SELC Press Releases

Southern Environmental Law Center: Santee Cooper Closure Plan is Illegal and Destined to Fail

2013-05-09T13:28:03+00:00

The Southern Environmental Law Center has filed comments demonstrating that Santee Cooper's closure plan for its coal ash at its Grainger facility in Conway, S.C., is unlawful, is based on a mistaken geologic assumption, leaves arsenic and coal ash in Conway, and is destined to fail. The comments were submitted to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on behalf of the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and SELC.

Santee Cooper has dumped 1.3 million tons of coal ash into unlined pits in a wetland next to the Waccamaw River in the center of Conway. Santee Cooper has known for years that the coal ash is polluting the Waccamaw River system with arsenic. In recent years, the arsenic pollution has reached 3228 ppb, over 300 times the legal limit. In 2009, DHEC determined that Santee Cooper is violating the S.C. Pollution Control Act because of its coal ash arsenic pollution at Grainger.

Santee Cooper has shuttered the Grainger plant and proposes to leave the coal ash in the wetland in Conway, beside the Waccamaw River, forever. Santee Cooper's closure plan proposes to build a slurry wall over one mile long around the coal ash. The wall will connect with the Bear Bluff Formation; Santee Cooper's plan assumes that the Bear Bluff Formation is made of impermeable clay and will block the movement of water. Santee Cooper's plan does not clean up its arsenic pollution.

The Southern Environmental Law Center's comments establish:

**Santee Cooper's proposed coal ash landfill violates South Carolina's landfill statute, Horry County's zoning ordinance, the South Carolina Pollution Control Act, and the federal Clean Water Act.

**The Bear Bluff Formation is made of fossils, sand, silt, and limestone, and is not made of clay. It is porous and would allow the movement of groundwater and arsenic pollution into groundwater and the Waccamaw River.

**In other closure plans for coal ash facilities in South Carolina, DHEC has required a private utility to remove the coal ash, place it in a permitted landfill, and remove contaminated soil. Santee Cooper is asking to be treated differently and to provide Conway less protection than other communities.

**Santee Cooper's plan is destined to fail because it will not contain the arsenic pollution or prevent the movement of water. Similar projects have failed in other parts of the country. Santee Cooper has shown no example of a project like this one that has worked.

**Santee Cooper's plan is more expensive than moving the coal ash to a lined landfill, because the plan uses unproven technology and Santee Cooper has inflated the costs of moving the ash.

Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, stated: "Santee Cooper can remove its coal ash and arsenic, restore a beautiful cypress wetland in the center of Conway, and add to Conway's reputation as an eco-tourism destination. Instead, Santee Cooper proposes to leave coal ash and arsenic in the center of Conway forever, piled up in a large landfill that will pollute the Waccamaw River system for years to come. We hope DHEC will require Santee Cooper to obey the law and do what is right for Conway and the Waccamaw: move its coal ash and its arsenic to a legal, lined landfill."

DHEC has been receiving public comments on Santee Cooper's closure plan. At a public hearing in Conway in April, residents of Conway objected to Santee Cooper's plan and urged Santee Cooper to move its coal ash and arsenic out of the wetland. Conway City Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging DHEC to reject Santee Cooper's proposal and to require Santee Cooper to remove the coal ash and place it in an appropriate landfill. DHEC will now consider the comments and decide what action to take.
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The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of more than 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.org
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/selc_org

The Waccamaw RIVERKEEPER(r) is a program of Winyah Rivers Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization whose mission is to protect, preserve, monitor and revitalize the health of the lands and waters of the greater Winyah Bay watershed. Our goal is to protect our community's right to fishable, swimmable and drinkable water. We pursue this goal through education and advocacy programs in support of our mission to protect our river resources. These programs are developed and implemented to increase the scientific literacy of our community, including local decision makers, and to engage them in environmental stewardship and planning for river resource protections.

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast.
www.cleanenergy.org

Why We’re at the Table: Utility Rate Hearings, Our Natural Resources and Our Economy

2013-05-08T14:33:48+00:00

Today, the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) is holding the first of three informal hearings on Alabama Power Co.'s rate of return on equity, a measure of the utility's guaranteed profit. Southern Environmental Law Center is representing GASP and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy at the hearings to voice these groups' concerns about the lack of transparency in the process and the resulting effects on residents and businesses, their health, the environment, and energy choices in the state.

