Hyundai wells fuel water war between Bulloch County residents, leaders

For Ryan Brannen and many of his neighbors, Bulloch County is feeling like Bullied County these days.

The fifth-generation farmer is one of many Bulloch residents opposed to a deal to send up to 6.6 million gallons of water per day across the border to Bryan County.

“You’re the ones who let the folks bully you into ruining the very life source that we have to survive on (and) that is now in peril as of tonight,” Brannen told Bulloch commissioners late last month ahead of their vote on an interlocal agreement to supply the water needed to operate Hyundai Motor Company’s Bryan County manufacturing mega-site . “Hyundai doesn't care about Bulloch, you, me, our people, land or farms.”

The comments came before commissioners’ votes on the proposed pact with Bryan County, along with a “memorandum of understanding” to establish a fund that would help property owners whose own wells go dry when the new wells are fully functioning.

But Brannen and others in the packed room made clear that they did not expect their pleas to affect the outcome.

Commissioners eventually would approve both measures in 4-2 votes.

That apparent inevitability, above all else, has stoked anger among Bulloch residents who feel local leaders were strongarmed by state officials into accepting a deal that will benefit a $100 billion company operating in another county, but do little to improve their own lives.

Many of those critics have cast their ire directly at Gov. Brian Kemp , who inked the deal with Hyundai that will provide the Korean automaker with at least $2 billion in tax incentives for the $7.6 billion project.

A spokesman for Kemp said his office generally does not comment on individual conversations involving the governor.

But ahead of their votes, County Manager Tom Couch cautioned commissioners that rejecting the water measure could end up harming Bulloch’s credibility “with regional partners, the state and federal government, thus impacting future cooperation.”

Even educational institutions in Bulloch including Georgia Southern University and Ogeechee Technical College – which got funding through the 2023 state budget for a new robotics facility – could face potential retribution if the well measures were denied.

“I don't think that the state of Georgia would kick that out from under (OTC’s) knees, but a similar ask again could be threatened by that,” he said.

However, Couch and other officials did make clear that the county had been issued an ultimatum regarding the wells.

“They'll have to be drilled because, you know, Hyundai needs the water,” Couch told commissioners ahead of their vote. “If push comes to shove, I would estimate (that) if you did not approve the intergovernmental agreement, either the state or Bryan County ... can easily come in and exercise eminent domain.”

In that case, Bulloch County would lose control of the wells and the projected $3 million in annual revenue it would get by selling the water to Bryan.

Experts: Feds should have known – and been told – of water demands for Hyundai site

‘You’re the ones who let the folks bully you’

Hyundai’s agreement with Georgia and the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority stipulates that Bryan County will provide water and sewer service to the Hyundai site. But Bryan is prevented by the state from extracting more water from the Floridan Aquifer.

That won’t stop Hyundai from getting the water needed to manufacture a projected 300,000 plug-in vehicles and batteries per year, Couch said.

“There is an expectation that these wells be built in the next 12 to 18 months so that Hyundai can ramp up to its capacity, and terms and conditions like these are expressed more formally in the (Joint Development Authority) agreements,” he added. “Because those are firm, legally enforceable contracts, I see no other pathway. ... The state will induce Bryan County to come in and to proceed to construct those wells.”

Both counties have agreed to initially contribute $250,000 each to a fund to assist property owners whose wells dry up if the Floridan Aquifer loses 19 feet when the wells are working at maximum capacity, as the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has projected.

Brannen, the Bulloch farmer, suggested EPD’s estimate that farm wells could decline by as much as 15 feet should have given commissioners pause.

“Nobody knows what exactly will happen till it's too late on this issue,” Brannen said. “So, what are you going to do when you're standing around wondering what you're going to do because you rushed this, and it turned out it wasn't the truth? You listen to someone who signed a paper before you knew about it."

“You’re the ones who made the decisions. You’re the ones who let the folks bully you.”

John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at 912-652-0213.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Hyundai wells fuel water war between Bulloch County residents, leaders