This letter to the editor of The Sandersville Progress was printed June 21, 2011
Three years ago when concerned local citizens came together to learn more about our community’s natural resources and how to protect them, the Fall-line Alliance for a Clean Environment (FACE) was organized. We are best known for our work to educate our friends and family about the very real environmental, health, and financial risks posted by coal fired Plant Washington, but FACE is more than a “one issue” group.
Three years ago when concerned local citizens came together to learn more about our community’s natural resources and how to protect them, the Fall-line Alliance for a Clean Environment (FACE) was organized. We are best known for our work to educate our friends and family about the very real environmental, health, and financial risks posted by coal fired Plant Washington, but FACE is more than a “one issue” group.
In the past two months the health of Keg Creek and the Ogeechee River, have been compromised. Local citizens asked us for help when Keg Creek began to look unhealthy. We have worked with the Altamaha Riverkeeper and the Oconee River Project staff to learn more and share contacts and information with concerned citizens.
When the Ogeechee River was contaminated resulting in over 30,000 fish and other wildlife being killed, we updated the public with news and information as soon as it became available. The state agency charged with protecting our natural resources told FACE that it wouldn’t even post any of its own health advisories on its web site until test results were back on the fish and water!
FACE wanted to give the public an easy way to know what our state said about the river, and we, our state’s taxpayers, were turned away. Why won’t our own state agency answer our questions? And why did EPD official Burt Langley say he thought “we,” the people who pay taxes so he can work for us, wouldn’t “be dumb enough to swim with a bunch of dead fish.”
Dianna Wedincamp, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, said during our Annual Meeting last week that the once-pristine Ogeechee is "in big trouble". Several industries are in violation of their permits. While the EPD is aware of this, she explained that they are understaffed, underfunded, and do not have enough people to cover everything they already need to cover across Georgia.
Georgians are smart enough to understand how healthy our air and water are, and we are smart enough to know that we have a lot of work to do to clean up the messes we already have. The more we learn, the more we know that we have to speak up as citizens, even when it isn’t easy.
I urge concerned citizens to help speak up for a cleaner environment. Use our website and Face Book pages for the latest updates. Please contact FACE at www.facenvironment.org. Call Katherine Cummings at 478.232.8010
Thank you,
Paula Swint
Warthen, Georgia
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