Fresh Loaf

On Oct. 28, Gov. Sonny Perdue named King & Spalding partner Allen Barnes the new state Environmental Protection Division director. Environmental advocates cried foul over Perdue’s decision, as Barnes’ former employer represents two proposed coal plants, as well as the state of Georgia in the ongoing “water wars” debacle with Alabama and Florida.

“Generally, if you get a partner coming over from a big firm when there is activity going on between the firm’s clients and that agency, there is a lot of potential for conflict.”
— Environmental lawyer Gil Rogers, in an Oct. 27 Fulton Daily Report article

“[Proposed coal plants Longleaf and Washington] are both being handled by a team at King & Spalding, and now a member of that team is going to be making the decisions [as to whether those plants will be built]. How is the public going to have any faith that the decisions made about the two biggest new pollution sources ever to come into Georgia have been made impartially?”
— Environmental lawyer Justine Thompson, in the same Fulton Daily Report story

“A single law firm that represents a large number of polluters is suddenly moving personnel into state government positions that directly affect its clients. It’s hard to put it in a happy light if you care about natural resources and the public interest in them.”
— Sierra Club lobbyist Neill Herring, in an Oct. 27 interview with the Savannah Morning News

“I need to sit down with the counsel and make a very thoughtful and deliberative decision as to what’s proper and what is required in that area. We’ll certainly make that decision.”
— Barnes on if he’d recuse himself from decisions involving King & Spalding, in an Oct. 28 interview with Capitol Impact’s Tom Crawford

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MAKE IT RAIN, Y'ALL

Get pumped, crunk and amped all up in this muthafucka, recycling fans!

City Hall yesterday officially launched ReCART, Atlanta’s new “incentive-based” recycling program. If your household is one of the lucky 10,000 randomly selected to receive the 96-gallon recycling bin pictured to the right, you can start earning restaurant discounts and pharmacy deals just for tossing out your beer cans! It’s brilliant, ya drunks!

The program, a partnership between the city’s department of public works, Coca-Cola and Rehrig Pacific, is aimed at improving Atlantans’ recycling habits, helping residents save money, and making the city more sustainable. RecycleBank, the private company that manages the reward program, says similar efforts in 21 states have increased recycling program participation rates.

Depending on how much they recycle, selected households earn points which can be redeemed at local and national businesses. A department spokeswoman says local participating businesses include Radial, Zoo Atlanta, Rita’s Water Ice, Edgewood Avenue Pizza, and Six Feet Under locations.

Sounds great! One quick question: how much will it cost taxpayers?

(more…)

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Greenies rejoice! The City of Atlanta is finally rolling out a long-discussed pilot program that would offer “points” that recyclers could redeem at local and national businesses.

Details are vague at the moment. A press release last week contained some incorrect information, and the specifics are being kept under wraps until the initiative’s official launch on Thursday, Oct. 29.

What we do know: The incentive-based pilot program will be operated by RecycleBank, a private company that, according to its Web site, “partners with cities and haulers to reward households for recycling.” Here’s a graphic-tastic idea of how RecycleBank’s program works. The company says its program has been shown to more than double recycling rates in 21 states and the United Kingdom. Participating national businesses include CVS, IKEA, Whole Foods, The Home Depot and Target.

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Sally Bethea

In addition to crime, finances and transportation, Atlanta’s next mayor has a sizable task on his or her to-do list: continue fixing the city’s antiquated sewer system. Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattachoochee Riverkeeper, reminds the candidates not to lose sight of the estimated $4.1 billion project.

Eight short years ago, Atlanta’s aging sewer system was a disgrace to its citizens and to the state of Georgia. It was also illegal.

When the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sued the city of Atlanta in 1995 for violations of the Clean Water Act, hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage were routinely dumped into our streams and the river.

Although a federal judge ruled that the city had to clean up its act, then Mayor Bill Campbell did little but stall, leaving it to the next mayor to solve the problem, even while the judge threatened a moratorium on new development because Atlanta did not have the sewage infrastructure to support such development.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue has tapped Allen Barnes, a partner at King & Spalding, to head the state Environmental Protection Division. Director Carol Couch resigned last week to take a job at the University of Georgia.

