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Spring/Summer 2002 Newsletter
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Center Takes Steps to Protect Coastal Rivers, Fisheries
On April 3 the Center for a Sustainable Coast sent a set of recommendations
to a state study committee that is charged with developing Georgia water
policies. These recommendations follow two previous actions by the Center
defending coastal resources, including a water quality petition filed with
the Georgia Board of Natural Resources in late November and a subsequent
letter to the Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The Center is also among a group of organizations calling for a moratorium
on power plant permits in Georgia, pending a report by the Governoršs Energy
Policy Task Force later this year. Power generation is the single largest
water user in the state, even larger than agriculture and industry. Power
plants that burn coal and oil also produce mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin.
These actions take on added significance in light of the recent announcement
by American Rivers, which proclaimed that the Altamaha is the nationšs
seventh most endangered river.
In its recommendations, the Center called for stronger measures for
evaluating new proposals to use water and for enforcing safeguards already
in state and federal laws. Specifically, the focus of the proposal, entitled
"Improving Protection of Coastal Water Resources" covered four main topics:
1. Make more extensive use of information and scientific expertise in
evaluating environmental permits under various programs.
2. Minimize flow disruptions in river systems.
3. Restore wetland functions and provide adequate buffers to protect water
quality.
4. Consider potential impacts on all down-stream users when making permit
decisions by applying the precautionary principle.
In explaining the recommendations, the Center advised that the state should
ensure that no new uses unwisely divert or consume water flowing to the
coast, where this flow is needed to support fisheries.
"Even before the current period of drought, salinity in the inter-tidal
areas of coastal rivers had been increasing, putting various species of fish
at risk, especially in their earlier life stages. Remaining fresh water
flowing into Georgia's estuary system is needed to retain the function of
this highly valuable habitat, which supports thousands of jobs in commercial
and recreational fishing and seafood processing. The economic importance of
these coastal resources is on the order of $1 billion annually, and putting
them at further risk by reducing river flow is directly contrary to the
public interest."
The Center executive director, David Kyler, said that this destructive trend
of increasing salinity is attributable to several factors, including the
depletion of freshwater wetlands by forestry, agriculture, and urban
development, as well as excessive withdrawal of groundwater by industry.
Recommendations advised policymakers that restoration of at least some of
these lost wetlands and wider buffers along waterways are essential to help
protect against further decline in valuable coastal resources.
Actions being proposed by the Center are needed as Georgiašs growth imposes
increasing burden on natural systems that are not being adequately protected
under current practices. "Long-term public interests will be best served by
state and local governments learning to regulate the use of resources within
sustainable limits of natural processes. The sooner these actions are
taken, the less Georgia taxpayers will ultimately have to pay for improved
water resources," the Center declared.
Water resource recommendations are posted on the Center's website
[www.sustainablecoast.org] and on the website of the Comprehensive Water
Plan Study Committee [www.cviog.uga.edu//water].
ACTION ALERT!!!
*** URGENT & TIME SENSITIVE ***
Our friends at Georgia AirKeepers Campaign, with whom the Center is working
on air quality issues, have asked that we enroll support for the CLEAN POWER
ACT (Senate Bill 556) to help reduce pollution, such as the mercury
contamination of fish described above, by as much as 90%! Over time, it
would require every power plant to meet the most recent pollution control
standards, erasing the 'grandfather' loophole that exempts dirty plants.
Please call or send your statement supporting this bill to both senators
today!
Senator Max Cleland phone: 202-224-3521
fax: 202-224-0072
Senator Zell Miller phone: 202-224-3643
fax: 202-228-2090
Please take action now! |
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