Virginia lawmakers are giving prosecutors a powerful new tool to crack down on the brutal practice of dogfighting. Earlier this month, they passed a bill adding the crime to others covered under the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which has been used in the past against criminal enterprises involving drugs, gambling and child pornography.

Making dogfighting a RICO crime gives Virginia prosecutors enhanced investigatory powers as well as more generous statute limitations, tougher sentences, bigger fines, the ability to "seize and freeze" a defendant's assets before conviction, and forfeiture of any gains. Written by the national nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund, the legislation was shepherded through the assembly by state Sen. W. Roscoe Reynolds. ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells says the new law "sends a very strong message to the dogfighting community."

The move comes after authorities busted a Virginia dogfighting operation last year involving former Atlanta Falcons football star Michael Vick, who's now serving a 23-month sentence in federal prison. Vick's co-defendant Tony Taylor was released from prison this week after completing his two-month sentence, the lightest of the four due to his cooperation with federal officials.

Virginia is not the only state that's getting tougher on dogfighting: Georgia lawmakers recently passed a bill that stiffens penalties for dogfighting and that makes it illegal to be a spectator at a dogfight. The measure also outlaws owning, breeding, purchasing, or transporting a dog for the purpose of fighting or baiting. And at the federal level, Congress last year passed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which makes it a felony to organize a dog fight.

(Photo of a fight-scarred pit bull courtesy of the Louisiana SPCA)

Labels: dogfighting, friday dogblogging, Georgia, Michael Vick, pit bulls, virginia

Those of us following the disaster on the Gulf Coast know the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave hurricane-displaced families temporary housing that was later found to be contaminated with hazardous formaldehyde. We also know the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dragged its feet before finally studying the trailer contamination and complied with FEMA's demands not to consider long-term impacts like cancer.

Well, it turns out the toxic trailer debacle is part of a bigger story about the ATSDR's failure to protect public health.

The Washington Independent just published a two-part investigation examining what it calls the agency's "questionable approaches" to communities with environmental health concerns. The first installment posted last week examined evidence of cover-ups in ATSDR's health studies of the Great Lakes region (initially uncovered by the Center for Public Integrity) and an eastern Pennsylvania community with unusually high rates of a rare blood cancer. (I've also been covering the Pennsylvania study on my Hometown Hazards blog.)

This week's installment looks at the agency's actions in two Southern communities -- Midlothian, Tx., and Athens, Ga. In Midlothian, the ATSDR considered health effects of air pollution from several industrial facilities at the request of local residents concerned about the rate of birth defects. The agency came up with "indeterminate" findings, but critics of the study -- among them a former CDC epidemiologist -- say the agency used faulty monitoring data from the state and failed to consider key pollutants.

The Athens case involves a health study requested by resident Jill McElheney, who was living across the street from a petroleum tank farm when her 4-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia; subsequent lab tests found their well was contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to the cancer. The ATSDR also came up with inconclusive findings in that study -- but failed to consider a facility less than 200 yards from the sick child's home, ignored air emissions, and declined to talk with the families of five other local children with leukemia who McElheney knew.

The series' conclusion?

The ATSDR's approach to public health studies of environmental sources has proven negligent in all the cases investigated by The Washington Independent. Some members of the local communities say the agency expends energy to make sure no health problem is found.

Labels: ATSDR, birth defects, CDC, FEMA, Georgia, leukemia, polycythemia vera, texas, toxic trailers

With the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, it's becoming clear that many New Orleans residents displaced by the disaster won't be coming home any time soon. As Bill Quigley recently reported, half of the city's displaced working poor, elderly and disabled residents still have not returned, and demolition of the city's public housing stock continues despite the protests of international human rights officials.

