Courtesy Livesouth.com)

One of the law's authors, former state Rep. Reid W. Harris of St. Simons Island, also insists it would be a stretch to apply the marshlands act to homes on dry land. Harris, a retired lawyer, filed a brief with the Supreme Court saying the law wouldn't have passed had legislators feared it would restrict private property rights.

Stephen O'Day, an attorney working on the case with the Southern Environmental Law Center, argues the marinas are an integral piece of the overall Cumberland Harbour subdivision.

O'Day points to ponds on the property designed to collect stormwater runoff from all parts of the development - including the marinas. The ponds then filter out pollutants before piping the water back onto land. Some of that stormwater, O'Day says, will flow into the marsh. But how much comes from the marinas?

"You can't separate out the stormwater discharge from the marina and other stormwater discharge from the project," O'Day said. "It's all one stormwater system."

He also notes the Marshlands Protection Act gives state regulators power over any activity that would drain, fill in "or otherwise alter" Georgia marshlands. Because stormwater runoff can upset the delicate salinity balance of salt marshes, O'Day says, it should be considered an alteration.

Other Georgia developers and coastal landowners are watching the case.

The Sea Island Company, the Georgia-based owner and developer of coastal luxury resorts, says applying the marshlands act to upland development would be "grossly onerous and unfair" to property owners.

"The impact of this would be staggering," a Sea Island attorney wrote in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, saying the state would become "regulators of land-disturbing activities on hundreds of thousands if not millions of acres in Georgia's coastal region."

The Cumberland Harbour marina proposals stirred controversy not just because of their size, but also because of their location.

The marinas would launch hundreds of pleasure boats in waters within two miles of federally protected Cumberland Island. Endangered right whales migrate to those waters every winter to birth their calves. Researchers believe only 300 to 350 of the rare whales still exist, and collisions with ships and boats is their No. 1 killer.

An administrative law judge in 2006 sent the Cumberland Harbour marina permit back to state regulators, saying they hadn't properly assessed the threat to right whales and other protected species such as manatees and sea turtles. The judge also ruled regulators had to consider the impact of the "entire project" on the marsh, including upland homes.

Last year, the Georgia Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the lower court on the residential construction issue, saying that interpretation was too broad. One of the judges urged legislators to expand the scope of the law.

The Supreme Court's ruling won't be the final word on whether Cumberland Harbour can build its marinas. Regardless of the outcome, regulators will still have to settle issues related to protected species from the 2006 judicial ruling.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of statewide environmental issues.

(The Associated Press)

Olin Corporation mercury remediation plan drawing controversy

Environmental groups in Georgia worry that a plan to contain mercury at a chemical plant might be dangerous.

Olin Corporation in Augusta uses mercury to produce chlorine.

Mercury is toxic, especially to a fetus.

Company officials say it's in the sediment of a drainage canal at the plant.

In an effort to contain the mercury, they want to cover the canal with a special plastic material, soil and grass, and close the mouth of the canal with a double steel sheet piled wall.

They then want to use an existing pipe to discharge wastewater with mercury into the Savannah River.

But some environmental groups worry that the plan would only shift contamination to sediment in the river, making the situation worse.

"The microorganisms in the sediments convert that mercury to methyl mercury...The methyl mercury works its way up the food chain...and it contaminates the fish...so eating the fish is the problem," said Frank Carl, director of the Savannah Riverkeeper.

Olin says it plans to discharge only a third of what the federal government considers a safe level of mercury.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is reviewing Olin's mercury remediation plan, which a company offcial say is voluntary.

Governor addresses statewide water plan in Augusta

With a population boom in metro Atlanta people in Augusta worry that the statewide water plan will dry up their water supply in eastern Georgia.

Governor Sonny Perdue sought to quash those concerns today.

"Look closely and read my lips: You have nothing to fear," Perdue told a small gathering of community leaders and media at the Daniel Field airport in Augusta on Wednesday. His stop here with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R) and House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) is part of a two-day series of press conferences across the state to promote their legislative agenda.

People in the Augusta area worry that the water plan plan might make it easier for metro Atlanta to raid the Savannah River, which is the area's main water supply.

The governor says the water plan does not authorize or even suggest that interbasin transfers would happen.

He also says the transfers would not be feasible.

But he stopped short of ruling them out completely.

"We can't preclude everything in our state that we might be paranoid about," he said. "A statewide water plan doesn't mean a plan imposed on every community. It means a structure and protocol that would empower local communities within commonly held topography or watersheds to make the decisions that are in their best interest."

There are also concerns over how each district in the water would be designed, and how the plan would be funded.

GA-SC port gets approval from Palmetto State

A joint partnership deal between Georgia and South Carolina to build a port on the Savannah River is now one-third approved. The South Carolina State Ports Authority has okayed the deal on their side by unanimous vote. The deal still needs the "yes" vote from the Georgia Ports Authority--meeting next week--and Georgia's Department of Transportation. The DOT owns the land in South Carolina where the port is to be built, across the river from Savannah in Jasper County.

Georgia and South Carolina announce plans for Savannah River port

The Governors of Georgia and South Carolina today announced an agreement putting more detail into a plan to develop a new port on the Savannah River.

The 11-page agreement forms a bi-state joint project office to get the port up-and-running. The office will be responsible for the nuts and bolts of finding the port’s exact location, getting the permits to build it, and developing the business plan. Those tasks will cost about $6 million. As to how long it will take, before the first ship docks, Governor Sonny Perdue could only guess:

“Well, I think these are all projections, but from the permitting side, to the construction side, those kinds of things, we’re probably talking about four or five years plus. Again, I think both states are committed to moving very aggressively here.”

Officials said today the land to build the port would cost about $9 million. That land is owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation, but is in South Carolina. Under the agreement, the port will be owned jointly by the two states’ port authorities.

South Carolina to buy part of Jasper Co. shipping terminal

According to a proposal being negotiated by Georgia and South Carolina, the states’ ports authorities will jointly own the site of a shipping terminal at the mouth of the Savannah River. A South Carolina newspaper reports the ports authorities would purchase the land in Jasper County on the South Carolina side of the river for about $10 million dollars. The Georgia Ports Authority currently owns the land. Officials estimate it could take at least five years and more than $600 million dollars to make the first phase of the port operational.

Plans for GA-SC joint terminal ownership

A proposal being hammered-out by the governors of Georgia and South Carolina says the states' ports authorities will jointly own the site for a shipping terminal planned at the Savannah River. Details from The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina say the ports authorities will buy Jasper County land for 10-million dollars. That land is currently owned by Georgia's Department of Transportation. Negotiations on the project have been ongoing since March for the planned 500-million dollar shipping terminal.

Georgia EPD dismisses outsourcing Atlanta water

A persistent drought has Atlanta's Mayor eyeing water across the border, but Georgia officials say they have no plans to try to tap the Tennessee River. The drought in the Southeast has sapped federal reservoirs in northern Georgia, including 38,000-acre Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta. With less than three months before the lake is depleted, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin suggested recently the region explore piping in water from the Tennessee or Savannah Rivers. The director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, Carol Couch, said, "The state of Georgia has no plans to pursue such an idea."

Augustans react to state water plan

Residents and politicians in Augusta are worried that a proposal for long-term water management in Georgia may hurt water resources in their area. In a public hearing on Monday in Augusta, many voiced concerns that the plan may easily allow water transfers out of the Savannah River basin to supply water for metropolitan Atlanta, potentially threatening water resources in eastern Georgia. State officials are holding 12 public hearings across the state this month on its draft comprehensive statewide water management plan. They expect to bring the plan before legislators early next year.