Pollution, runaway development, and destruction of our precious marshes all threaten Georgia's coast

Imagine a future where families are afraid to let their children swim in the ocean when they visit one of Georgia’s beautiful beaches. Imagine a day when residents and visitors to Georgia’s coast experience the same congestion and pollution you find in cities like Atlanta and Charlotte.

That’s a day that Save Georgia’s Coast is trying to prevent — but it will come if we don’t succeed in turning the tide on troubling trends for pollution and runaway development.

• For too long, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has gone easy on big corporate polluters like Rayonier, in Jesup, GA. They ordered them to clean up their act, but then give them one extension after another on their deadline to do so.
  • The smelly discharge from this plant continues to be a problem, despite a 2007 order from the state to clean up.
• When developers want to build in a natural area, they almost always seem to get the permits they need, whether or not the roads, schools, and water systems are there to support the growth in population.
• When private citizens deface public property – like putting long, private docks across the publicly owned marshlands – state authorities look the other way.
  • Extensive damage, including marsh grass dying and creek banks falling in, have been documented along Georgia’s coast as the result of the construction of long, private docks across the marsh.