WWALS Watershed Coalition is Suwannee Riverkeeper

Clean downstream, Withlacoochee River 2020-12-10; odd Gibson Park, Suwannee River 2020-12-05 Despite Adel’s Monday spill and a Valdosta water main burst Wednesday, all Withlacoochee River water quality results through Thursday are clean. Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend! Of course, there could be rain and something washed in then, but none is currently predicted. All the WWALS beaches are green on Swim Guide. We did get an odd result at Gibson Park on the S...uwannee River last Saturday, though. Josh and Angela Duncan got pretty clean results at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps Thursday, December 10, 2020. Madison Health got clean at State Line, Sullivan Launch, and FL 6 Tuesday, and Valdosta got clean results at US 41, GA 133, and US 84 Monday and Wednesday. For context and the entire WWALS composite spreadsheet of Georgia and Florida water quality results, rainfall, and spills, see: https://wwals.net/issues/testing/ Fortunately, whatever has been getting into the Withlacoochee River upstream of GA 133 did not repeat this week (at least through Wednesday), although it was bad last Friday. Everybody including the Lowndes County Sheriff, Lowndes County Utilities, Valdosta Utilities, and of course WWALS, is looking for the culprits. Once again Suzy Hall got odd results at Gibson Park on the Suwannee River, just upstream from the Alapaha River Confluence. One Petrifilm out of three showed many colonies of E. coli. Last time she tested there, her Petrifilms showed an odd color that after much discussion we all determined to be background coliforms, not E. coli. Something odd is going on in the Suwannee River upstream from Gibson Park. However, downstream of both the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers at Anderson Spring Launch, Suzy got zero E. coli; can’t be better than that. Here’s a map showing these rivers from Tifton in the upper left to Anderson Spring Landing bottom center. https://wwals.net//clean-downstream-withlacoochee-river-2/

Adel spill, 9,000 gallons, W. 9th St. @ Joy St., into Morrison Creek, Little River 2020-12-07 Adel spilled 9,000 gallons of raw sewage Monday, from its sewage collection system, due to equipment failure. Although downstream from that sewage is the Little River between Cook County Boat Ramp and Folsom Bridge Landing, apparently it had little or no effect on the Withlacoochee River. According to the December 11, 2020, GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report,... the location was 807 W 9th St. Google street view clearly shows what looks like an Adel sewage station past the end of W 9th St. on Williams Investment Company land near I-75. According to the report it went into Morris Creek. Apparently that means Morrison Creek, but I’ve named the little branch across I-75 Morris Creek. That goes into Morrison Creek, then into Wells Mill Creek, then into the Little River downstream of Cook County Boat Ramp @ GA 76 and Pine Bluff. Which is only about 4 river miles upstream from Folsom Bridge Landing @ GA 122. Which is 25 river miles upstream from Troupville Boat Ramp @ GA 133, which is about 2,000 feet upstream from the Withlacoochee River. The first place anybody was testing downstream Monday was US 84, and Valdosta got very clean results there that day, and only slightly elevated on Wednesday. Madison Health got clean results downstream Tuesday, ditto WWALS Thursday. So apparently Adel’s sewage had little effect once it got to the Withlacoochee River. Still, it would be better if Adel did not spill. Also if it reported to GA-EPD in fewer than four days after the spill. At least Adel reported a location specific enough to see the most likely site. https://wwals.net//adel-spill-9000-gallons-w-9th-st-joy-s/

Okefenokee, Light Parade, Mayor’s Paddle Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James radio 2020-12-14 Monday morning at 7AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the Solstice Light Parade at Banks Lake that Saturday, the Mayor’s Paddle in early February, and how you can ask the Georgia governor to stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, and ask him to stop that wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it.... We’ll probably also talk about water trails, water quailty testing, and who knows what else. https://wwals.net//okefenokee-light-parade-mayors-paddle-/