In Alabama, rate of return on equity is determined through a formula called RSE, which has been in place since 1982. This mechanism forgoes the public hearing process that occurs in most other states. The lack of a formal public process means that critical decisions involving energy resource planning, environmental compliance, and the rates Alabama Power charges are made without meaningful participation by the rate-paying public. Under this opaque process, Alabama residential ratepayers pay some of the highest utility bills in the nation.

Transparency in the way Alabama Power spends money to produce energy is critical to ensuring that customer rates reflect the most economical options. Some of those options have the benefit of reducing air and water pollution as well as being less expensive. Continuing to invest in older, uneconomic and inefficient coal-burning power plants, rather than beginning the transition to cleaner fuels or investing in energy efficiency measures, costs Alabama ratepayers in numerous ways, from our pocketbooks to our natural resources.

In states with more transparent planning and rate-setting processes, utilities are moving away from an over-reliance on older coal-burning plants, which are usually not the most economic option for customers due to their age and the costly upgrades required to meet pollution standards - standards designed to protect public health. Georgia Power, Alabama Power's sister company, recently announced plans to move away from older coal plants, stating that continued operation of the facilities is no longer economically beneficial to customers. The costs the utility referenced don't even include other economic burdens the state and people bear as a result of pollution from aging plants, such as increased health-care costs.

Currently, Alabama ranks in the bottom 10 states for energy efficiency measures - a proven, cost-effective way to lower monthly energy bills. Alabama Power also falls far behind peer utilities in the Southeast in renewable energy investments such as solar, wind, and biomass - strategies that would wisely diversify the state's energy portfolio, provide new energy choices for consumers, benefit our environment, create jobs, and safeguard Alabama's energy security.

Establishing better accountability of Alabama Power to the PSC and the public through a transparent regulatory process would generate better investments and cleaner energy. Robust formal proceedings would allow experts to testify on the economic and environmental impacts of different energy options, would require the utilities to share data about their operational decisions and rate structures, and would give the public a chance to weigh in on choices that affect us all. It's the only way for the Public Service Commission to receive the information and analysis necessary to effectively regulate Alabama Power and other utilities.

While the state's utilities and the Public Service Commission are resisting calls for a formal process, they did agree to hold a series of informal meetings. Today's informal hearing marks a critical opportunity to begin raising these issues. We can achieve a less expensive rate structure and cleaner energy options if we stand together to call for fairness and transparency at the PSC.

What's at stake is millions of dollars of ratepayer money, an opportunity to clean up the most polluting plants in the state and move towards a cleaner energy future, and the chance to open the door on a process that has excluded the public for far too long.

Southern Environmental Law Center Founder/Executive Director Receives Highest Award from Garden Club of America

2013-05-02T18:47:58+00:00

Rick Middleton, founder and executive director of the Southern Environmental Law Center, was awarded the Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal by the Garden Club of America at its annual meeting last night in Philadelphia. This year marks the Garden Club’s 100th anniversary.

The Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal is awarded for outstanding achievement in environmental protection and for maintenance of quality of life. Former honorees include celebrated writer Wendell Berry and pioneering scientist Eugene Odum.

"Rick has had a transformative impact on the protection of the Southeast’s special natural places and wildlife, and also on the strength and effectiveness of the nonprofit organizations that work to conserve them," says Jane Goedecke, Awards Committee Chair for Garden Club of America.

Rick Middleton has been in the vanguard of the environmental movement for almost 40 years. Under his leadership, the Southern Environmental Law Center has grown to be the largest environmental organization focused exclusively on the South, with nearly 60 attorneys dedicated to protecting the region’s abundant natural resources and vibrant quality of life. Among other achievements, the organization has secured added protection for more than 2 million acres of Southern Appalachian national forest, won a unanimous victory in the United States Supreme Court to ensure cleaner air, and defended dozens of special places in our region, from Charleston and the Lowcountry to the Virginia countryside and Great Smoky Mountains.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Middleton graduated from the University of Virginia in 1968 and then received a law degree from Yale University in 1971, when many of the fundamental environmental laws of this nation were being created. Recognizing that the Southeast needed its own environmental champion, he founded SELC in 1986. It now has offices in six states: Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from an organization that has such a deep commitment to safeguarding our natural heritage,” says Middleton. “So much of SELC’s work is about protecting what is wonderful about the South—its natural beauty, its special places, its unique character. And like a garden, it requires constant nurturing and attention. I am very pleased that the garden club recognizes the importance of what we have achieved over the past 28 years—and our positive vision for the future.”

