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The Oglethorpe Echo
Thursday, September 14, 2023
DINK NESMITH/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Oglethorpe County commission Chair Jay Paul discussed the
sludge issue at a panel in Elberton last week that also included a
viewing of a documentary titled "Georgia's Dirty Little Secret."
Paul joins sludge panel,
shares updates on issue
By John James
The Oglethorpe Echo
Jay Paul, the chair of
Oglethorpe County’s Board of
Commissioners, participated in a
soil amendment panel discussion
in Elberton on Sept. 5 that includ
ed a showing of a documentary
“Georgia's Dirty Little Secret” by
the Rural Georgia Protection Alli
ance. Recent legislation and pro
posed changes regarding the soil
amendment situation affecting ru
ral counties in Georgia were also
reviewed.
Paul spoke with The Oglethorpe
Echo regarding his takeaways
and feelings on the status of soil
amendments in Oglethorpe County.
This Q&A has been edited for
length and clarity.
Q: What was the focus of your
panel discussion on Tuesday?
A: (We discussed) the latest sta
tus on rules and laws that have
been proposed and implement
ed by the Department of Agricul
ture to hopefully get a better han
dle on the soil amendment applica
tion through Oglethorpe, Wilkes,
Warren and other rural counties in
the state.
Q: What were your takeaways
from the rules that you talked
about?
A: It’s hopefully gonna be bet
ter than what we’ve been battling
for the past 10 or 15 years. I think
a lot of it has been unsupervised
and unregulated, but I think with
the new Department of Agricul
ture commissioner, there seems to
be a movement to put more boots
on the ground and keep an eye on
this type of thing on the state level.
Q: Is sludge considered a soil
amendment?
A: People use the terms inter
changeably. Most people call it
sludge, and when they try to get
more technical, they call it soil
amendment, but it’s all essentially
the same thing.
Q: Why do you think soil
amendments have become such an
issue in Georgia?
A: It’s probably more volume
being generated, and they don’t
know what to do with it or where
to take it, so it’s getting more and
more spread out. Whereas, it used
to be more prevalent up at Banks
and Hall County, and Stephens and
Franklin, for example, now it’s mi
grated down through Elbert 15, 14
years ago. I hear reports of New
ton County and Walton Coun
ty getting it, so it just gets more
spread out, and more people are
being affected by it.
Q: Have you heard anything
from residents or other organiza
tions who are trying to do some
thing about soil amendments in
Oglethorpe?
A: This coalition of commis
sioners between myself, Madison,
Wilkes, Elbert, Warren and Jeffer
son we’ve been working closely
with the Savannah River Keepers
for years now, I’d say. And we’re
thankful to the Savannah River
Keepers for trying to help us bat
tle through this. And Rob Leverett
(attorney and Georgia state repre-
Watch
THE FILM
To watch the documen
tary "Georgia's Dirty
Little Secret," go to The
Echo website and watch
the video within this
story.
sentative) has proposed legislation,
and we’re real thankful to him for
being involved in this process as
well.
Q: Does your coalition of com
missioners have any plans to push
the soil amendment issue further
in any way?
A: Well, we have pushed about
as far as we can on the local lev
el. Now, the state ties our hands on
this. We adopted an ordinance a
few months or so ago that will lim
it the application of this to where
it won’t come within 100 feet of
a property line, and that’s about
as much as we can do on the local
level. We cannot legislate it out of
existence. We can’t make the buf
fers wider than that. Our hands are
tied from the state level.
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RAMBLIN' COUNTRY BAND
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Kitchen Opens at 6:00
AMERICAN LEGION POST 123
106 Comer Road (Highway 22 North
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Friday, September 29th
6:30 PM / \
Platt Brooks Estate Venue
102 East Church Street* Lexington
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AMERICAN LEGION POST 123
106 Comer Road (Highway 22 North)
^ Lexington ^
MUSIC by RANDY GADDO:
“BOOMERANG - Tunes That Keep Coming Back
2nd CHANCE BBQ
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