|
|
Dear Summer,
Welcome to the Georgia Conservation Voters
Legislative Newsletter. This letter will be
circulated frequently during the 2006 legislative
session in efforts to keep you abreast on issues of
particular interest to you
on environmental legislation.
 |
|
|
Stream Buffer Bill Passes House Committee
SB 510 Continues to Move Through General Assembly
Highly contested Senate Bill 510 passed out of the
House Natural Resources and Environment full
Committee on Tuesday, March 21st. Environmentalists
are increasingly concerned with the bill as it moves
to House Rules. They have offered numerous
amendments during the
subcommittee's three hearings on the bill however
none of
those amendments officially passed the subcommittee
and none were adopted during the full committee
hearing.
The most important of the proposed amendments would
have removed the exemption from stream buffer
regulations for housing and development on 2 acres
or more. As it is currently drafted, Senate Bill
510 allows for a blanket exemption for single-family
dwellings and accompanying structures as long as
they are built on lots of 2 acres or more and the
septic line is outside of the buffer area. There
are no restrictions on the type or size of the home
being built, or any definition of what constitutes
and accompanying structure. This exemption
favors those wishing to build subdivisions in
sensitive buffer areas around and upstream from
drinking water supplies. Environmentalists agree
that this exemption gives too much to developers
and will lower the quality - and raise the cost - of
clean and safe drinking water for the rest of
Georgia.
The only relief for the environmental community has
come as a slight adjustment from the version that
passed the Senate. The "get out of jail free card,"
a provision for
creation of a stormwater management ordinance as
opposed to the buffer standards that are currently
in place, has been removed. This provision remains,
but only as an option IN ADDITION TO the variance
procedure outlined in the bill, not in lieu of, as
it was previously written. In a recent subcommittee
meeting, EPD Director Carol Couch explained that
there is no adequate stormwater managment ordinance
that could mitigate the effects of reduced buffers.
Georgia Conservation Voters and the conservation
community are prepared to work this bill on the
House floor, either with proposed amendments
removing the most threatening provisions of the bill
or by encouraging legislators to vote NO to Senate
Bill 510 as written.
Find an updated version of the bill...
|
|
Georgia Conservation Voters (GCV) is a non-partisan
citizens' organization dedicated to protecting
Georgia's environment and the health of all
Georgians by advocating in the legislature and in
the media for strong environmental protections;
helping to elect conservation-minded leaders to
Georgia's General Assembly and selected local races;
and by holding our elected officials accountable for
how well they worked to protect and restore
Georgia's environment.
Sincerely,
|
|
