Coosa River Basin Initiative

2019 Triennial Review

March 1, 2019

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,…

to protect, preserve, and restore one of North America’s most biologically diverse river systems

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Education

Water Monitoring

Restoration