ATLANTA – Legislation aimed at ensuring the huge number of solar farms springing up across rural Georgia don’t become permanent eyesores cleared the state House of Representatives Monday.
House Bill 300, which passed unanimously, requires companies that lease property for solar farms to restore the land to its natural state after the lease expires.
Restoration activities include removing the foundations of solar arrays from the ground to a depth of at lease three feet, filling holes that have been dug to accommodate solar panels, and removing cables and overhead power and communications line
The bill also requires the companies to provide financial assurance at least equal to the estimated cost of removing solar arrays and returning the property to its natural state.
The original version of the measure called for creating a state trust fund to finance restoring land used for solar farms. However, the bill’s backers decided a trust fund wasn’t necessary and money to pay for restoration activities could come through the private sector.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has released draft permits for a controversial proposed titanium mine near the Okefenokee Swamp.
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals is planning to mine titanium dioxide on Trail Ridge, the Okefenokee’s eastern hydrologic boundary.
While company executives have said the project would not harm the swamp, scientific studies have concluded the proposed mine would significantly damage one of the world’s largest intact freshwater wetlands.
“This is a dark day in Georgia’s history,” Josh Marks, an environmental lawyer and president of Georgians for the Okefenokee, wrote late Friday in an email to Capitol Beat.
“EPD may have signed a death warrant for the Okefenokee Swamp, our state’s greatest natural treasure, by moving forward with a project that independent scientists say will draw down the swamp’s water level, making it three times more likely to suffer drought conditions and increasing the risk of landscape-level fires that will destroy private property and release tens of millions of tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere.”
The project’s opponents have bombarded the EPD with more than 200,000 public comments against the mine, while more than a dozen cities and counties in the region and across the state have passed resolutions calling for protecting the Okefenokee. Legislation before the General House of Representatives would ban surface mining near the swamp.
Twin Pines President Steve Ingle called the EPD evaluation of the company’s application for permits a “thorough” review of the proposed mine.
“The exhaustive hydrology, geology, biology, and herpetology studies, as we have said all along, have been validated,” Ingle wrote in a prepared statement. “We expect stringent government oversight of our mining-to-reclamation project, which will be fully protective of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the region’s environment.”
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) urged Georgians concerned about the proposed mine to respond during the 30-day public comment period on the permits.
“While this moves Twin Pines one step closer towards its goal to dig for minerals on 8,000 acres along Trail Ridge, these permits are only drafts,” said Bill Sapp, a senior attorney with the SELC. “The reason Georgia EPD posts draft versions of the permit is because our state leaders give the public a chance to make their voices heard.”
ATLANTA – Two years ago, the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed legislation letting parents petition school principals to ban from school libraries books they consider obscene.
This year, the state Senate is considering two additional bills aimed at making it easier to ban books from school libraries.
But a third bill before the Senate would take the push against material considered harmful to minors on a different front. Senate Bill 390 would prohibit city, county, and regional libraries from using either tax dollars or private funds on any materials offered by the American Library Association (ALA).
“They have expanded beyond school libraries,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. “Now, they’re going after public libraries as well.”
The ALA has become controversial in right-wing circles in recent years for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the selection of library materials and for opposing book banning and other forms of censorship. Its president, Emily Drabinski, became a lightning rod in 2022 when she characterized herself as a “Marxist lesbian.”
“The ALA has proven it is not an organization of political neutrality,” Taylor Hawkins, director of advocacy for FrontLine Policy Action, a Christian advocacy group, told members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee Feb. 7. “This is an organization that cannot be trusted.”
Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry, Senate Bill 390’s chief sponsor, told committee members the ALA came to his attention when the Houston County Library sought a $20,000 grant from the organization, only to be told any materials the money was used to purchase had to promote DEI or deal with LGBTQ+ issues.
“That was not a reflection of the morals and values of our community and was inappropriate, especially in the children’s section,” Walker said. “They (the ALA) should be apolitical. They should not weigh into these controversial arenas.”
Walker’s characterization of the ALA grant drew pushback from a grassroots group called STOP Moms for Liberty, which bills itself as a defender of public education.
The group contended in a news release that the materials the grant purchased were E-books and E-audios not on the library’s physical shelves and were for adults and young adults. The ALA did not direct the selection of the materials, STOP Moms for Liberty also asserted.
Julie Walker, vice chancellor for libraries and archives with the University System of Georgia, which oversees the state’s public libraries. said local library boards determine what materials to place on their shelves.
“Selection of materials is not influenced by the ALA,” she told the Senate panel.
Sen. Walker told the committee an “unintended consequence” of his bill needs to be worked out as it makes its way through the General Assembly. Since the bill would essentially dissolve the state’s relationship with the ALA, it would leave working librarians and students of library sciences without a way to gain certification.
David Slykhuis, dean of the College of Education & Human Services at Valdosta State University, home to Georgia’s only master’s degree program in library sciences, said graduating students need ALA certification to get jobs.
“Losing accreditation would eliminate Valdosta State as a viable program for most students,” he said.
Walker said the states of Texas, Missouri, Montana, Alabama, Wyoming, and South Carolina have left the ALA. He suggested Georgia library officials work with their counterparts from other states to identify an alternate organization that could be used to accredit library sciences degree programs and certify graduating students.
“Other options will spring up more in line with Georgia values,” Hawkins said.
The committee did not vote on Walker’s bill at the Feb. 7 hearing, but it stands a good chance of passage. It enjoys the backing of influential Republican cosponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega.