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About the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC)
Protecting the South’s Environment Through the Power of the Law

SELC is the largest environmental organization focused exclusively on the South. Since 1986, this nonprofit has worked successfully in all three branches of government to create, implement, and enforce environmental law and policy. Their major programs cover clean energy, transportation and land use, forests, the coast and wetlands, and preservation of rural countryside and community character. SELC has almost 60 attorneys working in nine offices throughout it six-state region, including: Charlottesville (SELC’s headquarters) and Richmond, Virginia; Chapel Hill and Asheville, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C. www.SouthernEnvironment.org.

SELC and Waccamaw Riverkeeper File Federal Clean Water Act Suit Against Santee Cooper for Coal Ash Pollution at Conway

2013-04-29T19:53:12+00:00

Today, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit under the United States Clean Water Act on behalf of the Waccamaw Riverkeeper against Santee Cooper for its illegal water pollution from coal ash at its Grainger facility in Conway, South Carolina. For decades, arsenic and other harmful substances from coal ash have polluted groundwater and the Waccamaw River, in violation of Santee Cooper’s water pollution elimination permit.

In February, the Southern Environmental Law Center gave notice to Santee Cooper and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) that it intended to file suit against Santee Cooper for its coal ash and arsenic water pollution at the Grainger facility in Conway. Under the federal Clean Water Act, after the passage of 60 days, suit may be filed under the Clean Water Act against Santee Cooper. In the sixty-day period, DHEC took no enforcement action against Santee Cooper for its illegal pollution, and Santee Cooper did nothing to stop or fix its toxic water pollution at Grainger.

Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, stated: “Santee Cooper continues to pollute ground water, wetlands, and the Waccamaw River with arsenic and other contamination from its coal ash in Conway. Santee Cooper’s coal ash pollution violates federal and state law. We are seeking to enforce the law because Santee Cooper has continued to break the law and DHEC has not enforced it.”

Santee Cooper stores 1.3 million tons of coal ash in unlined pits in wetlands on the Waccamaw River at Conway. At least since the early 1990s, Santee Cooper has known that its coal ash at Conway is discharging high levels of arsenic. The groundwater pollution at Conway has reached 3,228 parts per billion, over 300 times the legal standard, and Santee Cooper has found arsenic in the Waccamaw River. In 2009, DHEC officially notified Santee Cooper that it is operating illegally at Grainger because of its arsenic pollution. Yet, Santee Cooper continued to put more arsenic-laden coal ash in these unlined lagoons and has done nothing to remove the contaminating coal ash or the arsenic pollution.

Christine Ellis, the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, stated: “We are asking that Santee Cooper stop polluting the Waccamaw environment and the Conway community with arsenic and other contaminants. Since Santee Cooper will not act, we have been forced to ask the Court to enforce the Clean Water Act to protect our River and our community.”

Santee Cooper has recently proposed to DHEC in a so-called “closure plan” that it be allowed to leave its coal ash in the Waccamaw wetlands in Conway and that it also leave its arsenic pollution in Conway and the Waccamaw River system. At a public hearing on April 23, 2013, members of the public overwhelmingly opposed Santee Cooper’s plan and urged DHEC to require Santee Cooper to move its coal ash out of Conway. Santee Cooper could store the ash at permitted coal ash landfills at its Cross facility.

The Clean Water Act suit was filed in U.S. District Court in South Carolina. The Southern Environmental Law Center has also sought to enforce the S.C. Pollution Control Act against Santee Cooper in state court in Horry County. DHEC has found that Santee Cooper is violating the state act, but has not brought an enforcement action. The Southern Environmental Law Center has also brought suit in state court in Columbia, to force DHEC to issue a new water pollution elimination permit for the Grainger facility, because the existing permit expired over 6 years ago and has no limits for arsenic, mercury, or copper. This Clean Water Act suit is being brought because Santee Cooper is violating the provisions even of the old weaker permit, which remains in place until a new one is issued.

