Early-morning rituals are usually identical. High on the list
is to get the dogs outside. That’s where I was Monday, watching the sunrise on
my left and seeing the waning moon on my right. The dogs were sniffing when I
felt a vibration in my pocket.
A friend was
sending me his Earth Day devotional reading. The scripture was Psalm 24:1 (NRSV): “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is
in it, the world, and those who live in it.”
By this
time, the dogs had wandered back and were sitting at my feet. Impulsively, I
slipped out of my shoes. I wanted to feel the earth. My eyes were already open,
but the cool, wet grass opened my ears, too. A chorus of birds was busy making
sounds, and the neighbor’s Black Angus cattle were mooing across the way.
Back inside,
I felt another vibration. A mutual friend joined the three-way conversation. The
early riser said, “I would like to leave
this earth that God gave us the stewardship of as a better place for my
children and grandchildren than I found it.” Unfortunately, all God’s
children don’t say “Amen!” to that
ambition.
The truth is
that every day should be Earth Day. As we live our lives, we need to remember
that we are just passing through. Don’t future generations deserve “a better
place” than we found it?
That is the
reason you and I are alarmed by the nonchalant attitude of so many of our
leaders when it comes to the handling and disposing of toxic coal ash. Granted,
we have benefited from coal-generated electricity, but we cannot ignore the
dangerous downside.
There’s an
effort to move away from coal. That’s the good news. But follow what’s been
going on across America, and you’ll learn of the perilous consequences of
irresponsible handling of toxic coal ash. Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas
are among the states with horror stories.
The
Carolinas and Florida have decided what to do with their unwanted coal ash: Dump as much as they can in Georgia. While
I was standing on the wet grass—less than 40 miles away—a convoy of
side-dumping trucks was making its way out of the Carolinas into Georgia on
I-85 South, destination Banks County. This stream of waste—laden with lead, beryllium,
arsenic, cobalt, radium, boron and assorted bad stuff—is being stockpiled in our
Peach State.
And what are
our lawmakers doing about that?
Nothing.
They say that interstate-commerce
laws prevent Georgia from stopping the out-of-state dumping. What they don’t
tell you is that the General Assembly’s catering to our own toxic-coal-ash producer—Georgia
Power—has rolled out the welcome mat to other states.
Regular solid municipal waste—by
law—is charged $2.50 per ton. But for coal ash to be dumped, in approved
landfills, the fee is a nominal $1 per ton. Neighbors are jumping on the bargain—disposing
what they don’t want polluting their states.
Meanwhile, our leaders continue playing
footsie with industrial lobbyists. Repeated efforts to strengthen toxic-coal-ash
handling are squashed. As a result, Georgians and our environment suffer the
disastrous consequences.
I repeat: Every day should be Earth Day.
It’s past time for our lawmakers to accept
their roles as responsible stewards of Georgia earth, air and water. Maybe they
should take a walk—barefoot—on the wet grass and wake up to the irreplaceable natural
resources which God has bestowed upon us.
But first, they must pull their heads
out of the sand.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
