Brunswick Environmental Action Team
BEAT was happy to be invited to the 2022 Oak Island Earth Day Festival, April 2022. Thank you Oak Island for allowing us to share ideas about how we can continue to work together to thrive while peacefully making use of the life sustaining energy that our Earth provides for us every day - To optimize our ongoing survival and a deeply shared happy and healthy existence.
BEAT received an email from: Melissa Edmonds <medmonds@selcnc.org> of the Southern Environmental Law Center on September 9, 2022 at 12:32:50 PM EDT. The subject of the email was Offshore Drilling Comment Opportunity. BEAT leadership would like to share this message with you here. The text that follows is the body of the message in its entirety.
Hi all,
I hope this note finds you well! You are receiving this email because you have previously been involved in SELC’s campaign to fight offshore drilling, by signing onto our comment letters to oppose drilling in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. I am writing now to alert you of another important comment opportunity on the issue of offshore drilling in these regions.
SELC is currently preparing comments on the Biden administration’s Proposed Five Year Plan for offshore drilling, which removes all Atlantic Planning Areas from consideration, yet still proposes to hold lease sales in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico. Comments are due Oct. 6. As usual, our comments will be focused on the Gulf and the Southeast; we plan to thank BOEM for listening to the voices of the East Coast by removing the Atlantic, and further urge no new leasing in the Gulf of Mexico because of the continued harm from offshore drilling on Gulf communities and natural resources and on climate change.
SELC supports responsible offshore wind development as a critically important piece in the necessary clean energy transition to address the climate crisis, but we do not support provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act that tie future offshore wind leasing to continued oil and gas leasing. We are planning to make this distinction in our comments, but please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns with this approach.
If you are potentially interested in signing on and have input as we draft, please let me know ASAP, as we are working on drafting the comments now. We will circulate a draft on Sept. 23, accept feedback through Sept. 28, and take final sign-ons through Oct. 5.
Thank you all for being valued partners in this important issue, we look forward to your continued support throughout this fight!
Melissa L. Edmonds (Whaling) (she/her)
Science & Policy Analyst
Southern Environmental Law Center
601 West Rosemary Street, Suite 220
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Office (919) 391-4099
Mobile (919) 623-5003
Dear visitor, below is a message BEAT received from "Emily Donovan via ActionNetwork.org" <info@email.actionnetwork.org>
The subject of her message regards
URGENT ACTION REQUIRED:
Say: "No More Chemours!"
BEAT received this message on: September 10, 2022 at 12:36:12 PM EDT
Her message is shared here in its entiretity.
Friends,
It's time to mobilize like never before. Chemours just announced they want to EXPAND their toxic PFAS production in NC. We don’t feel they’ve earned this right–especially when they’ve failed to deliver on the most basic promises to our community.
We believe the majority of control measures taken, so far, are because Chemours was legally forced to comply via a 2019 consent order established by our friends at Cape Fear River Watch. However, it’s important to remember, consent orders are only as good as they are being enforced. Sadly, strong enforcement of the Chemours consent order has taken constant pressure from dedicated folks like you, who are determined to hold both DEQ and Chemours’ feet to the fire.
Here’s a quick summary of how Chemours has “helped” us:
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They've been dragging their feet on establishing toxicity studies required by the 2019 consent order.
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They have made private well owners wait 6 months with no replacement water.
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They refuse to meet the needs of commissioners in Cumberland County and are now being sued.
Chemours has not earned the right to expand in NC and we are counting on you to help them get the message. Chemours is hosting a public information session at Leland Cultural Arts Center, Wednesday, September 21st from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. Click here to RSVP We’ll send you talking points in the next two weeks to help you feel prepared.
In the meantime, please share our event link on social media and with your fellow neighbors. Media will be present at this meeting, so it’s vital that we show a united front against Chemours. We cannot allow them to add another drop of their poison to our water.
With gratitude,
Emily Donovan, cofounder
Clean Cape Fear
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE BEAT LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR the Brunswick County NAACP’s proposed Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Multi-Use Greenway/Blueway Trail, Brunswick County, North Carolina
FYI: An Informative PDF about PFAS as it Relates to Brunswick County in 2020 - by Eugene Rozenbaoum of LG Chem
BEAT Board Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2018
The meeting was called to order by Pete Key.
Members Present: Pete Key, Dan George, Tom Goodwin, Neil Gilbert, Teddy Altreuter, Greg Weiss, Ted Janes (via FaceTime), Dwight Willis
President Key read the minutes from the previous meeting. Minutes were accepted as read on a unanimous vote.
Old Business:
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Pete and Tom will work on setting up a PayPal account for BEAT in order to accept BEAT memberships on our web page.
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Greg Weiss has resigned as BEAT webmaster because of his new duties as Mayor of Sunset Beach. We have had no responses to our previous requests for a new webmaster. It was suggested that we try to find a high school or college student to serve as webmaster as a community service project.
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BEAT is now officially a 501(c)3 organization. In order to receive the Oak Grant from Oceana we need to complete and submit the IRS 990 form to Oceana. Tom agreed to submit this form as soon as possible. We are hopeful that the $5,000 grant will be sent to us in the very near future.
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The Board unanimously agreed to create a page on the BEAT website to recognize previous BEAT presidents (Jan Harris, Richard Hilderman, and Neil Gilbert).
New Business:
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The Board agreed to send “Thank You” notes to everyone involved in the Barrier Islands Presentation at Seaside United Methodist Church in Sunset Beach on October 4. The Board will send notes to the following people: Neil Gilbert, Jan Harris, Ruth Reynolds, Janet Jonas, Shirley Owen, Richard Hilderman, Len Pietrafesa, Seaside UMC (Stephanie Riley, Minister of Spiritual Formation, and Kathleen Thompson, Administrative Assistant) and Kerri Allen, Coastal Federation. Ted agreed to write and send the notes.
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The Board agreed to re-schedule the general membership meeting that was canceled on September 13 due to Hurricane Florence to either November 13 or November 14 depending on the availability of the BEMC Public Meeting Room. Jen will find out if the Straws Movie is available on those evenings.
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BEAT has been invited to provide a 1-hour program for Hot Topics on January 22 by their leader, Cheryl Watts Fulton. The Board agreed to accept this invitation. Presenters will meet with Cheryl at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the St. James Community Building. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. Neil has a PowerPoint presentation that has been used at previous presentations that we can update and revise. We will need to decide who will make the presentation and what content we want to present.
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The Board invited Neil to rejoin the Board after his 10-month absence from the Board.
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Tom presented the Financial Report. With Teddy’s assistance we agreed to move several items from the General Fund to the St. Elizabeth Mission Society Grant Fund. Teddy will resubmit the grant report to the Sisters. The balance in the grant account is $1,20012. The balance in the general fund account is $634.09. After these changes were made Dwight moved and Dan seconded and the Board adopted the report unanimously.
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The Board agreed to reduce the price of BEAT T-Shirts from $18 down to $15.
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Dan proposed that BEAT become involved in a coalition of environmental groups to work on CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) issues. The Board authorized Dan to represent BEAT on this coalition.
Minutes submitted by Dwight Willis, Acting Secretary.