Frank Holleman stated: “Santee Cooper is violating state law. Santee Cooper is violating federal law. Santee Cooper is even violating its old, generous permit. And Santee Cooper has proposed a closure plan that would leave its pollution behind in Conway and that would not deal with its violations of law. We hope Santee Cooper will decide to do the right thing for Conway and the Waccamaw River and remove its coal ash and its arsenic from Conway.”

About the Southern Environmental Law Center:
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of more than 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.org
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/selc_org

About the Waccamaw Riverkeeper and Winyah Rivers Foundation:
The Waccamaw RIVERKEEPER® is a program of Winyah Rivers Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization whose mission is to protect, preserve, monitor and revitalize the health of the lands and waters of the greater Winyah Bay watershed. Our goal is to protect our community's right to fishable, swimmable and drinkable water. We pursue this goal through education and advocacy programs in support of our mission to protect our river resources. These programs are developed and implemented to increase the scientific literacy of our community, including local decision makers, and to engage them in environmental stewardship and planning for river resource protections.

News Advisory: Media Tour of George Washington National Forest as Forest Service Weighs Opening Area to Fracking

2013-04-15T15:15:44+00:00

What: A tour of the George Washington National Forest with some of the region’s most knowledgeable experts about this special area, in advance of the expected Forest Service decision in early June on whether to open up these lands to horizontal natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

When: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, April 25, 2013 (Lunch will be provided)

Where: Meet in Bridgewater, VA, where transportation will take you to/from the forest

RSVP: By April 23 to Erin Malec

The U.S. Forest Service is expected to announce its decision in early June on whether to open up Virginia’s George Washington National Forest (GW) – the largest national forest in the east – to horizontal natural gas drilling and the riskiest, most destructive form of fracking.

The tour for media will highlight the potential impacts of this risky form of drilling on the GW’s recreational opportunities, public water supplies, and fish and wildlife habitat. The GW plays an important role in providing water to much of our region, as it is a direct source of drinking water for over 260,000 people living in and around Virginia’s historic Shenandoah Valley, and it contains many headwaters of the James and Potomac Rivers, which ultimately supply drinking water to more than 4.5 million people in Richmond, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The outing will include a visit to Reddish Knob, a scenic landmark on Shenandoah Mountain and one of the highest points in Virginia, and some easy, short hiking along the forest’s beautiful trails. Leading the tour will be local and regional experts on the unique features of the GW and the potential impacts of fracking here:

• Sarah Francisco, Senior Attorney and National Forests and Parks Program Leader, Southern Environmental Law Center
• Kate Wofford, Executive Director, Shenandoah Valley Network
• Kim Sandum, Executive Director, Community Alliance for Preservation
• Lynn Cameron, Co-Chair, Friends of Shenandoah Mountain

For an overview on potential fracking in the GW, please visit
www.southernenvironment.org/uploads/fck/file/gwnf/fracking_gw_handout_0413.pdf

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700 Acres of Georgia Cypress Wetlands and Marsh to be Restored and Preserved

2013-03-28T14:22:28+00:00

A federal court yesterday evening approved an agreement between a private landowner and conservation groups to restore and protect over 700 acres of Georgia’s iconic cypress wetlands and coastal salt marsh near Brunswick, Georgia. The agreement resolves a federal enforcement action against the landowner brought by the conservation groups and pending enforcement actions by federal and state regulatory agencies.

“Today’s agreement is a creative solution among all parties that not only restores 700 acres of valuable wetlands and marsh along the Georgia coast, but also provides a manageable plan for the landowner to comply with state and federal laws,” said Bill Sapp, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The Southern Environmental Law Center represented the Glynn Environmental Coalition, Altamaha Riverkeeper and Satilla Riverkeeper in the case. The environmental groups worked with the private landowner, as well as the Georgia Coastal Resources Division and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to arrive at the settlement that was approved by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Brunswick.

“We’re pleased that this settlement will lead to the restoration of wetland forest,” said Daniel Parshley of the Glynn Environmental Coalition. “Hopefully, it will be the first step towards restoring several square miles of dead forest impacted by years of unwise ditching and draining, which allowed saltwater to move inland and kill the forest.”

