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Athens-Clarke Weighs In
On State Water Plan
At their Jan. 2 meeting, Athens-Clarke
County (ACC) Commissioners took their last
opportunity before the start of Georgia's 2008
legislative session to pass a resolution indi
cating their feelings about the direction of the
statewide water management plan, which is
scheduled to hit legislators' desks when they
report to the Capitol on Jan. 14. The resolu
tion, similar to those passed by several other
local governments in the state, mainly urges
legislators to keep local governments in mind
in deciding on a plan. It also, though, takes
specific issue with two
late-in-coming changes
to the plan which have
received a good deal of
criticism statewide since
emerging in December:
one which puts in jeop
ardy local government
representation on regional water-planning dis
tricts, and another which neglects to draw the
boundaries of those districts based on water
sheds (as prior drafts of the plan did).
"The statewide water plan has already had
more costume changes than Madonna, and I
don't think that's going to change in the com
ing months as we get into the legislative ses
sion," District 9 Commissioner Kelly Girtz said
before commissioners unanimously approved
the resolution. "This has been the most amor
phous, here-there-and-everywhere document
under the sun."
Just how many more costume changes
there will be, though—as well as the extent
of them—remains an open question. At press
time, the consequences of a state Water
Council meeting planned for Jan. 8 were
unknown, though indications were that the
map of water-planning districts might change.
Changes on that scale may not be enough,
though, to placate the various interests
statewide which have in recent weeks been
displaying growing opposition to the plan
as it stands. Those include rural politicians
showing an increasing
wariness of the thirst of
the metro Atlanta area,
and environmentalists
who have—throughout
the plan's multi-year
development—asked that
the plan be based on the
geography of river basins (in addition to fund
ing scientific assessments of those basins).
Environmentalists also ask that the plan have
the power of state law, because as currently
configured, it may not even have power over
the already-existing Metro No.th Georgia Water
Planning District, which governs water policy
in the greater Atlanta area. They have pushed,
too, for substantive regulations on transfers of
water from one river basin to another, which
the Athens-Clarke resolution also references.
Ben Emanuel ben@flagpole.com
“This has been the most
amorphous, here-there-
and-everywhere document
under the sun.”
Nakanishi Phases Out Use
of Dangerous Chemical
A year after installing a first phase of
new equipment to reduce health hazards
from its manufacturing process, Nakanishi
Manufacturing Corporation announced that it
had at last eliminated the chemical trichloro
ethylene (or TCE) from the degreasing process
at its Winterville plant. In a letter dated Dec.
21, 2007, Nakanishi President Kunio Kanaeda
told concerned community members that the
company—which
manufactures retainers
for ball bearings at
its Voyles Road fac
tory-had succeeded
in replacing TCE-
dependent equipment
on its production line.
Although its TCE emissions were permit
ted by the Georgia Environmental Protection
Division (EPD), Nakanishi had faced pressure
in recent years from neighbors and local envi
ronmental health advocates to eliminate its
releases of tCE, which is considered a probable
human carcinogen. In 2005, dozens of activ
ists participated in a rally outside Nakanishi's
factory, and that fall the Clarke County Board
of Health considered weighing in on the mat
ter and asking Nakanishi to discontinue its
use of TCE for the benefit of its neighbors.
Later, a study conducted by UGA public health
students under Dr. Jeff Fisher found only low
levels of the chemical in air near the plant-
in addition, a statement from the company in
March of 2007 said that its TCE emissions have
been below permitted levels in recent years.
That statement also said that the company
intended to eliminate TCE by the end of 2007.
TCE was used as a degreaser at the plant,
* and the company
had argued in the
past that—though
similar industrial
operations had found
alternatives—its pro
prietary manufacturing
process was aided by
the use of the chemical. But according to the
Dec. 21 letter, in December of 2006 the com
pany installed a test unit for a newer vacuum
degreasing process and saw its TCE usage
drop. In June of 2007, the company began
testing a second unit and found it to be ready
for permanent use too. The company's air-
emissions permit on file with Georgia EPD will
now be adjusted, and TCE removed from the
list of chemicals therein, Kanaeda's letter said.
