Real Results For Georgia's Environment
1. Chattahoochee protected
Our staff and members helped to win and then defend sweeping new protections for 58.5 million acres of national forests, including parts of the Chattahoochee National Forest.
2. Oil subsidies cut
In January 2007, the House passed the Environment Georgia-backed CLEAN Energy Act of 2007. The bill will shift roughly $13 billion in handouts to the oil industry toward clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
3. Clean air rollback defeated
In 2005, we helped defeat the Bush administration’s so-called “Clear Skies Initiative,” which would have weakened the Clean Air Act and allowed more smog, soot, mercury and global warming pollution in Georgia.
4. Water supply protected
As part of the Georgia Water Coalition, Environment Georgia staff helped defeat legislation that would have entered the state into a private market for water by allowing the sale of water withdrawal permits to the highest bidder in 2003.
5. Victory for land conservation
To slow the rate at which development is gobbling up Georgia’s green spaces, our staff helped win the Georgia Conservation Tax Credit in 2006, which gives a tax credit to landowners who permanently protect their property from development.
6. Action on global warming
Global warming puts Georgia’s coast and air quality at risk. Environment Georgia is advocating solutions such as increasing clean energy generation and promoting energy efficiency.
7. Toxic chemical banned
In 2006, the state House passed the Environment Georgia-backed ban of MTBE, a gasoline additive that can harm our groundwater when it seeps out of underground storage tanks. Oil refiners agreed to use available alternatives by 2008.
8. Warning the public about water pollution
Thanks to our lobbying and organizing, the Department of Natural Resources adopted new standards requiring discharge pipes to be labeled with the pollutants they emit and other identification information.
9. Air pollution cleaned up
Environment Georgia staff and allies waged a successful legal battle against a Duke Power plant in Dalton. The plant agreed to cut soot-forming pollution by 71 percent and carbon dioxide by 44 percent.
10. Polluters foot the bill
Dirt, sediment and run-off pollution represent some of the largest threats to clean water in Georgia. In 2003 we helped protect our water by requiring developers to pay $80 per acre of land they disturb, to pay for the inspection and regulation of construction sites.