The agreement creates an effective plan that for the landowner to restore and protect freshwater wetlands and salt marsh damaged by approximately 2.5 miles of roads and drainage ditches illegally constructed since 2005. Wetlands and marshes are valuable natural resources in Georgia that buffer its coastal communities from storms, absorb floodwaters, provide nursery areas for fish and crabs, and help filter runoff pollution from Georgia’s waters.

Under the agreed plan, the natural flow of freshwater through the wetlands and marsh across the property will be restored, pushing saltwater back out of the wetlands so cypress trees and other wildlife can flourish again. Unpermitted roads through the salt marsh will be removed, remaining roads will be breached 20 feet wide, and certain ditches plugged to restore the flow of water. Once the road breaches and ditch plugs are in place, the landowner is required to plant 5,000 - 6,000 native wetland trees, to include cypress, on the areas of the property suitable for planting.

“Cypress is such a part of our heritage on the Georgia coast,” said Deborah Sheppard, executive director of the Altamaha Riverkeeper. “We are very happy to see that cypress will be growing again on this 700 acre tract.”

“The entire tract will be protected under a conservation easement held by the Georgia Land Trust, Inc. that will protect the 700 acres of wetlands and marsh on site forever,” said Alan Bailey, Interim Satilla Riverkeeper.

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About Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC’s team of 40 legal experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use. www.SouthernEnvironment.org

About the Glynn Environmental Coalition
The Glynn Environmental Coalition works for a clean environment and a healthy economy for citizens of coastal Georgia by forming partnerships and providing education, information, and technical assistance.

About the Altamaha Riverkeeper
The Altamaha Riverkeeper is a grassroots organization dedicated to the protection, defense and restoration of Georgia’s biggest river--the Altamaha--including its tributaries the Ocmulgee, the Oconee and the Ohoopee.

About the Satilla Riverkeeper
The Satilla Riverkeeper’s vision is a Satilla River that supports healthy fisheries, safe swimming, diverse wildlife, outstanding
recreation, clean drinking water, and sustainable human economic activity throughout the basin.

Southern Environmental Law Center and Catawba Riverkeeper Give Notice of Suit to Stop Duke's Pollution of Charlotte's Drinking Water Reservoir

2013-03-26T18:56:23+00:00

The Southern Environmental Law Center has sent a notice to Duke Energy Carolinas LLC that it will bring suit under the Clean Water Act to stop Duke's coal ash pollution of Mountain Island Lake, the source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in the greater Charlotte area. SELC is representing the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, which monitors the site and has brought the pollution to Duke's attention. To date, Duke has taken no action to stop the pollution.

Duke operates the Riverbend facility, a coal-fired power plant, on Mountain Island Lake on the Catawba River in Gaston County, near Charlotte. The Duke facility includes two unlined coal ash lagoons containing millions of tons of coal ash, and they stick out into Mountain Island Lake. The millions of tons of coal ash are separated from the drinking water reservoir only by an 80-foot tall earthen berm, which is leaking.

Duke is illegally discharging polluted water into the lake. The coal ash contains toxic substances, the coal ash lagoons are unlined, and they leak from many places into Mountain Island Lake. As well, these unlined lagoons have contaminated the groundwater at the site, which also flows into Mountain Island Lake. The pollution includes arsenic, cobalt, boron, barium, strontium, manganese, zinc, and iron.

Duke has announced plans to close its Riverbend facility, but has plans to leave the coal ash next to Mountain Island Lake forever.

Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney at SELC, stated: "Duke should not be storing toxic coal ash in unlined lagoons beside Charlotte's drinking water reservoir. If there was ever a place where it is irresponsible to store coal ash, this is it. Duke should remove its toxic ash to a lined landfill away from drinking water and remove pollutants from the groundwater."

The notice was also sent to the North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources and to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. If Duke does not take appropriate action to stop its pollution within 60 days, SELC and the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation will file suit in federal court to stop the pollution.

Rick Gaskins, the Catawba Riverkeeper, stated: "The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation is committed to protect the Catawba River and the drinking water of the Charlotte area. It is long past time that Duke moved its coal ash away from Mountain Island Lake and stopped discharging toxic substances into Charlotte's drinking water reservoir."