Ben Emanuel ben@flagpole.com
“The process chemistry we now
use in the vacuum degreasing
units does not emit any
hazardous air pollutants.”
V Will the daily flow of garbage yet be stanched? ACC Commissioners plan to try and lessen it, but in the mean
time they’ve voted to work with neighboring Oglethorpe County on expanding the local landfill.
Unhappy Commish Moves
Toward Landfill Expansion
"We don't tike to dig holes and dump trash
in [them]," Commissioner Elton Dodson said
at the Jan. 2 Mayor and Commission vot
ing meeting, before commissioners set the
stage for a major landfill expansion. The
county should expand its recycling efforts,
said Dodson and other commissioners—but
no one argued that a landfill would no longer
be needed. The present dump, on Lexington
Road bordering Oglethorpe County, will-run
out of space within six years, county staffers
say. It must be expanded for another 30 years
of operation—involving an adjacent 79-acre
tract whose owner doesn't want to sell—or
be closed permanently. A 10-county effort to
site a regional landfill failed in 1998 because
none of the counties would accept the new
landfill. If Athens-Clarke's existing dump isn't
expanded, then local trash will have to be
shipped, expensively, out of the county.
And while seven of the nine commission
ers present voted in favor of a cooperative
agreement with Oglethorpe County—which
will acquire the tract and then sell it to
Athens-Clarke (the land is in
Oglethorpe County)—they
were uncomfortable with the
choices.
"We came to the conclu
sion that we will not recycle
our way out of our need to
maintain a landfill," said Commissioner Doug
Lowry. Even the "very aggressive" recycling
strategy that some commissioners say they
want wouldn't extend the landfill's life by
much: doubling the county's recycling rate
would extend it only 11 months, ACC Manager
Alan Reddish told them. The ACC Solid Waste
Department has compiled a list of ways to
increase recycling, and commissioners will dis
cuss them in February.
A 1992 government agreement promis
ing nearby residents that the dump would
never be expanded is not legally binding,
ACC Attorney Bill Berryman told commission
ers last week—even though it was signed by
Athens-Clarke's then-CEO Gwen O'Looney. "I
believe that agreement exceeded its author
ity," Berryman said, because state law does
not allow the government to limit its own
future actions.
To see commissioners eager to increase
recycling makes this "an exciting time" for
county recycling administrator Suki Janssen.
Athens' curbside recycling pickup helps the
county claim its 26 percent recycling rate
(that figure includes composting yard waste).
The county accepts some special items at its
recycling facility on Hancock Industrial Way
and others at the landfill. Paper, cardboard,
cans and some plastics can be recycled at
any of eight county drop-off dumpsters or by
curbside pickup. Some businesses (like Merial
Corporation, Burton and Burton, and Lindsay
Group) are big recyclers, Janssen notes, and
local schools also participate.
At the dump, jail inmates sort out mixed
loads of materials that come in with a lot of
clean recyclables in them. But Janssen prefers
to see people sort their own recyclables: "I
guess I feel that people need to own up to
their waste." But even loads of properly sorted
recyclables must be sorted again by a private
contractor to separate paper from cardboard
and bottles from cans. That's a labor-intensive
process that significantly
reduces what the county
earns from the sale of the
materials.
So can recycling be
increased? "We have a
laundry list for the Mayor
and Commission to look at," Janssen says,
referring to the strategies scheduled to come
before commissioners next month. The easiest
way to reduce landfilling may be by compost
ing organic waste. "That's the largest chunk,"
she says; the county could start with sewage
sludge and food waste from businesses and
schools. Other suggestions detailed by her
department include required recycling of card
board or electronics; an experimental "green
bin" program downtown to collect food waste;
sorting out nore recyclables from the "waste
stream" at tne dump using inmate labor;
increasing the dump's "tipping fee" (the dis
posal charge per ton) from $34 to $42; giving
credits to private haulers when they deliver
more recyclables; and a "swap shop" at the
dump for donations of reusable goods.
John Huie jphuie@alhens.net
“I guess I feel that
people need to own up
to their waste.”
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