Given that harsh reality, some of Katrina's displaced are stepping up organizing efforts in the communities where they live now. In Atlanta, for example, they recently created Network New Orlanta, a social networking community with a mission to connect the people of New Orleans who are now living in Georgia's biggest city:

The goal of the social network is to pool and identify financial resources, job placement and business opportunities, mental healthcare access and educational advancement programs that will assist in stabilizing families [affected] by Hurricane Katrina. Network New Orlanta further plans to serve as a watchdog organization that will advocate, lobby and demand accountability of elected officials and agencies fundraising on behalf of Hurricane Katrina families. Organizers are all natives and supporters of New Orleans who are dedicated to the rebuilding progress and process and the quality of life for those who remain displaced.

The first Network NewOrlanta mixer will take place on March 15 at Blaxx Entertainment Complex, 1245 Fowler St., from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. and will feature traditional New Orleans food and cocktails. Says ChiQ Simms, a publicist who's one of the event's organizers:

"It is important that we gather more frequently to effect change for ourselves. It is vital that we posture ourselves to be a part of the solution. Our message is about prioritizing New Orleans people, not the politics."

For more information about Network New Orlanta and the upcoming mixer, contact Sandy at sugathesoutherndiva [at] gmail.com. To make a financial or in-kind donation, call the group's offices at 404-816-6000 or e-mail divadend [at] bellsouth.net.

Labels: Atlanta, Georgia, Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, housing, human rights, louisiana, new orleans, organizing, public housing

In an effort to de-escalate the growing tensions between Georgia and Tennessee regarding water rights and the boundary between the states, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield issued a proclamation:

WHEREAS, it has come to pass that the heavens are shut up and a drought of Biblical proportions has been visited upon the Southern United States, and

WHEREAS, the parched and dry conditions have weighed heavily upon the State of Georgia and sorely afflicted those who inhabit the Great City of Atlanta, and

WHEREAS, the leaders of Georgia have assembled like the Children of Israel in the desert, grumbled among themselves and have begun to cast longing eyes toward the north, coveting their neighbor’s assets, and

WHEREAS, the lack of water has led some misguided souls to seek more potent refreshment or for other reasons has resulted in irrational and outrageous actions seeking to move a long established and peaceful boundary, and

WHEREAS, it is deemed better to light a candle than curse the darkness, and better to offer a cool, wet kiss of friendship rather than face a hot and angry legislator gone mad from thirst, and

Whereas, it is feared that if today they come for our river, tomorrow they might come for our Jack Daniels or George Dickel,

NOW THEREFORE, In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

I Ron Littlefield, Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, do hereby Proclaim that Wednesday, February 27, 2008 shall be known as “Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day.”

To make good on his proclamation, Littlefield yesterday ordered 2000 bottles of water delivered to the Georgia capitol building in Atlanta. The plan backfired, however, when Georgia took the first prisoners of war in the great Georgia v. Tennessee Border War of 2008:

[Mayor's aide Matt] Lea - accompanied by Georgia state Sen. Jeff Mullis, a north Georgia Republican who has pushed for the border change - were both handcuffed on charges of bringing moonshine into the state. The state trooper who slapped the cuffs on them was in on the gag.

"Kind and friendly negotiations will continue with the levity you see today," Mullis said after the state trooper took off the cuffs, adding: "They weren't sure if that substance was water or some high octane liquid."

Lea came dressed as Tennessee frontiersman Davy Crockett, donning a buckskin outfit, a powderhorn and a coonskin cap - with a hint of a modern touch. A Blackberry fit neatly into one of his pockets.

"I didn't want to bring a musket or a knife," he quipped. "I didn't want to offend the Georgia Legislature."

Gov. Bredesen's office could not be reached for comment on whether troops had yet been dispatched to Lynchburg and Tullahoma to defend Tennessee's supply of Jack Daniels and George Dickel.

Labels: Georgia, humor, Tennessee, water rights

An administrative law judge has upheld Georgia's decision to issue an air pollution permit for Dynegy's proposed coal-burning power plant in Early County. But environmental attorneys say they will appeal, charging that the judge ignored evidence that the company will not adequately restrict pollution from the Longleaf plant that threatens human health and crops critical to the local economy.