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Before joining Atlanta-based King & Spalding, Barnes served as chief of staff for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region Four, which has jurisdiction over eight Southeastern states, including Georgia. Prior to that, he taught natural resource policy and law as an associate professor at Mississippi State University. [...]

Barnes’ professional career also includes stints as a prosecutor in the Florida State Attorney’s office and as a special assistant U.S attorney handling criminal, tort and environmental litigation.

But Georgia Public Broadcasting’s John Sepulvado says some environmentalists aren’t happy with Perdue’s choice.

(more…)

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Marc Fitten, the editor of The Chattahoochee Review, had an op-ed column in Saturday’s New York Times about parting ways with his old Honda and purchasing a new car.

The piece is about much more, actually. Namely, the shuttered General Motors plant in Doraville, the 1,200 former workers who lost their jobs, and how the overgrown site’s convinced Fitten that he won’t be purchasing a Chevy anytime soon. Not until the bailed-out company “has responsibly sold every empty plant across this country to the benefit of every American town that had its back for the last hundred years.”

(You’ll recall that DeKalb County’s been exploring how to redevelop the site, possibly through a public-private partnership. There have been talks about it becoming a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta Unfiltered’s Jim Walls, who’s been all over the story, recently reported that the Doraville City Council doesn’t like the idea.)

Take a look at Fitten’s column.

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Carol Couch

After nearly six years on the job, Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch will step down from her post on Oct. 26 and move into academia.

In an email to colleagues, Couch thanked the men and women of the agency tasked with monitoring and protecting the state’s water, air and land. She also noted the challenges the state has faced — droughts, floods and budget crunches — in her last few years.

“On behalf of the [Georgia Department of Natural Resources board], I want to thank Dr. Couch for her service,” DNR board Chair Bill Carruth said in a statement released by the EPD. “Her technical expertise, professionalism and dedication to environmental stewardship have been an asset to the Department of Natural Resources.”

In December, Couch will join the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design. Gov. Sonny Perdue and the DNR board are expected to appoint her successor next week.

(Courtesy EPD)

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On Oct. 14, Westview and West End residents received good news about the long-overlooked L&N railroad tracks in Southwest Atlanta: the Georgia Department of Transportation finally voted to allow the PATH Foundation to move ahead with a proposed Beltline jogging and biking trail.

For more than a year, Patrick Berry and other neighborhood residents waited for glimmers of progress on the abandoned tracks.

Unfortunately, all they saw were dumped mattresses, shopping carts, and blankets of kudzu piling up.

“When people came to the neighborhood, they’d see garbage and overgrowth,” Berry, vice president of the Westview Community Organization, says. “It gives the impression that nobody cares.”

Beltline officials say they’ve inked a deal with Trees Atlanta to begin a five-year kudzu removal process. Ed McBrayer of the PATH Foundation, which will oversee construction of the the trail, says he plans to meet with GDOT officials this week to discuss the project.

Once completed, the 1.4-mile trail will connect with the West End trail along White Street.

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The AJC’s Alison Young had a great piece this weekend about a now-defunct smelter that for decades burned lead at an industrial site just blocks from Morningside. The site where the smelter was located — right where Piedmont Road crosses under I-85 — is now a concrete plant. But the residual pollution caused by the smelter has largely been forgotten by state and federal regulators.

How much lead dust rained down over the years and how far the winds blew is not currently known. But experts say that, despite the passage of decades, the lead would remain relatively near the surface unless the soil has been removed or buried under clean fill dirt. [...]

Tests conducted privately in 2003 show large swaths of the smelter property contained potentially dangerous levels of lead, above 400 parts per million (ppm), according to site plans and a soil removal permit issued by the city of Atlanta to contractors for the property’s owner at that time, Metalico of Georgia Inc. The testing was within the boundaries of the smelter property at 740 Lambert Drive NE.

After reading the story, a source who keeps a close eye on Georgia’s environment told CL this weekend that he’s curious about the smelter’s proximity to Peachtree Creek. If floods seeped up toxins in nearby soil, they could have spread downstream.

Thanks to Young, the Environmental Protection Agency is  investigating the matter. Kudos to the journalist for taking on this story on her own initiative and effecting some government action. Snippets don’t do it justice, so go check it out in full.

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The organizers behind Pecha Kucha, the storytelling experiment in which speakers have seven minutes and a slide projector to convey the complexities of their lives and passions, have produced an excellent group of participants for the next event on Sunday, Oct. 18. The theme: “Open Letter(s) to the next Atlanta mayor.”

