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EPD to review King Finihsing permit
Ogeechee pollution levels at question
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ATLANTA — Environmental officials agreed Tuesday to conduct a new review of a Screven County textile plant implicated in a massive fish kill last year on the Ogeechee River, a decision that came shortly before the issue was headed to trial.

Judson Turner, director of the state's Environmental Protection Division, said in a statement that his agency was withdrawing a wastewater permit discharge issued in August to King America Finishing. Instead, the agency will conduct a review to determine whether the cost of the pollution produced by the plant is outweighed by social or economic development goals.

The Ogeechee Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy group, had filed a legal challenge to overturn that permit because it wanted Georgia authorities to conduct the review that was announced Tuesday. It also sought further restrictions on the pollution discharged by the firm.

"I am not under any illusion that they're going to go through that and magically think this facility shouldn't be allowed to operate," said Hutton Brown, a lawyer for Greenlaw, which is representing the Ogeechee Riverkeeper. "But nevertheless, they've got to go through it."

EPD Assistant Director Jim Ussery said his agency did not believe the review should have been required, saying the law only applies to new plants and those that are expanding. Ussery said the agency decided to conduct the study to avoid losing time if a judge ultimately ruled against the state. In the meantime, the plant will continue to operate under its existing old permit and additional restrictions put in place after the fish kill.

"We decided to avoid the delays that litigation would cause," he said.

An estimated 39,000 fish died last year below the company's outfall pipe into the river.

A government investigation found that the fish died from a bacterial infection likely caused by a number of environmental factors that weakened the animals and lowered their immunity, such as the summer heat and low water. While scientists said chemical concentrations in the river were not high enough to kill fish by themselves, those chemicals may have proved lethal when combined with other factors.

Subsequent inspections of the plant showed it was operating two production lines without a permit.

A proposed consent order released Tuesday also details how King America would spend $1 million in projects meant to improve the river. The company previously agreed to pay that sum to settle accusations that it broke environmental laws. As part of the agreement, the company will pay more than $766,000 to establish an Ogeechee River nature center.

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Later yall, its been fun
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This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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