Media Release from Ogeechee Riverkeeper and GreenLaw and Stack & Associates
For immediate release: October 21, 2011
Contact:
Dianna Wedincamp, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, (866) 942-6222
Hutton Brown, GreenLaw, (404) 659-3122
Don Stack, Stack & Associates, (912) 232-0567
Ogeechee Riverkeeper Challenges State Handling of Fish Kill
Lawsuit Highlights State’s Inability to Protect Georgia’s Rivers
ATLANTA – Just days after yet another fish kill on a Georgia river threatened public water supplies, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, represented by the public interest law firm, GreenLaw, filed a legal challenge to the state environmental agency’s handling of the largest fish kill in state history. In May 2011, more than 33,000 fish turned up dead in the Ogeechee River. Public health advisories were also issued warning local citizens not to use the river.
In September 2011, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) entered into an agreement, called a “Consent Order,” with King America Finishing, Inc., a textile manufacturing facility located on the Ogeechee River in Screven County, Georgia. The Order followed an investigation which found that the fish kill started 50 yards downstream of King Finishing’s discharge pipe. The investigation also found a host of other problems at the facility including, most egregiously, that the facility had started two unpermitted production lines which were discharging into the Ogeechee River.
While the Order will require King Finishing to spend $1 million on an unspecified “supplemental environmental project,” it does not require the company to pay a penalty, nor does it require that it cover the costs for the restocking of the fish in the river which was conducted by the state last month. Presumably, state taxpayers will be responsible for picking up that bill. The Order also allows the company to continue the unpermitted discharge of pollutants from the manufacturing line, although both state and federal law prohibit discharging into waterways without a permit. Adding insult to injury, the public has been given no opportunity for input into any of the Order’s terms.
"EPD left us with no choice but to file this lawsuit," states Dianna Wedincamp, Ogeechee
Riverkeeper. “Citizens throughout the basin are simply outraged that the state not only
failed to prevent this catastrophe, but is excluding those most impacted by the catastrophe
at every turn. King Finishing seems to be EPD’s priority, not the citizens who live, work
and play along the Ogeechee River.”
“The law is clear that any enforcement action must bring the facility into compliance with the law,
stated Hutton Brown, water quality attorney for GreenLaw handling the case for Ogeechee
Riverkeeper. “Instead of enforcing the law, EPD is using the consent order process to give the
facility a ‘free pass’ to continue violating the law. If they had allowed the public, and particularly
the affected local citizens, to participate in the process before the Order was issued, they might
have avoided these problems.”
"This suit highlights the failure of EPD to take aggressive and protective measures to remedy
King America's blatant disregard for the citizens of Georgia.” said Don Stack, attorney for Stack &
Associates. “Amazingly, EPD further enabled this disregard by allowing KAF to resume it's illegal discharges,
even now when there still has been neither a meaningful analysis of the operations nor a valid
discharge permit issued authorizing the release of toxic chemicals including formaldehyde”
Under state and federal law, citizens are allowed 30 days to file a legal action challenging a final agency action, in this case, EPD’s decision to issue a consent order against King Finishing. The lawsuit, filed today with the Department of Natural Resources, will be heard by the Office of State Administrative Hearings.
The Ogeechee Riverkeeper has been receiving complaints about the facility going back as far as 2002. In August 2011, Ogeechee Riverkeeper filed a notice of intent to file a citizen suit against King Finishing in federal court for violations at the facility. The Riverkeeper is currently preparing to pursue the citizen suit if the problems with the Consent Order and river restoration are not adequately addressed.
EPD has been under increasing scrutiny on whether it can adequately protect public health and the environment from industrial spills. Last year, EPD was criticized for its slow response to a spill from a porta-potty company that turned Trail Creek in Athens metallic blue. The public is also questioning whether EPD should have been able to prevent the spill in the Ogeechee River as staff had conducted inspections of the King Finishing facility but had failed to notice the problems that led to the spill. Just last week, a spill occurred on Brier Creek outside of Keysville which shut down water intakes downstream of the spill.
A copy of the lawsuit and consent order can be found at www.green-law.org/OgeecheeFishKill
Ogeechee Riverkeeper is dedicated to protecting, preserving and improving the water quality of the Ogeechee River Basin. To accomplish this goal, Ogeechee Riverkeeper strives to amplify the voices of concerned citizens and strengthen their efforts to protect their rivers and their communities. www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org
GreenLaw is dedicated to preventing air and water pollution that endangers human health and degrades Georgia’s natural resources. GreenLaw achieves these goals by providing free high quality legal and technical assistance to environmental organizations and community groups throughout Georgia. www.green-law.org
Stack and Associates, P.C. is a unique law firm. Founded in 1993 through the vision of Donald D.J. Stack, the firm focuses on environmental work, representing individuals, citizens’ organizations and neighborhood associations in their efforts to protect and preserve the beauty and natural resources of this state as well as their own individual properties form the ever growing number of assaults on those treasures. www.stackenvirolaw.com
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Use the contact information below to reach EPD by email, fax or mail and request a public hearing on King America Finishing's draft permit. ORK is reviewing the permit at this time. Here is the permit for you to review and send your comments to EPD.