According to Alfredo Aponte, one of the event’s organizers: “We are doing an ‘Atlanta: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’ type of night, hearing from some Atlanta citizens who are doing their own parts, in their own ways.”

Among the list of speakers:

• Knife and Fork Editor and Publisher Christiane Lauterbach. The veteran food critic will talk about the growing popularity of food trucks — and how Atlanta’s missing out.

• Planner Paul Moore, one of the brains behind Connect Atlanta, the city’s transportation plan. Moore’s an engaging public speaker with a talent for making people-moving topics exciting.

• Georgia Tech Professor Mike Dobbins. The former Atlanta planning commissioner is one of the sharpest minds in the city when it comes to urban design — and the role citizens play in the process.

• Man-about-town and Beltline volunteer Angel Poventud. He’ll speak about the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

And those are just a few of the names. The full list of speakers and topics is after the jump. Facebook page is here. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Octane Coffee Lounge on Howell Mill Road. It’s free, but be a kind soul and buy an espresso or a beer.

(more…)

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Maria Saporta sends word that the Georgia Department of Transportation has scaled back its  division that oversees rail programs in the state.

Vance Smith, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, distributed a memo on Thursday, Oct. 15 announcing “organizational changes” in his department.

“Over the last few months, we have worked diligently to strategically reorganize the Department to achieve greater efficiency in both functional alignment and program delivery,” Smith wrote in the memo.

He then released the new organization chart which diminishes the role of transit and intermodal transportation in the department.

That’s a sad sign. Georgia’s been sitting on federal funding for years that could kickstart a commuter rail line from Atlanta to Griffin. And just last month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood publicly criticized the state for dragging its feet on rail.

Check out Saporta’s full report for more details and a copy of Smith’s memo.

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Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered, muckraking extraordinaire and recent Best of Atlanta recipient, has some excellent posts with a transit twist on two state lawmakers. One of them also deals with public toilets. We know it’s early, so read at your own risk.

First, there’s Rep. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna, and his emplyment with an engineering firm that’s conducted work for MARTA.

Then we have Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Dunwoody. On Saturday, the lawmaker told MARTA board members they could lose their seats if  the transit agency signs a $160,000 annual contract with a lobbying firm.

Check ‘em out.

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The federal judge that recently ruled against Georgia in the decades-long tri-state “water war” basically told the state on Monday that he wasn’t pleased with the state’s legal maneuvering.

From the AJC:

In a three-page order, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson frowned upon the Georgia parties’ appeals to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

He said an appeal “will only delay and further complicate the resolution of the important claims at issue.” [...]

“The court stayed the matter for three years, to allow the parties and the political system to attempt to reach a solution to this inherently political problem,” Maguson wrote Monday. Magnuson said he “fully anticipates” the parties will resolve their differences before the deadline.

But Magnuson also noted that “keeping with the gamesmanship evidenced throughout this litigation,” the Georgia parties never abandon their legal claims.

Since Magnuson’s July ruling, Gov. Sonny Perdue has said the state will continue the legal fight, consider building more reservoirs, and — after some huffing and puffing — look at conservation measures. The state’s finding out those first two solutions are more tricky now that Georgia’s behind the eight ball in this little dispute.

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Gallons of water the city’s R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center along the Chattahoochee River treats daily: 180 million

Height of flood water, in feet, that swamped the R.M. Clayton plant on Sept. 22, knocking it offline: 4

Approximate number of hours the plant was unable to treat wastewater and sewage: 24

Estimated cost to repair the flooded wastewater plant, in dollars : 52 million

E. coli colony count, per 100 mL, detected in the Chattahoochee near West Paces Ferry Road one week before the flood: 75

E. coli colony count, per 100 mL, in the same location one day after the flood: 14,000

Number of E. coli colonies at which the Environmental Protection Agency considers water “high risk”: 235

Percentage increase of the E. coli colony count at the R.M. Clayton plant because of the flood: 18,567

Highest recorded E. coli colony count, per 100 mL, in the Chattahoochee River on record: 28,000

Sources: AJC.com, CDC, Georgia Environmental Protection Division, U.S. Geological Survey

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It’s gonna cost you a little bit extra to take MARTA starting today.

