The Savannah Riverkeeper organization, headed up by Tonya Bonitatibus, is lobbying the Augusta Commission to adopt an ordinance that will place an undue burden on any industry that seeks to operate in Richmond County.
The proposed ordinance, which, by her own admission, was not drafted by Bonitatibus, is a simple cut and paste of an ordinance that has been adopted by Hancock County, Ga., a rural county with a population of less than 9,000 people.
What Bonitatibus recommends the city of Augusta adopt will triple the red tape for anyone exploring the idea of creating industry or manufacturing that might use chemicals in the daily process of operation.
The proposed ordinance would force business owners to produce studies on the health histories of residents within a two-mile radius of their facility, hold public hearings, identify any historic buildings that may be nearby, provide data on how much electricity and water the proposed buildings will use and even detail how many trucks will be operating near and around the facility.
This ordinance is proposed for areas that are already zoned as industrial.
The EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Georgia EPD already have permitting measures in place that prevents mega-corporations from coming in and polluting the air and groundwater, Bonitatibus’ resolution does nothing but triplicate the already tedious process of getting a manufacturing facility approved.
Ironically, Bonitatibus began this “environmental justice” crusade against a local man who wants to build a biomass plant that actually conforms to what the green energy crowd wants. Rather than send food scraps to the landfill, Ben McElreath wants to use a chemical process to transform the organic matter into renewable natural gas.
McElreath has been forthcoming and has disclosed all facts regarding the environmental impact of his proposed plant and the site will actually reduce the methane output that currently exists at the landfill.
This is not the first time that Bonitatibus and the Riverkeeper organization have cried wolf. A charge was led by the group to prevent Aurubis Richmond from operating a copper smelting operation even after Cal Wray, director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority traveled to Hamburg, Germany to see first-hand the company’s operations and declared it safe and beneficial for Augusta.
Wray has a masters degree in science and economics, so we tend to trust his judgment. Meanwhile, Bonitatibus has a degree in communications, and we must say that she has put that degree to good use.
Savannah Riverkeeper is a needed organization that does good work in looking after our natural areas and protecting both wildlife and human health, but this time we must respectfully disagree with the proposed ordinance and urge our Augusta commissioners to vote to take Bonitatibus’ suggestions as “information.”