WLRWT Road Signs by GDOT 2020-12-10 Yesterday I picked up some of the signposts for the at-water signs for the water trails. The road signs had just come in, and GDOT let me photograph them. Here are two examples: [Two examples]... That’s more or less how they will look once GDOT plants them on signposts along the roadsides for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT). Pictures of all the road signs are on the WWALS website: https://wwals.net/pictures/2020-12-10wlrwt-road-signs There are actually two typos, one for which GDOT is reprinting the signs, and another that is not so serious. Can you spot them? All of these road signs go on the Little River, except this one, which goes on the Withlacoochee River: [Youngs Mill Creek Landing, left] They actually will be planted in pairs, one pointing left, the other right, depending on which direction you’re coming from. Thanks to the Georgia Department of Transportation Sign office in Tifton, Georgia, for making these signs, and for the signposts. Thanks again to the Cook County Commission and County Clerk Vicki Parrish for authorizing WWALS purchasing those items from GDOT. Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for a Recreational Trails Program Educational Grant which paid most of the cost of these signs. All the other WLRWT road signs go in Lowndes County, and Lowndes County Public Works is making those, some already planted. You can help make up the match for the GA-DNR grant by donating: https://www.gagives.org/story/Wwalswatertrailsigns There are no new signs for the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT), because WWALS already paid for and GDOT made and planted those years ago, but you can help defray the costs for those, too; see above. Meanwhile, with the signposts and nuts and bolts I got yesterday, WWALS volunteers will start planting the other signs, the at-water signs, which were also purchased using the GA-DNR grant. https://wwals.net//12/11/wlrwt-road-signs-by-gdot-2020-12/

Waterkeepers Florida Against FDEP Assumption of Army Corps CWA 404 permitting 2020-11-02 Waterkeepers Florida, representing all fourteen Waterkeepers of Florida, wrote to U.S. EPA and FDEP yesterday objecting to FDEP’s plan to take over water permitting from the Army Corps of Engineers. FDEP hasn’t even kept up with the responsibilities it has, and is in no way prepared to take on a much heavier load. Suwannee Riverkeeper voted for this letter, which was also signed by many o...ther organizations, including OSFR and Paddle Florida. Please vote today for people who will support clean water. [Opposition and Addendum Letters] The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)’s list of waterways it plans to assume (see FDEP’s Appendix A) omits numerous navigable waterways previously listed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Checking all the Florida rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico, I found that most of them were included by FDEP, except not the Suwannee River or its tributaries (many creeks, Lake Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe, New, Ichetucknee, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, and Withlacoochee (north) Rivers), not the Withlacoochee (south) River nor its tributaries such as the Rainbow River, and not the Ochlockonee River nor its tributaries, such as Lake Talquin. I added 30 Suwannee River Basin waterways and 24 others to the Waterkeepers Florida list of missing waterways, which is the main subject of the Addendum letter (see PDF). The Addendum also contains copies of several letters previously sent to FDEP: an opposition letter similar to the one to EPA, a request for Public Hearings, and a request that online rulemaking hearings be discontinued until the pandemic allows holding them in person. Opposition Letter Here is a transcription of the letter to EPA. See also the PDF. Don’t forget to vote for clean water. https://wwals.net//waterkeepers-florida-against-fdep-assu/

Bad Knights Ferry water quality, Withlacoochee River 2020-10-30 Before last weekend all the water quality results from Valdosta for Wednesday and Madison Health for Thursday seemed good. But then it rained late Thursday. I tested Friday, and while US 41, just below Sugar Creek, and US 84 were good on the Withlacoochee River, Knights Ferry Boat Ramp was not good at all. That contamination must have washed downstream. It may have already passed State Line by Monday, and it may ...never show up in Valdosta or Madison Health results. We shall see what their results for this week say. But it was there at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp Friday. This is a good illustration of why even more frequent testing is needed. Oh, and vote for clean water. [US 41, NSRR, US 84, KF] At Knights Ferry, I counted 39 + 38 + 39 = 116 * 100 / 3 = 3,866 cfu/100 mL E. coli. I went with Gretchen’s slightly lower counts of 40 + 25 + 39 = 104 * 100 / 3 = 3,466, because there was some doubt whether some E. coli colonies were separate or not. Sara Jay got an even lower 2,633. Whichever, it’s clear they’re all well above the 1,000 Georgia Adopt-A-Stream alert limit. So we’re using the 2,633 middle number, which is plenty bad. More details here: https://wwals.net//bad-knights-ferry-water-quality-withla/