"This is the first coal-fired power permit to be approved in Georgia in over 20 years but with this court's ruling, I fear it will not be the last," says Justine Thompson, executive director of GreenLaw, which is leading the legal fight against the plant. "As neighboring states stand up against coal plants, Georgia's acquiescence will make us a target for new coal-fired power plant proposals. Building this plant as currently designed will lock this state into dirty air for the life of the plant, at least 50 or more years."

Georgia's decision comes as plans for other coal-fired projects across the United States have been canceled or delayed due to rising construction costs and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. James Hansen, a scientist who runs NASA's Goddard Space Center, has said he believes the government will be forced to regulate coal plants out of existence in the near future due to climate concerns.

During the hearing for Dynegy's proposed plant, GreenLaw attorney George Hays pointed out that the state Environmental Protection Division staff could not explain how permit limits for harmful soot and smog had been reached and said that state employees adopted conclusions proposed by Dynegy verbatim and without independent verification. The Houston-based Dynegy has proposed building more new coal-fired power plants than any other U.S. company.

Environmental advocates, health care providers and patient groups oppose the plant, and the Medical Association of Georgia issued a resolution opposing the building of any new coal-fired plants in the state, which already has 10 such facilities. The proposed Dynegy plant would emit 9 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually and 4,700 tons of sulfur dioxide. The plant's particulate emissions would violate the Environmental Protection Agency's standards for safe air in the community where the plant is located, and the facility would draw more than 20 million gallons of water per day from the Chattahoochee River, which has already been impacted by the region's severe ongoing drought.

Early County -- where African Americans make up almost half of the population and more than a quarter of the population lives in poverty -- already faces a serious pollution problem from Great Southern Paper Co.'s papermill. According to EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, the mill released more than 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals to the air in 2005 alone, including 240 pounds of lead, 47 pounds of mercury -- both potent neurotoxins -- and more than 2,200 pounds of benzene, a known carcinogen. Dynegy's plant would dramatically increase the local community's toxic burden.

For more details on the proposed plant's impact on environmental justice, see the comments [PDF] submitted to state regulators by the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest, which has since changed its name to GreenLaw. For a copy of the judge's ruling, click here [PDF]. And for more on the fight against Georgia's coal plants, visit www.nonewcoal.org.

Labels: coal, energy policy, environment, Georgia, global warming

Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear have proposed adding two new reactors to the existing two at the Alvin Vogtle nuclear power plant on the Savannah River near Waynesboro, Ga. But environmental health advocates warn that the plan could worsen existing radiation pollution from the facility -- as well as possibly related public health problems.

A new report written by Joseph Mangano of the nonprofit Radiation and Public Health Project and released by the North Carolina-based Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has documented a significant rise in radioactivity levels in drinking water, river water and sediment at or downstream from the Vogtle plant. From 1987-1990, when the plant began operating, to 1991-2003, during full operation, beta radiation rose by 37.1 percent in raw drinking water and 17.8 percent in treated drinking water. In sediment, radioactive beryllium-7 increased by 39.5 percent and cesium-137 by 37.4 percent. And in river water, levels of tritium -- a radioactive isotope of hydrogen -- increased by 44.6 percent.

During that same period, the national cancer death rate for children and adolescents declined by 14.1 percent. But in Georgia's Burke County, where the plant is located, the death rate for all cancers rose sharply -- especially for young people. For Burke residents ages 0 to 24 years, the cancer death rate rose by 55.5 percent, while for residents ages 25 to 54 it rose by 55.1 percent. The report states:

The findings suggest that some factor(s) introduced since the late 1980s has raised cancer risk in the area, particularly in Burke County. Because radioactive chemicals are known to cause cancer, the startup of Vogtle 1 and 2 should be considered as one contributing factor.

