Oconee County residents have the right to be proud of an activist county

Forgive the duplicated posting.

See the comments below regarding the EPD hearing held last Tuesday night. No need trying to say anything more when Charlie and Lee sum it up very well.

Folks, trust us when we say Lee Becker worked very hard on this issue. Through his diligence there may yet be a lasting impact on how the county handles wastewater discharge.

There are articles in today’s Oconee Enterprise and Athens Banner Herald. Below is a link to the ABH article. You may have to register to read it (no worries, it’s free and harmless).

http://onlineathens.com/stories/121406/news_20061214037.shtml

Cheers,

Tony Glenn

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc.
P. O. Box 1301
Watkinsville, GA 30677

Following is a message from Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek with a summary of the DEC. 12 public hearing on the county's application to discharge treated sewer water into Barber Creek. Lee did a wonderful job with organizing and researching in preparation for the hearing. Oconee County citizens should be proud of the way the county was represented by the citizens who spoke. In addition to several top Georgia EPD officials four of the five County Commissioners, Jim Luke, Chuck Horton, Margaret Hale and Chairman Davis were in attendance. They all heard very clearly the concerns we have with using our small creeks for sewer water disposal. Citizens who live here now should have at least as much consideration as those who might come in the future.

Charles Baugh, President

Dear Friends:

More than 60 citizens attended the public hearing at the Civic Center last night. With the EPD, the County elected officials and department heads, the county's consultants, and the press, the room was close to capacity.

The County and EPD made opening comments and then took questions. People asked tough, pointed and factually based questions. The EPD, consultants, and county officials gave mostly guarded answers. Jimmy Parker, one of the County's consultants, did make one important admission: The County believes Barber Creek can handle even more sewage water than this permit, if granted, will allow. So this is only the start.

Twenty-two people who had agreed in advance to speak during the public hearing phase of the meeting did so, as did several others from the audience. The Public Hearing ran from 7 to 9:30!

We also turned in 40 signed petitions asking that the water not be released if the creek is flooding, that the water be cleaned to drinking-level standards, and the EPD agree to frequent, independent monitoring.

I do not believe the EPD or the County expected the turnout, the questions, or the large number of well-informed and well-prepared speakers.

This happened because many, many people, some of whom could not attend the meeting itself, worked extremely hard.

We should pat ourselves on the back. We don't know what will happen. We think we have established the basis for an appeal of the decision if the EPD grants a permit. We have documented a number of technical errors in the permitting process and in the drafting of the permit itself and submitted them at the meeting last night.

If you have not yet signed and sent in a petition, please send it directly to the EPD at the address on the petition. These and any other comments you wish to make must be RECEIVED by the EPD by December 19. If you need a petition, go to http://www.barbercreek.org./barbercreek/news.html and click on the petition button.

Thanks, everyone, for all the hard work.

Lee

Lee Becker

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