Last week, NC DENR determined that Progress Energy, Duke's sister company, is violating state and federal law because of illegal discharges from coal ash lagoons at its Skyland facility near Asheville. NC DENR made those findings in response to a notice sent to Progress by the Southern Environmental Law Center, also under the Clean Water Act.

Frank Holleman stated: "Duke has wrongly been telling the community that it is complying with the environmental laws. In fact, Duke is violating state and federal law by polluting the reservoir from which Charlotte gets its drinking water. It is time that Duke told the Charlotte area the truth and cleaned up the toxic mess it has made on the banks of Mountain Island Lake."

Testing by the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation indicates that Duke is discharging arsenic into Mountain Island Lake in concentrations at least twice the applicable standard, cobalt at 52 times the standard, manganese at 128 times the standard, and iron at 27 times the standard. The substances discharged by Duke into Mountain Island Lake are well known pollutants. Arsenic is a known carcinogen that causes multiple forms of cancer in humans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that cobalt is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Manganese is known to be toxic to the nervous system. Manganese concentrations greater than 50 ug/L render water unusable by discoloring the water, giving it a metallic taste, and causing black staining. Iron can render water unusable by imparting a rusty color and a metallic taste and causing sedimentation and staining. Oral exposure to boron has led to developmental and reproductive toxicity in multiple species. Barium can cause gastrointestinal disturbances and muscular weakness. Concurrent exposure to multiple contaminants may intensify existing effects of individual contaminants, or may give rise to interactions and synergies that create new effects.

A similar suit by the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation and SELC against South Carolina utility SCE&G was settled last year when the utility agreed to move all 2.4 million tons of coal ash from its unlined Wateree Station lagoons to a lined landfill.

About the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation
The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation is a nonprofit organization with members in South and North Carolina that works to protect and restore the Catawba/Wateree River and its watershed.
WEB: www.catawbariverkeeper.org
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/CRFRiverkeeper

About the Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of more than 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.org
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/selc_org

Mountaintop Removal Mining and the Treasures of the Forest Are the Focus of 2013 Reed Writing Award

2013-03-23T19:52:50+00:00

Charlottesville, VA – SELC is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Reed Environmental Writing Award, which is given each year to a book and a journalism article that exemplify the best environmental writing in the South. In an unprecedented decision by the judges, this year’s awards will go to two books: Stand Up That Mountain by Jay Erskine Leutze and The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell. The authors will each receive a $1,000 prize as part of the award.

In Stand Up That Mountain, Jay Leutze tells the true story of how a small group of mountain people in North Carolina fought to save Belview Mountain from the destruction of mountaintop removal mining. While living and writing in his beloved Southern Appalachian Mountains, Leutze, a non-practicing lawyer, is contacted by two desperate women who want help saving the mountain that is their home. Leutze quickly realizes that the mining will mar the entire area—and the Appalachian Trail—and starts building a case with the help of his two new friends. With rich storytelling, Leutze paints vivid pictures of the colorful, resourceful characters he joins forces with and the mountains they love. Says long-time Reed Award judge Nikki Giovanni, “Stand Up That Mountain reads like a novel. Why don’t we get movies made from books like this?” Part documentation of a legal battle to prevent a mining company from breaking the law and part picture of life in Appalachia, Stand Up That Mountain is a powerful tale of what a determined few really can do.

David George Haskell, a biology professor at the University of the South, spends a year focusing on a small section of old growth forest floor in Tennessee’s Cumberland Forest in The Forest Unseen. The compilation of essays beautifully renders the minute happenings one can only see if concentrating carefully, possibly with a magnifying glass, as the author spends much of his year. Judge Bill McKibben notes, “David Haskell trains his eye on a single square meter of the Cumberland Plateau, and manages in the process to see the whole living planet as clearly as any writer in many years. Each chapter will teach you something new!” Through the lenses of science, Eastern philosophy, and our evolving culture, Haskell poetically describes the nearly invisible events taking place every day to create a book that, though focused on a tiny patch of forest, tells a story much larger than that.

For 18 years, SELC’s Reed Environmental Writing Award has recognized the writers and journalists who use the power of the pen to capture our imagination of the South’s natural wonders and raise our indignation at the forces that would destroy them. Educating and engaging the public in this way is central to the award’s mission and to SELC’s goal of safeguarding the South’s environment.