Lou Zeller, BREDL's clean air campaign coordinator, received a rebuttal from Georgia Power that accuses Mangano of resorting to a "scare tactic" even while acknowledging company officials "have not had an opportunity to review the ... study in detail." It continues:

Both Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear Operating Company are confident that Plant Vogtle is operated safely and does not pose a health risk to the people living in the vicinity of the plant. The NRC's licensing requirements ensure that two additional units would also not pose a risk to public health and safety.

So how then do they account for the rise in radiation pollution and cancer deaths in the area since the plant began operating? The company's rebuttal offers no alternative explanation.

Labels: energy policy, environment, Georgia, public health

Today's Democracy Now! radio show features an interview with Vanity Fair reporter David Rose, who has a new book out on the infamous "Stocking Stranglings" that took place in Columbus, Ga. in the late 1970s. The case involved a serial killer who raped and murdered several elderly, well-to-do white women in their beds.

In 1986, eight years after the last murder, an African-American man named Carlton Gary was convicted and sentenced to death for three of the killings -- though no physical evidence was found to link him to the crimes.

Then two years ago, a new piece of evidence turned up: a long-missing bite-mark mold taken from the last victim. Gary's attorney argued that the mold did not match his client's teeth. But last week, U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land ruled that the new evidence is not enough to challenge Gary's conviction. The case now goes to a federal appeals court in Atlanta.

As Rose told DN!, the case has an extraordinary racial history angle:

In my book, I’ve not just talked about the case. I’ve talked about the whole kind of history of race relations in Columbus, Georgia. And I’ve gone back to even before the Civil War and shown, I think, how that history of violence and racism and oppression has fed into this case. But there is one incredible thread that runs through it, which is the role of a single family, begins with a man called Aaron Brewster Land, who was responsible for two absolutely horrendous lynchings in the early part of the 1900s. We move to his son, John Land. John Land covers up the death of the black civil rights leader in Columbus, Thomas H. Brewer, in 1956, and he then makes the decisions in Carlton Gary’s case, by the time of which, of course, he’s become a judge. He had been the district attorney in ’56. He makes the decisions, which deny Carlton Gary funding for his trial. And now it’s his great-nephew who is the federal judge, who holds Carlton Gary’s fate in his hand. It’s Judge Clay Land of the federal court of Columbus who now has to decide whether to give him a new trial. So there’s this extraordinary continuity of more than a century, and this one family kind of represents this. And it’s down to Clay Land to decide whether to do the right thing.

To listen to the entire interview or read the transcript, click here.

Labels: criminal justice, death penalty, Georgia, race and racism

Political prognosticators Isaac Wood and Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia report today that there will be up to five special elections for the U.S. House in 2007 -- two of them in the South.

The first race will be to fill the vacant seat of deceased Georgia Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood (GA-10), who passed from lung cancer in February. His shoe-in replacement was thought to be State Senator Jim Whitehead (R). But then Whitehead started making public statements -- to his detriment, as Sabato notes:

In a column that appeared in The Elberton Star, Whitehead admitted suggesting that someone "probably ought to bomb" the University of Georgia ... Then, in a March 26 letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Whitehead claimed that liberals have been registering "known al-Qaida terrorists" to vote.

The lead Democrat in the fray is ex-Yahoo! executive Jim Marlow, who in the GOP-leaning district is mostly hoping to squeeze into a run-off with Whitehead, and from there bank on Whitehead's "self-destruction."

The other House seat likely to open up is Rep. Bobby Jindal's (R) LA-1 district, which many believe will be vacant if/when Jindal wins the 2007 Louisiana gubernatorial race. Jindal is such a formidable candidate in the contest to replace outgoing Gov. Kathleen Blanco that no major Democrat has risen to challenge him.

