Our last few weeks of rain, including the precipitation brought ashore by Beryl, has been an enormous blessing. According to NOAA Weather, during the last 90 days, the St. Marys river basin has received 18 inches of much needed precipitation with 14 inches in the past 30 days. With continuing severe drought conditions looming on the horizon, low river flow volumes, and wildfire dangers worse than last summer, we may have dodged a bullet, at least in the near term. Thank you rain gods. Maybe paddling the Okefenokee is a real possibility this summer.
As Chair of the St. Marys EarthKeepers' RiverWatch Committee, my purpose for this blog is to apprise you of issues threatening the health and welfare of our River. Thanks to the vigilance of the St. Marys Earthkeepers and others, Miocene, a Texas-based company, was forced to withdraw its request to remove up to 355,00 gallons of water per day from the upper St. Marys River. The company's intention was to chemically remove the tannins from our River to produce fertilizer and return the treated water back into the River. Tannins are the decomposed remnants of pine needles and is the basis upon which the St. Marys River and many others are classified as black water rivers. Miocene's refusal to divulge the chemical by-products of the tannin extraction process released back into the River was its undoing. While the battle with Miocene may not yet be over, withdrawal of their application is a near term victory.
But threats still exist. Recently, a Jacksonville utility company requested permission to remove 150,000 gallons of water daily from the Florida aquifer to meet increased power demand from its growing customer base. Unfortunately, the Florida aquifer is part of the same ground water system that originates in the Appalachian Mountains. The water from this aquifer system bubbles up forming the swamp of the Okefenokee, which then becomes the head waters of the St. Marys River. Drawing out water directly from the aquifer downstream will clearly have effects on volume and flow of the Swamp and the River upstream. Are we now witnessing the beginnings of our own “water wars” similar to the ongoing battles between Florida, Alabama and Georgia over water rights of the Chattahoochee River? We need to be vigilant.
As a result of increased private land development, “erosion” of the Clean Water Act (CWA) - passed by Congress in 1972 to protect our health and environment by reducing pollution in streams, lakes, rivers, wetlands and other waterways - is becoming a growing threat to our pristine river. Case and point: about 30 miles up river from St. Marys waterfront is a peninsula of land jutting into the River from the Georgia side known as Cabbage Bend. Because the land floods periodically, it qualifies as wetland and, therefore, is (or should be) protected by the CWA. The owner applied to the EPA for an exemption from the CWA on the basis that the road is intended to support silvaculture (logging): a permissible activity under the CWA. However, initial analysis of the property and roadway by county, state and federal officials determined that the road was far wider and more substantially built than necessary for typical logging activity, and that the existing harvest-quality timber on the peninsula had far less value than the actual cost of building the road,. It was suspected that the design and layout of the road was intended to withstand periodic flooding and for daily travel to and from future river front homes. Despite these observations, the EPA appears prepared to grant the exemption because the intended purpose qualifies as an allowable activity. We now run the danger of this road being washed into the River as the peninsula floods, causing harmful silt build up down stream directly effecting water quality and wildlife habitat, exactly what the CWA was intended to prohibit. In my opinion, this should be considered a clear violation of the CWA.
On the National front, The Army Corps of Engineers has proposed agency guidance that will clarify which waters are covered under the Clean Water Act as “waters of the United States.” Currently, millions of acres of wetlands and streams that recharge aquifers, help retain floodwaters, provide important fish and wildlife habitat, and provide clean water for iconic systems like the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes are at risk. Also at stake are programs to restore the Everglades and coastal Louisiana. As these waters are polluted and diminished, their tremendous ecological and public health benefits are lost, as well.
Also reflective of the growing anti-regulatory, anti-governement atmosphere in Washington, Section 110 of the HR 5325 attempts to undermine our clean water future by blocking the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA Clean Water Guidance and their anticipated rulemaking. It also perpetuates a confusing regulatory status quo. The Moran-Dingell amendment strikes Section 110, allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to finalize and implement the much-needed Clean Water Act guidance.
This is an important call to action. Please call, email, tweet, or facebook your representative and urge him or her to VOTE YES ON THE MORAN-DINGELL AMENDMENT TO STRIKE SECTION 110 OF HR 5325 and safeguard America’s clean water legacy. Telephone numbers for Members of Congress can be obtained by calling (202) 224-3121. Please let Rachel Dawson at National Wildlife Federation (dawsonr@nwf.org, 202-797-6625) know if you have contacted your Representative and if there is any related feedback.
We must be vigilant to actions, both local and Federal, that threaten our River. We can not trust others to do it for us. They don't always have the public and the environment's best interests in mind. We must be proactive and knowledgeable of these threats and prepared to take action as necessary. We have and will make a difference, and we need your help. Please stay informed
