Facing opposition over air pollution, lumber company scraps plans for coastal Georgia plant
Timber and wood products giant Weyerhaeuser Company has scrapped plans for a log fumigation plant that would have released among the nation’s highest levels of a toxic hazardous pollutant in an area of coastal Georgia that critics argued already faces heightened environmental and health risks.
The company said Monday it was no longer seeking a state air-quality permit that would allow the proposed facility just outside Riceboro in Liberty County to send up to 10 tons of methyl bromide – a gas used as an insecticide – into the air annually.
The reversal follows opposition from local leaders and residents, as well as from environmental justice organizations.
If approved, the plant would have been the third-largest emitter of methyl bromide and by far the largest in Georgia.
In announcing its decision, the company conceded that it hadn’t been transparent enough in planning for the project.
“Although we believe fumigation would have been done safely and in full compliance with all state and federal laws, as we have demonstrated at multiple other locations, we recognize that we should have engaged with the local community and addressed potential concerns earlier in the process,” Weyerhaeuser Senior Director for Advocacy and Philanthropy Nancy B. Thompson said in a statement.
Timber fumigation involves the intense application of chemicals to wipe out pests and decontamination before timber is shipped out of the country.
Susan Inman, mid-coast advocate with the environmental group One Hundred Miles, said opposition to the project was rooted primarily on how, not where, the plant would operate.
“Timber farming is an important industry in Georgia,” Inman said Tuesday. “The lumber facility in Riceboro wasn’t a surprise to Liberty County but the toxic chemical and process that they chose for fumigation was. Methyl bromide was chosen over alternatives and it’s ... bad to people and bad to the environment.”
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Potential impacts on already-vulnerable community
Inhalation of methyl bromide can severely damage the lungs, as well as cause respiratory and neurological issues, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Severe exposure can lead to paralysis, convulsions, kidney damage and death from respiratory or cardiovascular failure, the EPA says.
And several studies have found that potential health issues extend outside sites where methyl bromide is used.
Those risks, along with the demographics of the area surrounding the proposed plant, raised concerns about environmental justice.
More than two-thirds of residents living within three miles of the proposed plant site are black, while nearly half are considered low-income, according to written comments submitted jointly to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division by the Southern Environmental Law Center, One Hundred Miles, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper and the Altamaha Riverkeeper.
The same population “already faces disproportionate health outcomes,” the groups added.
Those residents have a higher rate of adult cancer than roughly 90% of the U.S. population for asthma and cancer, and 75% for life expectancy, according to EPA data.
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Methyl bromide also depletes the ozone layer that protects Earth from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.
While Weyerhaeuser’s projected methyl bromide emissions for the Riceboro plant were within the state’s allowable limits, “Georgia’s methyl bromide standards ... are outdated and significantly more lenient than those in other states, and the company’s modeling results show substantial exceedances of health-based standards implemented in nearby states, including Virginia, South Carolina, and Texas,” the environmental groups argued in their filing with the Georgia Department of Environmental Quality.
Despite its decision Monday, the company said it still plans on adding a comparable facility.
“Weyerhaeuser has a long history of operating in Georgia,” Thompson said. “We are proud to support local jobs and the region’s thriving forest industry, and we will continue to seek locations for the export yard that benefit local landowners and the broader community.”
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at jdeem@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Weyerhaeuser scraps Liberty County export facility after pushback