But don't call Jindal the winner yet. Jindal was heavily favored to win in 2003 -- but analysts think racism, more than anything, kept the Southeast Asian American from getting votes from GOP whites. And now, Wood and Sabato note, Democrats are not shy about playing to racism in hopes of stopping Jindal again:

Already, Democrats are subtly undermining Jindal by referring to him as "Piyush," his middle name. Actually, it isn't subtle at all: the goal of using his foreign sounding middle name is blatantly obvious, and smacks of racism, a tactic that should be condemned whether the insult is being hurled by Democrats or Republicans. We'll still bet on Jindal, just not heavily at this stage. He will need weak opponents and a strong aura of invincibility all the way to October in order to win.

UPDATE: Wood and Sabato are wrong -- Piyush is Jindal's given first name, not "middle name." But they're right about the intention, which is much the same as Fox News highlighting that Barak Obama's middle name is "Hussein." See here for a story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the issue.

Labels: Georgia, louisiana, Southern Politics

National pundits may be writing off the South in 2008, but don't tell Southern states that. In a bid to shake off being treated as the neglected stray dogs of presidential politics, state leaders are battling to put the South back on the electoral map.

Case in point: Georgia. Yesterday, the AP reports, Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed a bill to move the Peach State's presidential primary up to February 5, 2008. The move comes in the wake of Florida's decision to leapfrog up to January 29 for its primary, the same date as South Carolina. Texas appears close to also joining the February 5 primary club, which now includes 15 states.

Georgia's move not only puts another Southern state on the 2008 map -- it increases the voice of black (and to a lesser extent Asian American and Latino) voters in the primaries: 28% of registered voters in Georgia are African American.

Labels: Election 2008, Georgia

More on the Savannah River Ecology Lab pending shutdown that we mentioned here last week...

The following announcement was e-mailed to us by Joe Franke:

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory¹s funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be exhausted at the end of May 2007 and the lab will be forced to close. The DOE or its equivalent has supported SREL for ecological research and environmental education for 56 years.

During the past year, SREL has worked with Savannah River Site (SRS) representatives to implement a new 5-year cooperative agreement with task-based funding, similar to what has been used for the past 20+ years. According to written and verbal communications from DOE, the funds have been budgeted for SREL tasks that have been underway since September 2006 and the funds are actually at the SRS to complete these tasks, however, the funds have not been released to SREL. The decision to hold back funding from SREL is solely due to officials at DOE Headquarters in Washington DC who seem determined to cut off all DOE funding for SREL regardless of the nature of the tasks proposed and agreed upon with SRS managers.

SREL programs are more important than ever. Independent environmental evaluation is critical for SRS programs that will process new nuclear materials brought to the SRS and current SRS processes that will leave residual high-level waste in place forever. SREL researchers are funded by many other agencies, but the core mission of SREL remains independent environmental evaluation of SRS activities and long-term stewardship of the SRS. DOE Officials in Washington DC are forcing the local SRS managers to discontinue funding for an environmental program that has benefited the SRS, people of the Aiken-Augusta area, and the entire country for more than half
a century.

If DOE funding is not restored immediately, SREL will be forced to close. All SREL animals will need to be transferred or euthanized by the end of May. All tasks that SRS managers have identified as important to long-term environmental stewardship of the site will not be completed. About 100 people will lose their jobs, hundreds affiliated with or dependent upon SREL research will be affected significantly, and tens of thousands of teachers, students, and members of the public who are touched by SREL education and outreach programs will lose out. SREL employees and programs funded by non-DOE grants will also be forced to move due to lack of funding to meet DOE mandated safety and security requirements. Presentations to regional schools, libraries, civic groups, and other organizations will end in May, as will all funding for SREL student programs on the SRS. The independent, oversight studies SREL conducts and publishes on radiation effects, chemical releases, and environmental health will also be terminated at the end of May.

All citizens, including researchers, parents, teachers, and children, who want to urge DOE to release the funding for SREL to continue tasks agreed upon with SRS managers should contact individuals who could make this happen. The more people who express their concern, the more likely it is that action will be taken. You may contact the individuals listed below, write letters to newspapers, or inform anyone else you think should know. One suggestion is to write a short letter that you can email, surface mail, and fax. Then make a telephone call.

