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Tag: Coastal Georgia

  • Georgia’s first Superfund research center to study toxic pollution and climate risks in Glynn County

    Georgia’s first Superfund research center to study toxic pollution and climate risks in Glynn County

    Georgia’s first Superfund research center to study toxic pollution and climate risks in Glynn County

    A new research initiative aims to answer long-standing questions about industrial pollution and its health impacts in coastal Georgia.

    As first reported by WABE, scientists from six universities are launching Georgia’s first Superfund Research Center with a $15 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The center will focus on four Superfund sites in Glynn County, including a former pesticide plant near Brunswick.

    The collaboration includes researchers from Emory University, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College and Texas Tech University.

    Emory public health professor Noah Scovronick said the project has two primary objectives: understanding the long-term health effects of past chemical exposure and finding ways to reduce future exposure for nearby communities.

    Researchers will analyze environmental samples from the area’s air, soil and water while studying how contaminants may have affected residents over time. They also plan to examine how climate change could worsen pollution risks.

    Scovronick said stronger storms, rising sea levels and higher groundwater levels could spread contaminants from Superfund sites or compromise protective barriers designed to contain hazardous materials. He said the research will help determine whether ongoing cleanup efforts can withstand increasingly severe weather.

    Community members have been involved in shaping the research from the beginning, ensuring the project addresses concerns raised by residents living near the contaminated sites.

    Among them is Brunswick resident Semona Holmes, who lives less than a mile from a former pesticide plant. She said her family avoids drinking tap water and no longer eats fish or crab caught in local waterways because of contamination concerns.

    Holmes, whose grandchildren attend a nearby elementary school, said families deserve answers about what chemicals they may have been exposed to and the potential health consequences. She also hopes the research encourages continued accountability and action from the companies responsible for the contamination, saying documenting the damage is only the first step toward protecting future generations.

  • McIntosh County voters overturn Sapelo Island zoning ordinance in Gullah Geechee referendum

    McIntosh County voters overturn Sapelo Island zoning ordinance in Gullah Geechee referendum

    McIntosh County voters overturn Sapelo Island zoning ordinance in Gullah Geechee referendum

    McIntosh County voters on Tuesday repealed a controversial zoning ordinance affecting Sapelo Island, marking a major victory for the island’s Gullah Geechee residents after a prolonged fight to preserve their community and culture. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the referendum overturns a 2023 decision by the McIntosh County Commission that allowed significantly larger homes to be built in the historic Hogg Hummock community.

    The special election capped more than two years of legal challenges, protests and organizing by residents and their supporters. AJC reports nearly 85% of voters backed the repeal, with turnout approaching a quarter of the county’s registered voters.

    The repealed ordinance had opened the door for two-story homes of up to 3,000 square feet on Sapelo Island. Many Gullah Geechee residents live in homes of about 1,400 square feet or less and warned that larger vacation homes would accelerate outside development, drive up property values and taxes, and threaten the survival of one of Georgia’s last intact Gullah Geechee communities, AJC reports.

    Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock community is home to descendants of formerly enslaved Africans who settled the island after the Civil War. Residents argued the zoning change would erode a way of life that has endured for generations.

    Supporters of the referendum relied on a rarely used provision of the Georgia Constitution that allows voters to overturn local government actions through petition. Organizers collected more than 2,300 signatures, though the effort faced multiple legal challenges before the Georgia Supreme Court allowed the vote to proceed, AJC reports.

    “I am definitely encouraged and grateful and proud of not only our community on Sapelo but the voters of McIntosh,” Josiah “Jazz” Watts, a Gullah Geechee descendant, said in an interview with AJC, calling the result a clear sign of countywide support for protecting the island’s heritage.

    Despite the decisive vote, uncertainty remains about what zoning rules now apply. Attorneys for the Gullah Geechee community argue the referendum repealed the county commission’s action but did not eliminate previous development restrictions, according to the report.

    McIntosh County Commission Chairwoman Kate Pontello Karwacki has taken a different position, saying the repeal leaves no zoning restrictions in place for Hogg Hummock. County leaders have scheduled a special meeting to determine next steps.

    A court injunction already blocks permits for homes larger than 1,400 square feet on the island, and the referendum does not change that order. AJC reports county officials have spent more than $500,000 on legal defenses and election costs tied to the zoning dispute.

  • Coastal Georgia leaders rethink water planning as supply outlook shifts

    Coastal Georgia leaders rethink water planning as supply outlook shifts

    Coastal Georgia leaders rethink water planning as supply outlook shifts

    Coastal Georgia leaders are reexamining how the region will manage water supplies as new infrastructure investments and shifts in industrial demand reshape earlier concerns.

    The Current reports that just a year ago, planners were focused on whether groundwater could support rapid industrial growth — including Hyundai’s electric vehicle plant — without leaving farmers in Bulloch County short on irrigation. Since then, the outlook has changed.

    In March, Gov. Brian Kemp advanced a $500 million state investment to increase drinking water capacity from the Savannah River. Later in the summer, International Paper announced the closure of two coastal mills, a move expected to reduce groundwater withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer by more than 20 million gallons per day, according to The Current.

    Those developments were discussed at a December meeting of the Coastal Georgia Regional Water Planning Council, which is preparing recommendations ahead of the 2027 expiration of major water withdrawal permits in Chatham, Effingham, Bryan and Liberty counties.

    Former Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach, a member of the planning council, raised concerns about how unused water permits could be handled amid rapid development inland.

    “I come off of I-16 and every farm I see is for sale for development,” DeLoach said, questioning who might ultimately gain access to water permits no longer used by shuttered industrial facilities.

    State regulators said no decisions have been made. The Current reports that officials are asking stakeholders to help shape how freed-up water should be managed.

    EPD Water Supply Program Manager Wei Zeng said the state is weighing expanded use of surface water and redistributing groundwater pumping to reduce stress on the Floridan aquifer.

    “Can we decide collectively which parties need to be on surface water and which need to be on groundwater?” Zeng said, noting that shifting pumping locations could ease saltwater intrusion affecting coastal wells.

    Zeng added that while environmental impacts to the Savannah River are expected to be low, dissolved oxygen levels in the harbor remain under review.

    Planners also discussed septic system use in fast-growing areas, wastewater reuse and saltwater intrusion in Glynn County. The advisory committee supporting the planning council is expected to reconvene in February.