A fund to help property owners whose private wells are impacted by the extraction of underground water to serve Hyundai Motor Company ’s electric vehicle and battery manufacturing site near Savannah has grown to $1 million, officials said Tuesday.
Hyundai, lured to the state in part by more than $2 billion in incentives, is donating $250,000 to the pool, according to the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority , which also is pitching in with an equal amount. Development authorities in Bryan and Bulloch counties also are contributing a quarter-million dollars each.
Four proposed wells in Bulloch would pump up to 6.6 million gallons of water per day and send it to Bryan to serve the Hyundai site and other expected development in the area.
State officials will discuss proposed permits for the wells during a public meeting from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday at Southeast Bulloch High School , 9184 Brooklet-Denmark Highway in Brooklet. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division also will accept written comments through Aug. 20 at EPDComments@dnr.ga.gov.
Bryan, bound by a joint development agreement to supply water for the $7.6 billion manufacturing complex, is going outside the county because it is subject to state withdrawal limits aimed at limiting saltwater intrusion in the aquifer near Savannah.
Experts: Wells for Hyundai's Georgia site will 'pirate' water from other areas
EPD estimates the depth of the Floridan will drop by as much as 19 feet near the new wells, and that private wells could decline by up to 15 feet inside the “cone of influence” created by the withdrawals. The mitigation pool is aimed primarily at covering the cost to lower pumps in private wells impacted by the declining depth within a 5-mile radius of the extractions.
“The fund is expected to have ample resources to provide remediation to anyone that may be affected by the wells,” the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority said Monday in announcing that the fund had reached $1 million.
Under EPD conditions tied to the proposed well permits, a state-licensed well driller or pump installer would investigate “alleged significant impacts” to private wells.
“The fund ... shall be used to mitigate, in a timely manner, the specific issues of the affected party,” EPD says.
A group of Bulloch County residents announced Monday that it was launching a petition drive for a referendum to nullify agreements between the two counties to drill and operate the wells, and to create the mitigation fund.
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at 912-652-0213 or jdeem@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Fund to help GA property owners impacted by Hyundai wells reaches $1 million
Most Popular
Comments / 0