[Click here and scroll down for the list of suggested contacts]

Please also cc your letters to: friendsofsrel@srel.edu

###

Commenting on our previous post, Jim Mackey says:

I am a former member of Savannah River Site CAB and was the Chair of the Strategic & Legacy Management Committee that dealt with that issue. You are correct however, no one has been able to change DOE's mind.

There are many factions to this issue most of all which was the nail in the coffin last week was that the University of Georgia has pulled their support and funding form SREL. It was to shore up seed money for their new medical university college in Athens Georgia and they knew about this and did not dignify it with explaining to SREL personnel that they were contemplating doing this action. I also suspect that DOE also knew what UGA was doing and they sort of used it.

DOE is complicit in this also because they used it to cap funding at 1.8 million which has been used up for infrastructure and they say they have "reviewed" (not peer reviewed as necessary) the proposals SREL has sent to them for approval now on a case by case basis, but DOE as of yesterday said that none of the current proposals meet the work needs of DOE-EM and are not deemed mission critical.

And speaking of radioactive contamination, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has just reported to Congress on a nuclear spill at a facility in East Tennessee that makes fuel for nuclear submarines and commercial reactors.

The spill, involving 9 gallons of highly enriched uranium solution, occurred over a year ago in March of 2006 but is just now being reported. According to the article, it would never have been made public under new, post-911 NRC security guidelines if it weren't for a law requiring them to report such incidents to Congress. The full text of the report is here (PDF format).

Labels: environment, Georgia, nuclear power, South Carolina

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) in Aiken, SC was established in 1951 by University of Georgia with funding from the Atomic Energy Commission. Its mission was to study the effects of the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons facility on the surrounding environment.

Today there are four research groups: Advanced Analytical Center for Environmental Sciences, Ecological Stewardship, Ecotoxicology, and Radioecology. They approach their research from a standpoint of characterization of contaminated sites, the study of ecological risks and effects, and research into remediation and restoration of contaminated sites.

The Radioecology group studies the effects of radioactive contaminants on humans and the environment. According to the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board

SREL should be considered a national ecological laboratory and its services used across the DOE-complex. Since the early 1950’s, SREL has compiled an extensive database, documentation and research on radiation ecology and the effects to the environment, specifically related to impacts from nuclear weapons related production. Such information is essential to the operation and closure of all DOE sites.

SREL is recognized as a world leader in radiation ecology and provides unprecedented training for future scientists and engineers in this field. Radiation ecology is a multidisciplinary science that uses nuclear physics, chemistry, biology, toxicology, ecology and risk analyses to predict the effects of radioactive contaminants on humans and the environment."

And what better place to study the effects of radioactive contaminants than the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons facility, which was designated in 1989 as an EPA Superfund Site, and cleanup is still underway even as more plutonium was being moved there from around the country for storage. That same year, DOE outsourced operations at the Savannah River Site to the Washington Group International, a Boise, Idaho based engineering company.

Now, the DOE has cut SREL's funding, and the lab is facing closure. According to the SREL Citizen's Advisory Board:

Last year (FY2006), the DOE cut the funding to $4 million from $7.78 million, resulting in a staff reduction of approximately 60 personnel at SREL. Recent newspaper articles, report that SREL expected $4.5 million this year (FY2007) based on discussions with DOE, but DOE officials have cut this amount to $1 million. Officials at SREL thought an agreement had been worked out to receive the $4.5 million for FY2007; however, the plan derailed. The DOE has been encouraging SREL to seek other sources of funding from other federal agencies and nonfederal sources to continue their work at SRS. While SREL has obtained some funding from other sources, in the past the DOE provides the majority of funding. If funding is not restored to $4.5 million, SREL will close.

[..]