From the AJC:

Starting Thursday, MARTA fares will go up for the first time since 2001, parking fees will rise, and children will have to pass a height requirement to ride free [ed. !], according to MARTA.

Regular fares are now $2, monthly passes are $60, and monthly passes for the Mobility handicapped service are $108. Both monthly and Mobility passes are expected to rise in cost in following years. Parking fees have also gone up by $1.

The fare hike, which was approved earlier this year after state lawmakers once again failed to ease MARTA’s funding restrictions, follows service cuts and other cost-saving measures.

MARTA General Manager and CEO Bev Scott has made clear in the past that such measures still won’t solve the transit system’s financial woes. New sources of revenue and changes to its funding formula must be found to keep buses and trains a-movin’.

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The Georgia Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear arguments in the controversial case of Plant Longleaf, a coal power plant proposed in Southwest Georgia’s Early County.

Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact reports:

The justices voted 6-0 this week not to consider the appeal, in effect upholding a July decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals that will allow the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to issue a permit for the Longleaf Energy Station.

The case involves a $2 billion, 1,200-megawatt power plant that was originally proposed by two energy companies, Dynegy of Houston, Tex., and New Jersey-based LS Power Associates. It would be the first coal-fired facility in Georgia in 20 years.

(more…)

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WASHED AWAY: Strong rains turned Peachtree Creek behind Paisley Boney's Hanover West home into a literal river

It’s Wednesday evening in the Hanover West neighborhood near Buckhead, and the clean-up from the unprecedented storms and floods that whacked metro Atlanta on Sept. 21 and 22 has winded down for the evening. Concerned neighbors mill from house to house, deliver pizzas and supplies, and nurse well-earned beers next to Dumpsters filled with water-logged dry wall and insulation.

Less than four miles away in the historically black Lincoln Homes subdivision, efforts to make sense of the destruction have only just begun. Homeowners stack soggy possessions in front yards and mop up bathrooms covered in pungent mud left from the deluge. Residents toiling into the night tell neighbors leaving to bunk with family members that they’ll look after their homes. Compared to Hanover West, where the flood was met with a well-organized communal response, the mood in Lincoln Homes is rife with uncertainty and laden with apprehension as to when things could get back to normal.

Continue reading “After the flood”

(Photo by Liza McLain)

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Beltline officials have hit back at an all-volunteer citizen advisory group tasked with monitoring the $2.8 billion project — and have essentially accused it of trying to take control of the Beltline.

The accusation was raised after the Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee, or TADAC, recently questioned whether an upcoming bond issuance would adequately fund affordable housing and public art along the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

TADAC also said Beltline officials have been reluctant to disclose information that could help the group make better recommendations about how public funds are spent on the project, which will include new parks, trails and (hopefully) transit along with much-needed affordable housing and economic development incentives. (For an excellent report on TADAC’s concerns and how everyone got to this point, check out the Jim Walls article linked above. Hell, we’ll link to it again here.)

In the Sept. 10 letter to Atlanta City Council, Beltline officials said the citizen advisory group’s recommendations “propose expanding TADAC’s scope and responsibility to make it the governing and operating entity of the Beltline project.”

(more…)

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Up in New York City, residents, visitors and real estate agents are all agog over the High Line, a groundbreaking greenspace project that converted abandoned elevated railroad tracks into a breathtaking park. Take a look at photos and see for yourself.

James Corner, the visionary designer behind the High Line, will speak at the Georgia Tech College of Architecture’s inaugural Douglas C. Allen lecture on Nov. 2. Corner, who founded his firm james corner field operations in 1998, is considered one of best landscape architects of his generation.

(more…)

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Atlanta mayoral candidates Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes will sit down on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at All Saints Episcopal Church on West Peachtree Street to give their views on the Beltline, the $2.8 billion 22-mile loop of parks, trails and (hopefully) transit.

The Beltline, which has made considerable traction in the last year, also faces difficult hurdles. Its main funding source, a tax allocation district, relies on increased development along the loop. As we all know, there’s not a whole lot of that going on at the moment. There are also neighborhood-level debates over density and concerns about equitable funding and transparency. The next mayor will sit on the Beltline board and have to weigh in on those discussions.