Water Trails, Okefenokee, Pellet Plant, Songwriting Contest, Light Parade Suwannee Riverkeeper on Steve Nichols Radio 2020-12-08 Always fun to be on the Steve Nichols radio show, 105.9 FM WVGA, especially when he just agreed to be the Master of Ceremonies for the 2021 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. You can ask Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to get GA-EPD to deny permits for a titanium strip mine far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp. While you’re at it, you can ask h...im to deny a permit for the Adel wood pellet plant. You’ll see our water trail signs popping up along the rivers and on the roadways, and we’re distributing the brochures. Don’t forget to come to the Solstice Light Parade at Banks Lake, Saturday, December 19, 2020, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Saturday, August 21, 2021 at the Turner Center Arts Park in Valdosta. Here are WWALS videos. (Follow the link.) https://wwals.net//water-trails-okefenokee-pellet-plant-s/

Please vote for clean water and Yes on Georgia Amendment 1, 2020-11-03 2020-11-01 WWALS members already got our monthly Tannin Times newsletter via email. We’re posting this one, because its second page has many reasons to vote for clean water. Please vote for clean water on Election Day, if you have not already! Georgians, don’t forget to vote Yes on Amendment 1.... November 2020 Tannin Times WWALS Biota November 2020: Remembering biota past In both Mesoamerican indigenous cultures and European Christian traditions, late autumn is a time when the dead are remembered, as seen in the Dia de los Muertos in Mexico and All Souls Day in many other western countries. It seems fitting, then, as November comes in and autumn is felt across the coastal plain, that we consider biota past. Read for more reasons to vote for people who will protect our fragile karst limestone: https://wwals.net//please-vote-for-clean-water-and-yes-on/

Ichetucknee State Park 2020-01-04 When WWALS first paddled from Ichetucknee Springs in January, it happened to be both Ichy Nippy Dip Day and anniversaries of both Ichetucknee State Park and of Florida State Parks. Here are some pictures from the shore.... We did it again two weeks later, and we’re doing it again in January 2021. Stay tuned. Follow the link for the pictures: https://wwals.net//11/02/ichetucknee-state-park-2020-01-04/

Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon Paddle, 2020-11-30 Leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle. It will probably be cold. Dress warmly in layers. When: Gather 5 PM, launch 5:20 PM, end 7 PM, Monday, November 30, 2020... Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County. GPS: 31.035097, -83.097045 Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat, paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. Lights: You must have a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow sticks work well, or head lamp, flashlight, etc.) so other boaters can see you in the dark. It will be totally dark after sunset. You must wear a PFD. A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark. Mosquitoes can be bad at dusk so come prepared. Boats: Kayaks are available to borrow but please let us know at least 2 days prior to the event. Bring your own if you have it. Thanks to Banks Lake Outdoors for free boat rental for these WWALS Full Moon Paddles. Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online: wwals.net/donations/#outings We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today! wwals.net/donations/#join More here: https://wwals.net//banks-lake-full-beaver-moon-paddle-202/

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter took a moment from water quality sampling at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River to make these videos to ask everyone to vote for clean water. Vote for people who will fully fund the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division so they can do some river sampling themselves, and watch over not only Valdosta, but also Quitma...n, Adel, Tifton, Rochelle, and Ashburn, all of which have spilled sewage into the Suwannee River Basin this year. Vote for people who will protect the Okefenokee Swamp from strip mining and other threats. We could also mention Nestlé, phosphate mines, coal ash, and many other issues. We’ve never met anyone who wants to drink dirty water. So please vote for clean water! https://wwals.net/?p=53946