The SRS CAB understood that the SREL mission was redefined and that a new Cooperative Agreement was to be signed between UGA and DOE to provide funding at the $4.5 million level for FY2007 and future years. The SRS CAB finds it reprehensible that DOE would renege on such an agreement. Finding other sources of funding for the budget shortfall at this late date will be extremely difficult and the SRS CAB original concerns expressed at the time of last year’s budget cuts about significant loss of expertise will be realized. The SRS CAB would support funding the SREL from a variety of resources.

Congressman John Barrow of Georgia (D-Savannah) recently wrote the DOE urging them to restore SREL's funding:

Current plans are to leave significant quantities of radioactive and non-radioactive waste at the SRS, purportedly in a stable form. While I am not in the position to evaluate or comment on the potential long-term environmental issues surrounding these “stabilized” waste forms I am in a position to say that the SREL is an invaluable partner in helping us deal with these issues. A recent National Research Council report published by the National Academy of Sciences has raised doubts concerning proposed strategies over the hundreds to thousands of years required for the radioactive materials to decay. Because the SRS sits on top of a major aquifer and next to one of the most important major rivers in the southeast, it’s my responsibility to ensure that my constituents, as well as others in the southeastern United States, are protected by DOE’s waste disposition plans.

That’s why it is critical to have an independent and credible source of information on how these plans will affect the environment. In addition to its ongoing research activities at the Savannah River Site, SREL is the organization that has the expertise, institutional memory, and academic credibility to develop and implement a long-term monitoring plan that will be accepted and trusted by the general public, regulators, and other stakeholders.

Steve Smith from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy praised Rep. Barrow for his efforts to restore the lab's funding:

“We applaud Congressman John Barrow’s determination and resolve to restore funding to this important research facility,” Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said. “The communities and surrounding environment in both Georgia and South Carolina stand to lose if the funding for the Savannah River Ecology Lab is not restored. As we face an increase of nuclear-related missions at the Savannah River Site along with the continued critical effort of cleaning up of this contaminated site, we need to have more research, not less, on how this area is being affected.”

Unfortunately, the Aiken Standard newspaper reports that no alternative funding is forthcoming:

Despite repeated warnings from concerned citizens, scientists, and a United States congressman that the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory will be forced to close due to a lack of funding, Savannah River Site officials have yet to offer any possible alternatives to replace the environmental stewardship that would be lost by the independent facility's closure.

"I can't speak to issues related to closure — that is not the Department of Energy's decision," said DOE Spokesperson Julie Peterson when reached for comment Monday afternoon. She said that she was unaware of any discussions in the Department regarding what would be done in the event that SREL does close.

The article has more background on the controversy, noting again that new projects being proposed for the site make the SREL's mission more critical than ever before.

Labels: environment, Georgia, radioactive waste, South Carolina

Many state legislatures have Black Caucuses and Women's Caucuses. But what about a caucus dedicated to helping working people?

Atlanta Progressive News reports that Georgia now has a Working Families Caucus to fill this vacuum:

The Georgia Working Families Caucus (WFC) is the Georgia General Assembly’s newest legislative caucus, having officially formed this session “in order to develop and promote legislation and policies that invest in workers, families, and communities" ...

The Caucus is composed of over 20 members from around the state and meets every Thursday at noon during the Legislative Session to outline Caucus positions, discuss issues, and hear briefings from experts and advocates. The Caucus is also working closely with the Atlanta/North Georgia AFL-CIO and the labor community in Georgia.

“We do not have any Republican members yet but we have opened the invitation to all members,” [said] Rep. Brian Thomas (D-Lilburn), a Caucus Co-chair.

To my knowledge, the caucus is the first of its kind in the South.

They've hammered out a legislative agenda, starting with SB 13, a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour by January 1, 2008 (the bill was killed in committee this year, but the caucus is "not giving up.")

The caucus has also promised to lead the charge against attempts by the Republican-led legislature to scale back PeachCare (pdf), the state's program that provides health care for 308,000 low-income children, and another GOP-backed bill to overturn a 2004 ban on payday lending.

Labels: Georgia, Work and Community