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:
-
They've been dragging their feet on establishing toxicity studies required by the 2019 consent order.
-
They have made private well owners wait 6 months with no replacement water.
-
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
President Gilbert Presentation to Brunswick County
School Board on September 19, 2017
On September 19, 2017, BEAT President Neil Gilbert along with Emily Donovan of Stand Up Brunswick and Tom Goodwin of SOBAD made presentations to the Brunswick County School Board regarding the safety of water being consumed by students, teachers, staff, and administrators. This is the text of Neil’s remarks:
On June 15 BEAT issued a public statement urging state and federal legislation to ban the release of GenX into public waters. Knowing that fluorocarbons have been linked to cancer and other serious health problems, allowing the release of Gen X is totally unacceptable.
Since BEAT's June 15 statement, there have been numerous meetings and forums in both Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. In these meetings there has been no new science to dissuade BEAT to change their original statement. To the contrary, the new science and readings are showing other unknown compounds in our drinking water that can pose more of a threat to our health than Gen X. Most noteworthy was the Gen X Forum held on July 19 at Brunswick Community College. When a panel of 8 scientists and government officials were asked by moderator Amanda Fitzpatrick "Who is drinking the water?" not one scientist raised their hands. To me that spoke volumes. As recently as this past Saturday's ProH2GO meeting in Leland, Dr. Cahoon of UNCW further confirmed BEAT’S statement of June 15.
Being a volunteer at West Brunswick High School, this has me greatly concerned for the health of the students, teachers, administrators, and staff in Brunswick County Schools. Having worked with Boards of Education for over 30 years, I realize that Board members are often put in a position to make difficult decisions. Normally the issue of state drinking water is not one of those important decisions, but it is now.
Being the good School Board members that you are, I am sure you have asked yourselves the important questions about the toxicity of the water in our schools. There has been so much information available over the past several months that you should have plenty of information to make an informed decision.
BEAT would like to remind the School Board that you do not need to depend on the state to provide clean water options for our students. You can take the lead by showing strength, character, and conviction by taking a stronger stance outside of Raleigh's guidelines. By doing this you will gain the support of all residents of Brunswick County.
BEAT is offering our services and advice to the Brunswick County Board of Education so you can do what is right for our students and employees of Brunswick County schools. It is BEAT's position that, when it comes to safe drinking water, the parents of Brunswick County, their children, and all who work in the schools deserve safe and healthy water.