Blog - Coosa River Basin Initiative

Chemical Spill Causes Fish Kill on Dawsonville Creek

March 26, 2018 Report on Flat Creek Chemical Spill: A chemical spill March 20 at Gold Creek Foods in Dawsonville ...
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24-Hour Tire Roll Brings Attention to State Budget Shenanigans

On Feb. 28 and March 1, some 30 volunteers from CRBI and other Georgia Water Coalition member organizations pushed ...
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Video Tells Story of 25 Years of CRBI History, 500 years of Coosa History

A video celebrating CRBI's silver anniversary was released at CRBI's annual membership meeting. Through the eyes of Coosa River ...
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Local River Heroes Recognized

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mar. 15, 2018 REP. JOHN MEADOWS RECOGNIZED FOR WATER PROTECTION WORK AT STATEWIDE GATHERING OF CONSERVATIONISTS, GEORGIA DNR WORK ...
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CRBI Plans 24-Hour Capitol Tire Roll In Support of HR 158

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 20, 2018 TIRE ROLL DEMONSTRATION TO KICK OFF GEORGIA WATER COALITION CAPITOL CONSERVATION DAY In an ...
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CRBI To Attempt World Record for Longest Line of Inflatables At Rome’s Big Float June 2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 9, 2018 CRBI AIMS TO SET WORLD WATER INFLATABLE RECORD AT ROME’S BIG FLOAT JUNE 2 Rome’s ...
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2017 Annual Report

2017 Annual Report A overview of CRBI activities during 2017. CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE BELOW TO READ THE FULL ...
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Join CRBI for Capitol Conservation Day

Join us on March 1st for Capitol Conservation Day with the Georgia Water Coalition. We'll let you know about some ...
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CRBI Takes Action to Stop Pollution of Coosa at Plant Hammond

For Immediate Release: February 8, 2018 Conservation Groups Challenge Plant Hammond Permit due to Antiquated Cooling Water Structure Rome, GA—The ...
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Water Trails Get $1 Million Boost With Passage of Floyd County SPLOST Package

Floyd County voters overwhelmingly passed a special purpose local sales tax option on Nov. 7 that includes $1 million for ...
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The Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recently conducted the opening hearing of the 2019 Triennial Review. This occurs every three years and provides an opportunity for the EPD to reevaluate the designated usage of water bodies. The designation of a body of water is based on primary usage and directly correlates to water quality standards. In other words, the designated use determines the stringent nature of permits and fines for pollution. The three most common…

The Replacement Rule threatens Clean Water

February 18, 2019

Advocacy, Education

For 50 years, the Clean Water Act has protected families and communities by preventing unchecked and unlimited pollution from contaminating our waterways and drinking water sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now proposing a new rule, the Replacement rule that would dramatically shrink the protections of the Clean Water Act. In 2015, the Clean Water rule was added as an amendment to the 1972 Clean Water Act to extend protection to small streams, wetlands, stream headwaters, and waters that…

Georgia Power announces plan to close Plant Hammond

February 12, 2019

Coverage, Plant Hammond

Georgia Power announced on Thursday, January 31, 2019, their plans for the decertification of Plant Hammond, a coal-fired power plant located West of Rome, Georgia on the Coosa River. In recent years, Georgia Power has slowed updates for the 1954 plant to a halt, and this announcement did not surprise many. Currently, the Hammond property houses four coal ash ponds. The ponds store coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity, which contains a large number of toxic…

PUBLIC SCREENING OF TO KINGDOM COME

February 4, 2019

Events, Press Releases

CRBI, Georgia Highlands College, and the Berry College Environmental Studies program have teamed up to co-sponsor a special screening of the 2018 Rome International Film Festival Audience Award winner for Featured Films, To Kingdom Come, at Heritage Hall Centre Stage on February 21, 2019 at 6pm. To Kingdom Come presents the multi-generational relationship between General Electric and the Rome community. The story is told from the unique and diverse perspectives of the earliest employees of the Rome GE transformer plant, local riverkeepers…

CRBI Welcomes New Outreach Coordinator

January 8, 2019

Press Releases

Recent Berry College graduate Ashley Ray joined the Coosa River Basin Initiative (CRBI) staff as Outreach Coordinator earlier this month. A Chattanooga native, Ray previously served as a Crew Member for the Southeast Conservation Corp based out of Chattanooga, where she spent several months building and restoring trail systems along the Hiwassee River to prevent excess rainwater runoff. She is a 2015 graduate of Berry College, where she studied Environmental Science. She is currently seeking a Masters in Business Administration…

Coal Ash Pond Problems at Hammond and Bowen

December 13, 2018

Advocacy, Coverage, Plant Hammond

Coal Ash is the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. It also contains several toxic, harmful substances that are known to cause cancer, impact child development, cause kidney and liver failure, and a litany of other health problems. Traditionally, this material has been held in coal ash ponds that surround the coal-fired power plants. Unfortunately, Georgia Power’s coal ash ponds across the state are not lined and a recent report from Earthjustice, utilizing Georgia Power’s data from test wells,…