SELC is grateful to this year’s judges, who generously volunteer their time and talent:

Andrew Blechman Managing editor, Orion magazine.
Bruz Clark President and treasurer, Chattanooga-based Lyndhurst Foundation.
Jim Detjen Chair emeritus and founding president, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University; founding president, Society of Environmental Journalists.
Nikki Giovanni Grammy-nominated poet, activist, and author of Bicycles: Love Poems.
Silas House Author of The Coal Tattoo and Eli the Good.
Janet Lembke Author of Chickens: Their Natural and Unnatural Histories.
Bill McKibben Author of The End of Nature; co-founder of 350.org.
Deaderick Montague Civic leader, teacher, and writer; guiding inspiration behind creation of the Reed Writing Award; vice president of SELC board of trustees.
Janisse Ray Author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, the 2000 Reed Award winner.
Charles Seabrook Author of The World of the Salt Marsh; Reed Award winner in 1998.
Paul Sloan Executive director, Cumberland River Compact; founder, Partners in Conservation.
Donovan Webster Author of War Stories: True Life Fiction Inspired by the Global War on Terror.

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MEDIA ADVISORY

2013-03-14T13:51:03+00:00

Derb Carter of the Southern Environmental Law Center is scheduled to testify on March 14 before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding H.R. 819 that would overturn the National Park Service’s management of beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore where millions of people enjoy the beach each year and rare sea turtles and shorebirds nest on the beach.

Under the beach driving management plan, Hatteras Island enjoyed record-breaking tourism in April, June, July, and September of 2012 as reported by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau; and sea turtle nests during the 2012 nesting season also reached a record-breaking high of 222 nests according to the National Park Service. House Bill 819 would overturn the balanced plan created by public process that designates miles of beaches within the national seashore as available to off-road vehicles while protecting the safety of pedestrians and beach-nesting wildlife, increasing visitation to the seashore, and increasing revenue from local tourism despite the recession.

A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Burr (R-NC) and Hagan (D-NC).

WHAT: Hearing on House Bill 819 before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, Committee on Natural Resources, U.S. House of Representatives.

WHO: Derb Carter, senior attorney and director, North Carolina Office, Southern Environmental Law Center (copies of his testimony will be public at the time of the hearing)

WHEN: Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 10 a.m. EDT

WHERE: Room 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

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Note to editors:
• The Gross Occupancy Summary from the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau can be found at http://www.outerbanks.org/outerbanks-statistics/
• A chart of Hatteras Island Occupancy Revenue 2007-2012 is at http://www.southernenvironment.org/uploads/fck/Hatt%20Isl%20Occupancy%202007-2012.pdf
• Charts showing numbers of rare wildlife at Cape Hatteras over the years are at http://www.southernenvironment.org/uploads/fck/02-27-13%20species%20graphs%20UPDATED.pdf

About the Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is the only regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.org
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Birmingham City Council to Host Debate on Controversial Northern Beltline Project

2013-03-12T13:02:22+00:00

MEDIA ADVISORY

What: Birmingham City Council informational forum on the proposed Northern Beltline highway

When: 2:00 pm CDT, March 13, 2013

Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, Birmingham, AL

The Birmingham City Council will host a debate, open to media and the public, to hear from opponents and proponents of the proposed Northern Beltline, a 52-mile bypass north of Birmingham.

Opponents scheduled to present include the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has raised concerns about the impact the project would have on Birmingham’s air and water quality, particularly the headwaters of the Black Warrior and Cahaba rivers. SELC has challenged the environmental impact study for the Beltline as outdated and inadequate to determine the road’s real impact.

In addition to environmental concerns, the project is under scrutiny for its $4.7-billion price tag, which would make it the most expensive road project in Alabama’s history. Despite this significant cost, the project is projected to provide only 1-3% traffic relief and any jobs associated with its construction would cost taxpayers $450,000 per job.

As the long-term viability of the Beltline becomes more uncertain given the political climate in Washington and the other transportation needs in Birmingham that will go unmet if the Beltline is pursued, the Birmingham City Council scheduled the forum to hear more about the project’s possible impacts.

For more information on the project, please visit: www.southernenvironment.org/cases/northern_beltline/

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