Pictures: thirty paddlers, Halloween Blue Moon, Banks Lake 2020-10-31 Thirty people paddled on Halloween at Banks Lake. The Blue Moon declined to show. The bats mostly wouldn’t fly, but we could hear them in their trees. The Mad Manatee, Mike Lusk, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Manager, and more importantly, Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge Manager, met the Mad Hatter, a coven of witches, Beetlejuice?, a Wolf, two Power Rangers, a pirate, a fortune teller, and, scari...est of all, a covey of Valdosta State University professors! They liked it so much, they threaten to hold a faculty meeting on Banks Lake. [The Mad Manatee meets Pirate, witches, wolf, Mad Hatter, and more] Special thanks to Shelby Miller for organizing this paddle. Follow the link for more pictures: http://wwals.net//pictures-thirty-paddlers-halloween-blue/

We plan and hope to be present. I’ve never been to a scheduled event in the Georgia toe. The proposed Twin

Water quality sampling and vote for clean water 2020-10-30 Please vote for clean water! Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter took a moment from water quality sampling at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River to make these videos to ask everyone to vote for clean water.... Vote for people who will fully fund the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division so they can do some river sampling themselves, and watch over not only Valdosta, but also Quitman, Adel, Tifton, Rochelle, and Ashburn, all of which have spilled sewage into the Suwannee River Basin this year. Vote for people who will protect the Okefenokee Swamp from strip mining and other threats. We could also mention Nestlé, phosphate mines, coal ash, and many other issues. We’ve never met anyone who wants to drink dirty water. So please vote for clean water! Follow the link for the videos: http://wwals.net//water-quality-sampling-and-vote-for-cle/

Winners: WWALS Boomerang 2020-10-24 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hahira, Georgia, October 29, 2020 Everybody had a good time on a fine sunny day with the water just right. We had a few more paddlers than last year, and more vendors and sponsors, so WWALS Boomerang 2020 was a rousing success!... The winner drove up from Tallahassee: Jackson Buttery, who finished the six-mile round trip in one hour sixteen minutes and 42 seconds. He got the $100 cash First Prize. said Bobby McKenzie, the WWALS Boomerang mastermind. Of the racers, 10 were male and 12 were female, in 16 boats, of which 6 were tandem kayaks and 10 were solo kayaks. The four McKenzies in one canoe (Bobby Mckenzie and his 2 young sons and 1 daughter, all from Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, in the Alapaha River watershed) did register, although they did not race, so that’s 13 male and 13 female paddlers, for 26 in all, in 17 boats. I would say considering the Coronavirus and the other metrics listed, the Boomerang had a stronger showing this year than last. Plus the vendors have grown and we had a fourth outfitter join us at the ramp, Madison Outdoor Adventures, along with Banks Lake Outdoors, NWXpeditions, and VSU Core. We also got more sponsors this year, adding Olympia Bend and Life Outdoors and SBMS CrossFit. Other winners included first, second, and third for various distances, classes (solo or tandem) and genders, as well as for upside down, backwards, and last: https://wwals.net///29/winners-wwals-boomerang-2020-10-24/

