Newspaper Page Text
<
JAPANESE STEAK HOUSE
SUSHI • HIBACHI • BAR
open FOR
LuncH & DinneR
7 Day* a Week
Join ut for tjour Birthday
and ujpII celebrate with cake!
10% Discount
for ieniorf Sr
StudPlltt (with IDI
f.v«?r«j Daij
3557 Atlanta HiVy.
^ in Academy Shopping Center
Lunch & Dinner Daily
706-227-0001
for special
events.
We’ll design &? print
your programs, tickets
and invitations.
We're here to help.
E. Broad Street
l Downtown Athens
706-548 3648
www.bel jean .com
A YEAR DOWNSTREAM FROM THE TRAIL CREEK SPILL
’
I t's hard to believe that it's been a full year since a disas
trous fire at J&J Chemical Company led to a toxic chemical
spill in Athens' Trail Creek. It's especially hard to believe if
you've visited the creek recently. Park at the Georgia Power
substation on Athena Drive next to the CertainTeed plant, walk
.down to the creek's bank (watch the poison ivy), and—espe
cially on a hot day—notice the smell.
Stir up the muck in the stream bed (not recommended),
and you smell it even more. Even three miles downstream some
days, in Dudley Park and the neighborhoods nearby, Trail Creek
still gives off a perfumed chemical odor. The sheer magnitude
of the spill of blue dye, perfumes and toxic chemicals to the
East Fork of Trail Creek last summer means the incident is still
very much with us. A year later, the case is not closed; the
book is still open on Trail Creek's future.
\ e have other ways of knowing that problems persist:
fortunately, UGA researchers have taken an interest in
the creek. The labs of Dr. Marsha Black, an environ
mental toxicologist in UGA's College of Public Health, and Dr.
Jay Shelton, a fisheries scien
tist in UGA’s Warnell School of
Forestry and Natural Resources,
are investigating the sediments
in the stream bed of Trail
Creek.
Water tests required by
the state stopped detecting
high levels of contaminants
in Trail Creek's water column
last fall. But Dr. Black and Dr.
Shelton presented research at
the Georgia Water Resources
Conference in April show
ing that the sediments in the
stream bed are highly toxic to
aquatic life. Truth be told, in
an urban stream any number
of problems could be affect
ing this picture, so we need to
learn more. We don't yet have
a full-scale analysis in hand
saying what toxic chemicals are
present in the creek bed, but
that's one more puzzle piece
which might yet fall into place.
Only once we learn more
about the toxicity in Trail Creek
Can we begin to know much
about its ecological recovery,
and take a look at how we
can help clean up the creek.
The good news is that there is
life in Trail Creek today: fish
and the aquatic invertebrates
that they eat have returned to
the affected areas of the creek from feeder streams, the North
Oconee River and the West Fork of Trail Creek. But given the
toxicity in the stream bed, we don't know much about whether
the stream ecosystem can fully recover without real remedia
tion and clean-up efforts in the creek.
Once we do learn more about what's still toxic in Trail
Creek, we can hope to engage the expertise of researchers who
specialize in remediation of wetlands like those along the East
Fork of Trail Creek. Whn knows? Maybe taking a look at innova
tive clean-up strategies could help us help Trail Creek while
learning more for science's sake at the same time.
hat else have we learned? The Trail Creek spill gave
us a crystal-clear and frightening window into the
damage that's been done to Georgia's Environmental
Protection Division (EPD) by years and years of budget cuts
and staff reductions. It is not at all clear that the agency is
able to do its job to protect public health and the environment
in emergencies like this one.
After the Trail Creek spill, many asked: "What will happen
next time? Will state agencies be better prepared?" The answer
is that "next time" happened on the Ogeechee River in south
east Georgia in May of this year, when there was a massive
fish kilt throughout more than 50 miles of the river. As I write,
the Ogeechee case is still under investigation. That's a good
thing, but I compared notes with Ogeechee Riverkeeper Dianna
Wedincamp about her experience during those first days and
weeks after the fish kill occurred. Dianna's experience mir
rored ours in Athens last summer: response was painfully slow
and uncoordinated, confusion reigned, and members of the
public who'd planned to go fishing and swimming along the
Ogeechee over the Memorial Day weekend found themselves
very poorly informed about the potential for hazards in the
local environment.
The answer about preparation "next time" is "No." Georgia
EPD did not appear any better prepared.
Ill Hi f here d° we 9° fr° m here? It's important that no one
iyl air ^ or 9 ets af) out Trail Creek—and that goes not just for
■I the Athens community, but for all of Georgia. These
two incidents together, on Trail Creek and the Ogeechee, have
shown up very real problems that endanger people and the
environment throughout the entire state. This is a message
that belongs in the ears of the elected and appointed officials
who represent you and work for you at every level of govern
ment, from City Hall to Congress, and especially at the state
Capitol. Another "next time" is surely on its way already.
Beyond sending a Trail Creek anniversary card to Bill
Cowsert, Keith Heard, Doug McKillip and their colleagues in the
Georgia Legislature (I am!), there's plenty more you can do to
help out. To get involved with the hands-on volunteer moni
toring of stream health in Trail Creek and throughout Athens,
visit the Upper Oconee Watershed Network at www.uown.org.
To report water pollution any time, anywhere in town, visit
the Stormwater page of the Athens-Clarke County website. And
don't let anyone forget that Trail Creek still is not well. Stay
tuned and lend a hand as we all work for its future. There's
plenty more to be done.
Ben Emanuel
Ben Emanuel is the Oconee River Project director for Altamaha
Riverketper learn more and support their work at www.altamahariver-
keeper.org. If you prefer your activism the Athens way and with a twist,
visit your favorite b3rs this week to see if they're running a special on
blue cocktails to benefit the riverkeeper and honor Trail Creek
Jessica Sterling checks Trail Creek for invertebrates at Dudley Park during the Upper Oconee Watershed
Network's sampling on July 16.
8 FLAGPOLE.COM-JULY 27. 2011
AUOREY STEWART