The forum, which is sponsored by the Atlanta Preservation Center, BeltLine Network, Citizens for Progressive Transit, Park Pride and PEDS, will be moderated by former Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard. Woolard, who’s now with humanitarian organization CARE, was the public-works project’s biggest cheerleader while at City Hall.

The two-hour event begins at 6 p.m. For directions to All Saints Episcopal Church, go here.

(Courtesy Atlanta Beltline Inc.)

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Recent floods and storms battered 478 homes and caused approximately $61 million in damages to city facilities and equipment, according to initial City Hall estimates transmitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The documents outline the impact the unprecedented flood had on neighborhoods — the majority of which are located in Northwest Atlanta. Lincoln Homes and Cross Creek were the hardest hit, with many homes lost or suffering major damage.

The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management recorded more than $52 million of damage — the highest amount among any municipal department. Most of that total stems from the flooding of the R.M. Clayton wastewater treatment plant in Northwest Atlanta. The Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs estimates $2.4 million worth of damage to parks and equipment. Affected greenspaces include Candler Park, Atlanta Memorial and Grove Parks.

The city has also released a by-the-numbers summary of the damage and the cost of such recovery efforts as helicopter flyovers and boat rescues. To view all the statistics, download this PDF.

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Forecasting heavy rains today and tomorrow, the National Weather Service this morning issued a flash flood watch for most of metro Atlanta and North Georgia.

The service says storms today and tomorrow might not be as intense as recent storms, but could likely lead to flash flooding between south metro Atlanta and Tennessee. The North Georgia mountains could expect to see as much as five inches. Other areas might see between one to three inches. But thanks to saturated soil from recent storms, creeks and rivers could rapidly rise.

The flash flood watch is scheduled to expire late Saturday night. For more information and to follow weather alerts, visit the service’s website. For a look at the areas covered by the flash flood watch, take a look after the jump.

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World renowned party machine and joker Vice President Joe Biden today will tour metro counties hit hard by recent floods:

Vice President Joe Biden will tour storm-ravaged parts of North Georgia on Friday as residents in five flooded counties begin to seek federal help for cleanup and recovery.

Biden, joined by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, will brief state and local leaders on federal assistance and will meet with families suffering the storms’ aftermath. His visit comes a day after President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Carroll, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas and Paulding counties.

Meanwhile, where in the world is Sonny Perdue?

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President Barack Obama today said federal assistance has been made available for Cobb, Paulding, Douglas Carroll and Cherokee County residents who suffered losses from the unprecedented floods that devastated metro Atlanta earlier this week. (UPDATE: Apparently there was some confusion about which counties were chosen to receive assistance. The AJC’s Gold Dome Live has a pretty hilarious summary of the “huh, what?”)

Left out of Obama’s declaration were 12 other metro countries, including DeKalb and Fulton County. Gov. Sonny Perdue says the state’s request for the remaining counties is still pending.

From Perdue’s office:

The federal declaration covers individual assistance and can include grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repairs and other serious disaster-related expenses. Low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration will also be available to cover residential and business losses not fully compensated by insurance.

…

Residents and business owners in the four counties declared by the President as a major disaster area who sustained losses can begin applying for assistance by registering online at http://www.fema.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time) Monday through Sunday.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency continues to coordinate state recovery efforts. Contact information for GEMA can be found on its website.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management says that R.M. Clayton, the wastewater treatment plant that was knocked offline yesterday thanks to flooding, is once again operational. The discharges of minimally treated wastewater have ended.

The Scattahoochee: Not as flavorful as it was Monday, but still refreshing!

From the department:

By mobilizing all available personnel and resources, the Department has been able to restore function to the primary and tertiary treatment systems of the RM Clayton Water Reclamation Center and halt the bypass of raw sewage into the Chattahoochee River. Commissioner Rob Hunter termed the effort ‘heroic’ and praised plant personnel who have worked around the clock since the river flooded the plant.

The floodwaters have been pumped out of the plant, which is now receiving sewage flows. The flows are receiving treatment at about 70 percent of normal. Plant Manager Rob Bush and Bureau of Wastewater Treatment and Collection Deputy Commissioner David St. Pierre said the Nancy Creek Tunnel was brought online at about 3 am.

The plant is still looking at millions of dollars in repairs, however. Err on the safe side and continue to avoid flood waters.

(CL file photo by Jeff Riley)

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