Party Tonight!

The annual fundraiser and mega-fun party for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, River Revival, is this tonight at Park Tavern on Piedmont Park! Tickets are $45. at the door. More info here.

Let's all party down, save rivers, network, schmooze, eat, drink and make merry at the park... dancing, bluegrass, and even Dames A'Flame!

River Revival Party This Thursday!

Folks, the annual fundraiser and mega-fun party for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, River Revival, is this Thursday May 10 at Park Tavern on Piedmont Park. Tuesday the 7th is the last day to buy tickets online for the amazingly low price of only $40. (They go way up to $45. at the door.)

Order online here. Let's all party down, save rivers, network, schmooze, eat, drink and make merry at the park... dancing, bluegrass, and even Dames A'Flame!

Sonny's Do To The DNR Board

Governor Perdue appointed Joe Hatfield, chairman of Fieldale Farms Corporation, to the DNR Board in 2006. He was confirmed by Senator Tommie Williams et al in the same action that excluded Sally Bethea of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

Here's Fieldale’s violations of environmental regulations - about $100,000 in fines for seven different consent orders.

But wait! There's more! Mr. Hatfield was placed on the DNR Board’s Environmental Protection Committee - the most important regulatory committee on the board.

I think we can now safely say... the fox is soooo guarding the hen house.

Executed orders:

Under authority of the Water Quality Control Act (including Surface Water Allocation):

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation, land application system/Toccoa
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4674
Date of Issue:
January 29, 2007
Cause of Order:
Sludge spill/fish kill in Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Provide interim plan for operation/maintenance of existing pretreatment system to comply with Permit; submit maintenance/replacement schedule for protein conversion cooker; submit spill containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$35808.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4001
Date of Issue:
June 21, 2002
Cause of Order:
Fish kill at South Fork of Mud Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Develop/implement a current and approvable stormwater pollution prevention plan; submit complete, detailed facility evaluation and diagram, by certified engineer; submit written standard operating plan
Settlement Amount:
$10543.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3732
Date of Issue:
May 30, 2000
Cause of Order:
Violations of Industrial Pretreatment Permit
Requirement(s) of Order:
Submit standard operating procedure for correctly calculating data reported on discharge monitoring reports; develop/submit approvable program for routine calibration and maintenance of flow meters;
Settlement Amount:
$37250.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-99-120
Date of Issue:
July 09, 1999
Cause of Order:
Pretreatment Permit violation
Requirement(s) of Order:
Correct immediately
Settlement Amount:
$750.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3592
Date of Issue:
February 15, 1999
Cause of Order:
Spill/fish kill to Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Implement spill prevention and containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$10000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-ERT-WQ-3577
Date of Issue:
January 07, 1999
Cause of Order:
Chemical spill/fish kill
Requirement(s) of Order:
Immediately notify proper authority in the event of future spills or releases
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-98-075
Date of Issue:
December 09, 1998
Cause of Order:
Industrial pretreatment permit violations
Requirement(s) of Order:
Comply immediately
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Information courtesy of UCR.

Let's Commit Citizen Journalism!

Got a couple of citizen journalism irons in the fire: One being micro... about the ludicrous water bills residents in the NW corridor, Underwood Hills and Berkley Park areas, are receiving from the City of Atlanta water department. Our condo association's has tripled since Dec. of 2006, blowing our entire budget for 2007. We are hardly alone.

One neighbor's absurd story is here on WXIA -- thanks to our e-organizing efforts to get some sunshine on this, uh, draining issue. Many many thanks to Jerry Carnes for paying attention to our issues here in intown Atlanta! You're the best. Keep up the work, 'cause we got lots more where than came from. (I'm shooting video of our condos' saga too, in hopes that some MSM will want some of that to supplement their own hard work.)

In other less micro matters... that marvelous Wilson Smith from What Is Going On in Lyons, Georgia, interviewed Sally Bethea from Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper a couple of days ago on his show/podcasts about her being fired from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Board. Sally's interview with Wilson is here.

Sally was on Governor Perdue's Office of Executive Appointments for this year's state boards and commissions, as she has been for the past 8 years.

But Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), the State Senate Majority Leader and Chairman of the Committee on Assignments, managed to jettison Sally from the list this Legislative session, saying that since she's also a lobbyist, for an environmentally-minded non-profit, she shouldn't be on the Department of NATURAL RESOURCES board, although she's been both since 1999.

So that kinda begs the question... is Tommie Williams now going to purge all state boards and commissions of their lobbyista? He should do unto others as he did to Sally, right? He surely is quite the ethically-minded politician, and obviously feels a burning need to clean house right about now... especially of those pesky environmentalists!

Wilson and I want to get a master list of the 300+ Governor appointees to state boards for 2007, and just run a quick lil 'ole check of names on that list by the list of registered state lobbyists -- just to make sure there are no other conflict-of-interest discrepancies he may have overlooked. If there are any conflicts, Wilson wants to interview them too!

