Opponents want to block construction of Hyundai’s electric vehicle plant in Georgia
Opponents of plans to pump water from hundreds of feet beneath Bulloch County and pipe it to Hyundai Motor Company’s electric vehicle and battery manufacturing site near Savannah said Monday they had filed a referendum petition to prevent the drilling of the planned wells.
The announcement comes a day before the state Department of Environmental Quality is scheduled to hold a public meeting to discuss draft permits for four wells that will tap the Floridan Aquifer and provide up to 6.6 million gallons of water per day to supply Hyundai’s operations and other planned developments in northern Bryan County.
Commissioners from both counties approved the wells in July.
Bryan is obligated through a joint development agreement to provide water for the $7.6 billion manufacturing complex. The site will be outside the county because it is subject to state withdrawal limits designed to limit saltwater intrusion into the Savannah aquifer.
The referendum was to take place in Bulloch and was to have the aim of declaring the agreement of this district invalid.
Lawton Sack, one of the petition organizers, said he and other well drilling opponents believe a referendum is the only way to stop well drilling after months of pleading with county commissioners.
“We went from meeting to meeting asking them to vote against (the oil deal),” Sack said in a phone interview with the Savannah Morning News on Monday. “We asked them to call a referendum and put the matter in the hands of the people. And we were told over and over again that they would continue to do that.”
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Under Georgia law, signatures from 10% of voters registered at the time of the November 2022 parliamentary election would be required to trigger the referendum. That means 4,495 certified voter signatures would be needed.
If the petition is successful, a special election will likely be held in late November or early December, Lawton said, adding that he and other petition organizers are working with a lawyer who pointed out that the Bulloch agreement could be voided by voters.
Two Republicans, David Bennett and Ray Davis, who are running unopposed in the November election for a seat on the Bulloch Board of Commissioners, are members of the petition group, as is Ryan Brannen, the Republican candidate for District 1.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is hosting a meeting to discuss the proposed permits on Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Southeast Bulloch High School, 9184 Brooklet-Denmark Highway in Brooklet. The EPD is also accepting written comments through Aug. 20 at [email protected].
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at 912-652-0213 or [email protected].