ATLANTA – The chairman of a state Senate committee formed to investigate allegations swirling around Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election interference case against Donald Trump vowed Friday to oversee a fair but thorough probe.
“This is not going to be a partisan process,” Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said during the initial meeting of the Senate Special Committee on Investigations. “It is not the charge of this committee to disqualify counsel … criminally prosecute anybody … (or) disbar anybody.
“Our job is to investigate these troubling allegations, determine what the facts are, and shine light on these facts.”
The Republican-controlled Senate voted along party lines late last month to form the committee after one of Trump’s co-defendants in the case filed a motion accusing Willis of being involved in an improper relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to pursue the investigation. Trump later joined the motion, which seeks to disqualify Willis from the case.
Willis responded to the allegations last week with a court filing in which she acknowledged a “personal relationship” with Nathan Wade but argued it does not constitute grounds for dismissing the racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 co-defendants or for disqualifying her. A federal court hearing on the motions is scheduled for Feb. 15.
The state Senate has the legal authority to launch investigations, including the power to subpoena witnesses and take depositions from witnesses testifying under oath.
But Cowsert noted senators have rarely sought to make use of that investigative authority. In light of that, he drafted a dozen rules that will govern the committee’s activities.
The rules guarantee that at least one minority Democrat must sit on each subcommittee the main panel decides to form, and that Democrats will be afforded the opportunity to attend depositions and ask questions. The nine-member committee includes three Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, a member of the committee, praised Cowsert for ensuring Democrats will have a say as the investigation moves forward.
“A political witch hunt or show trial would damage Georgians’ faith in our political system,” she said
After the committee approved the rules unanimously, Cowsert said he will begin hiring staff for the panel, including outside legal counsel.
He said the committee likely will meet within seven to 10 days to start its work and continue meeting every two weeks moving forward.
Cowsert promised the committee will take its work seriously and not use it to score political points.
“This will not be a public media circus,” he said. “We’re not doing this for publicity.”
ATLANTA – UNESCO World Heritage Site designation would double visitation at the Okefenokee Swamp Park, create about 750 long-term jobs, and deliver $60 million in annual economic impact, according to a new study.
The report, commissioned by The Conservation Fund, would generate an additional 800,000 annual visits to the Okefenokee in addition to the more than 800,000 who currently visit the swamp each year.
Three new improvements being planned at the park – a state-of-the-art nature center in Waycross, a cultural history center in Folkston, and an observatory in Fargo – packaged together as the Okefenokee Experience would produce another $46 million in annual economic impact and nearly 50 additional jobs, the study found.
Advocates for the Okefenokee have mounted a campaign to convince the Georgia Environmental Protection Division not to approve a proposed titanium mine along Trail Ridge near the swamp. Legislation banning mining near the Okefenokee is pending in the state House of Representatives.
The bill’s backers say the new study lends more ammunition to the argument to keep mining away from the swamp.
“This report is tremendous news that shows the strong ROI (return on investment) and economic impact that both the World Heritage Site designation and completion of the Okefenokee Experience improvements would have on our region,” said Kim Bednarek, executive director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park.
“We are simultaneously protecting the swamp, opening it up to new visitors and audiences, and creating more jobs and tax revenues.”
“Beyond the headline numbers, this data shows that World Heritage will open the door for new small businesses, help the area attract and retain talent, and spark a positive cycle of reinvestment in Southeast Georgia,” added Lance Gloss, manager of The Conservation Fund’s Natural Resources Economy Program.
Local governments in the region and elsewhere in Georgia have lent their support to protecting the swamp.
Resolutions supporting the Okefenokee have passed the city councils in Albany, Savannah, Waycross, Valdosta, Homeland, Kingsland, St. Marys, Jesup, and Brookhaven. County commission resolutions have passed in Clinch, Echols, Ware, and DeKalb counties.
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled state Senate passed legislation Thursday Democrats charged would make it harder for unions to organize in Georgia.
Senate Bill 362, which passed 31-23 along party lines, would prohibit businesses seeking state economic development incentives from voluntarily recognizing the establishment of a union if a secret-ballot election option is available.
The measure also forbids companies from disclosing their workers’ contact information to union organizers without written permission.
Senate Republicans argued the bill, part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2024 legislative agenda, is aimed at protecting employees’ privacy rights, while guaranteeing secret ballot elections would make it more difficult for union organizers to intimidate workers.
“It does not prohibit a company’s employees from unionizing,” Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, one of Kemp’s floor leaders in the Senate and the bill’s chief sponsor, told his Senate colleagues Thursday. “Each employee is free to vote in private without coercion, intimidation, or harassment.”
But Democrats turned that argument on its head by maintaining secret-ballot elections let company officials – not unions – intimidate their workers during campaigns that can drag out for months and often include “captive audience” meetings with employees to sway their votes.
“It discourages unions from expanding in this state … from holding big business accountable,” said Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta.
Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, who was a member of the Professional Air Traffic Control Organization (PATCO) before then-President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 PATCO members during a 1981 strike, said the bill is being pushed by business interests with political influence.
“This bill isn’t for hardworking Georgians,” she said. “It’s for those who have the governor on speed-dial.”
Other Senate Democrats charged the bill would violate the 1935 National Labor Relations Act by taking away the option of voluntary recognition of unions.
But Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said secret-ballot elections play an important role in safeguarding America’s political system.
“This bill does not protect big business,” he said. “This bill protects the right to conscience. … The anonymity of the ballot is essential.”
