Last Year’s List: Protection Progress

  • Alabama's Coast—See 2012 list.
  • Georgia's Cypress Forests aren’t out of the woods yet, but SELC and our partners are nearing completion of an EPA-funded study highlighting the vulnerable nature of this important wetland ecosystem. We are working with government agencies, retailers, and the forest products industry to ensure the continued sustainability of this iconic Southern species.
  • In our legal action to defend Georgia’s Oconee River from the potential impacts of a proposed power plant in Sandersville, we secured results that will help protect this river and other state waters. As a result of our litigation, the state issued an improved water discharge permit for the facility that sets a new standard for limits on discharges of heated water from coal-burning power plants, which can harm aquatic habitat. Our challenge of the plant’s water withdrawal permit also set a positive precedent, requiring state regulators to conduct the first-ever analysis of an interbasin transfer—the diversion of water from one river basin to another. On a related front, we are now in our second round of litigation challenging the state’s air pollution permit for the plant, which would fail to meet national public health standards for hazardous air emissions.>
  • In a suit against North Carolina and federal transportation agencies, SELC is challenging the route selected for a replacement bridge to Hatteras Island that parallels the present bridge and that would continue to send traffic through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on a highly unstable section of the barrier island. The risks were demonstrated dramatically by Hurricane Irene when it cut new inlets through the highway there today. SELC supports an alternative favored by federal wildlife agencies that would avoid subjecting habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife to constant road construction to maintain the highway.
  • Snowbird Mountains, NC—See “Chilhowee Mountain, TN” on 2012 list.
  • The Cape Fear Basin in North Carolina is still threatened by a massive proposed cement plant near Wilmington that would destroy 1,000 acres of wetlands and pose a serious human health risk by emitting harmful pollutants and further elevating toxic mercury levels in the Northeast Cape Fear River. Since our May 2010 victory preventing state regulators from fast tracking approval of the facility without a thorough environmental review, SELC filed suit in October 2011 to challenge the air permit for the plant, which fails to comply with state and federal law and would allow the company to emit unnecessary and harmful levels of pollution. In another victory, a federal court has rejected the cement industry’s attempt to repeal EPA’s tough new limits on pollution from cement kilns. SELC intervened in the federal lawsuit in defense of EPA’s standards, which will prevent plants from emitting harmful levels of mercury, hydrochloric acid, and other pollutants.
  • Regarding South Carolina’s Santee River Basin, we continue to urge federal regulators to require Santee Cooper—the state-owned utility—to operate its hydroelectric dams in ways that restore lost wetlands and fish passage. Legal pressure from SELC helped persuade the Army Corps of Engineers, which owns one of the dams, to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service on how to ensure the survival of at-risk fish species that migrate upstream.
  • Cumberland Plateau, TN—See “Tennessee & Virginia Mountains” on 2012 list.
  • George Washington National Forest, VA Last year, we reported that the U.S. Forest Service was considering whether to allow hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the George Washington National Forest to drill for natural gas in the underlying Marcellus Shale. In response to concerns raised by SELC, our partners, and many area residents, the Forest Service has proposed a ban on horizontal drilling on any future federal leases for gas drilling in this national forest. This would limit high-volume fracking, which is great news. At the same time, however, the agency is considering opening the entire forest to vertical drilling, which involves hydraulic fracturing (although usually on a smaller scale). The agency will make its final decision as part of its revised management plan for the GW, to be released this spring or summer. In October 2011, SELC filed extensive recommendations for strengthening natural resource protections in the plan, including further checks on hydraulic fracturing. We are also advocating a final plan that safeguards roadless areas and old growth forests, recommends new wilderness and national scenic areas, and protects wildlife and water resources.
  • The Chesapeake Bay—See 2012 list.
.