So I called the Governor's Office of Executive Appointments (404-656-1776) yesterday to try to get me that list. A woman named "Celine" (she wouldn't give her last name) refused to give me the list, saying it wasn't "released to the public."

So I then called Josh Willis, a cool guy and very interested in social media, who's the Senate Majority Leader's Chief of Staff, and I proceeded to have a nice chat with him, mostly about high-speed access across Georgia. But he eventually said he didn't have The List, go figure, and referred me instead to the Lt. Governor's office.

At that point, I needed a nap! So I will resume trying to find The List today... so we can just make sure Sally Bethea isn't the only Governor appointee to a board who is also a lobbyist. Call me a silly girl, but I get the nagging feeling she's not the only one.

I think that Senator Tommie Williams, from Wilson's neck of the woods, just needs a little citizen journalism help in getting rid of EVERYONE on a Georgia state board with some of those pesky "conflicts of interest." So I'm so glad we bloggers and podcasters are here to help our Senate Majority Leader with this rather annoying little task, eh!?

Anything you can add to this, uh, effort and conversation, please lemme know.

UPDATE: Thanks to the cache of PP, and not the SGR, as of 1:45pm Friday, I have an UPDATE for ya:

Celine The Intern! Bless her heart. She’s got a great career in politics (or journalism) I must say. Young bulldog & excellent gatekeeper. I’d hire her in a sec.

The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments, Celine’s boss in other words, almost immediately contacted me (on my cell too) as soon as this post went up on PP. (Thanks Erick!) They are going to fax me the list of names first thing on Monday. I’d get it now from ‘em, but I gotta run go be mom for the rest of this lovely day.

Enough name calling and blogging! Going to go commence weekend of fun.

I’ll get back on this list thingee first thing Monday. If anyone else needs The List sooner, then you’ll have to contact the office of Execu- Appointments (404-651-7735) yourself.

And see folks, Republicans and Democrats can work together! Even in this state.

DNR Board Members

I just had to send this letter to the DNR Board about Sally Bethea from the non-profit environmental dot org, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, being let go from their Board. Write back soon, DNR!

Dear DNR Board:
Are there members of the DNR Board who pressured Senator Tommie Williams’ Committee on Assignments to drop Sally Bethea from the DNR Board? As a blogger-journalist, video producer and taxpayer, I certainly would like to know who felt Sally shouldn’t be on the board alongside them.

And what are the backgrounds of all the DNR members? Where are all the others employed? Who do they answer to? Do you have a list of who they work for on your website?

Please send tons of great information when you can. We Atlanta bloggers alone will be sticking with this situation/story. It’s a good one! Lots of questions abound. And if anyone on the DNR board would like to do an on-camera interview, please let me know.

Sincerely,
Grayson D.
President
WaySouth Media, Inc.

Of course, if Sally Bethea was fired from this particular State office's board for being a paid lobbyist (in her case for a non-profit), as Tommie Williams has claimed was the reason, even though she's been a lobbyist and on the DNR board since 1999, shouldn't all lobbyists sitting on ANY State office board now also be fired? Surely there are others out there. DOT maybe?

Gone and Done It Now

I am sooooo pissed with the Georgia State Senate and their leader from Lyons, Georgia, Tommie Williams, that I can't see straight right now. They fired a fine person, Sally Bethea, from the Board of Natural Resources on Thursday.

Why? Because she also lobbied for good, clean, viable drinking water for Atlanta, and for clean, viable rivers. And oh yeah... one other reason she was fired... she asked too many "tough" questions in board meetings. From the AJC today:

Bethea, who rankles some of the board's other members with persistent questions and strong opinions particularly on water quality issues, said she viewed her role as advocating for a healthy environment.

"I represent the people of this state who want clean air, clean water, quality of life, and you can't sit still on that board and not ask questions and not ask about potential problems, " Bethea said. "Certainly there are some good people on the DNR board who care about Georgia's environment, but the dominant voices are the voices of the growth industry who will stop at nothing to make money off Georgia's natural resources."

The full AJC story is here. My initial reaction to the news is here in Peach Pundit, where I first read about it. And the video promo I just made for Sally's organization, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, is here.

This makes it more urgent and more critical then ever that you folks come to the fundraiser for UCR on May 10th... now more than ever does the organization need your help; not just to help clean and protect our rivers, but to protect decent, good, environmentally-minded people from our Republican-controlled Legislature.

Unbelievable...

Folks, the Chattahoochee is it. All she wrote. That's all we've got for drinking water. If we let it deteriorate into pure filth, then that's what we live with, drink, and play in -- pure filth. Like we weren't living with the filth already down there at The Gold Dome.

Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope. Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope. Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope. Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope. Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope. Help us Obi Wan Wilson... you're our only hope.

Shit... Stormtroopers... gotta run!