What stinks worse than a titanium mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp? Biomass plants in north Georgia Should we assume a titanium mine started by the same people would be any better than the stinking biomass plants they started? You can ask the Georgia government to stop the mine that would be far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp. And don’t forget to vote for people who support clean air and water! The clean wood-burning biomass plants in north Georgia stink so bad a chick...en CAFO operator says he can smell it. So bad people working at the plant get sick with masks on. So bad local people say they were betrayed and a local government is suing. So bad it’s caused a fish kill in a nearby creek. So bad investors are suing. So bad it’s behind in its taxes. Photo: Franklin Locality, Problem: GRP Pollution So bad local people say no amount of jobs is worth it. One asks, did you have anybody investigate the two companies that run that plant; had they ever had EPD/EPA violations, had they ever been sued or had formal complaints brought against them? Well, many people investigated Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, and found TPM is under a Florida Consent Order for multiple violations just across the GA-FL line. Yet the Charlton County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in favor of that titanium mine. Maybe they should review that decision in light of this track record of another project by the same people. Maybe GA-EPD should take all this into account while considering TPM’s five permit applications. And then reject those applications. You can help by asking them to do so. And don’t forget to vote for people who will protect our waters and people. Lee Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald, 12 September 2015, Alabama company plans wood-burning electricity plants near Athens, "The EPD’s Air Quality Branch earlier this summer approved one of the two pollution permit applications filed by GreenFuels Holding Company of Birmingham for a 79 megawatt plant near the Franklin County town of Carnesville. "The company filed its application for a 58 megawatt plant near Colbert about two weeks ago. State officials won’t begin to evaluate it for another couple of weeks, until a 30-day window has passed when the public can make formal comments, said Eric Cornwell, the Air Quality Branch’s program manager for stationary source permitting. "GreenFuels has a policy to not comment publicly to media, said GreenFuels vice president Steven Ingle." Yes, the same Steven Ingle who is president of Twin Pines Minerals LLC that already has equipment on its mine site within a few miles of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. But Ingle tells us that mine will be safe. Which is also what his biomass LLC told everybody. "Biomass has become the new coal, ... https://wwals.net//what-stinks-worse-than-a-titanium-mine/

FOIA to FERC on NFE Miami LNG export, not Puerto Rico 2020-09-28 FERC can’t seem to tell Miami from Puerto Rico. So we’ve reminded them, and we’re waiting for a response to our second FOIA about NFE’s Miami LNG operation. Two weeks we’ve been waiting. Meanwhile, I went and voted for some people who, if elected, might help make the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accountable. You can, too. As an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit environmental charity, WWALS cannot tell you w...ho to vote for. But we can ask you to go vote for people who will stop LNG and stop this sort of bureaucratic runaround. Seeing FERC’s SHOW CAUSE order to New Fortress Energy (NFE) about NFE’s Puerto Rico Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) operations, we sent FERC a FOIA about any SHOW CAUSE from FERC or PETITION FOR DECLARATORY ORDER from NFE about NFE’s Miami LNG facility, which has been operational for years now with no authorization from FERC and not even a FERC docket. FERC answered the same day, pointing us to the Puerto Rico SHOW CAUSE. We can only guess they didn’t bother to read as far as the word Miami in the Re: header of our September 28, 2020, FOIA letter. Date: Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 2:28 PM Subject: FOLLOW UP John Quarterman PETITION FOR DECLARATORY ORDER SHOW CAUSE ORDER filed by New Fortress Energy, Miami, Florida John Quarterman Please be advised that ... http://wwals.net//foia-to-ferc-on-nfe-miami-lng-export-no/

FDOT says it will look for toll road financial need after reports: you can vote! 2020-10-21 FDOT actually answered my complaint that there is no demonstrated need for the M-CORES toll roads, saying FDOT would be sure to do financial due diligence. After the Final Task Force reports go to the legislature. Meanwhile, FDOT has spent how many millions of taxpayer dollars on the un-needed boondoggle? Despite NRTR demonstrating that 93% of comments FDOT received opposed the toll ...roads? Nevermind their deadlines, you can still send comments to FDOT, and they will go into the public record, retrievable through open records requests. And don’t forget to vote for people who will stop this toll roads boondoggle and instead do good things for natural Florida and its people. Votes are comments the state of Florida cannot ignore. [Graph 93-percent-AGAINST 10 14 20-0001] I didn’t get to comment on the Suncoast Corridor Task Force meeting, because they didn’t see my sign-up to comment using their procedures. I asked them about that, and got them to acknowledge I had signed up to comment in the Northern Turnpike Connector Task Force meeting the next day. Here is what I sent FDOT immediately after speaking on October 21, 2020: https://wwals.net//fdot-says-it-will-look-for-toll-road-f/

You think the moon rises all by itself? Well, it would if we weren't there to watch it. Banks Lake, near Lakeland, GA, this Saturday evening. Halloween Full Blue Moon paddle! Wear a costume. https://wwals.net//banks-lake-full-hunters-halloween-moon/