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St. Simons Island, Oregon

Center for a Sustainable Coast

The Center for a Sustainable Coast was formed in 1997 by environmental professionals and concerned citizens to improve the responsible use, protection and conservation of coastal Georgia’s natural, historic and economic resources. The Center works to ensure that Georgians’ environmental interests are properly represented in decisions that affect them. The Center pursues its mission by educating the community about the conditions and trends of coastal Georgia; collaborating with other groups to advise about threats to and opportunities for safeguarding coastal resources; and advising decision-makers and stakeholders about existing and potential economic value of nature-based businesses and jobs. The Center also advocates for legislation and scientific research to improve the accountability and reliability of decisions affecting the coastal environment, and takes legal action to prevent or control unwise activities that threaten to impair the quality, capacity or viability of the region’s resources.

A poster that was created for the Center for a Sustainable Coast’s campaign against offshore drilling. (Photo credit: Center for a Sustainable Coast)

The Center operates with a board, advisors and staff on St. Simons Island, a barrier island on the southeast Georgia coast. Since its inception, the Center has supported a number of environmental causes and issues. Court actions filed by the Center have primarily focused on enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act and Georgia’s Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. In 2016, the Center set up a Coal Ash Legal Fund and partnered with residents in nearby Wayne County to campaign against the dumping of potentially millions of tons of cancer-causing coal ash at a local landfill. And the Center has been vocal on other issues, such as criticizing the state’s Climate Pollution Reduction Plan for omitting the goal of reducing the dependency on fossil-fuels for generating electricity. The Center also collaborated in producing an in-depth report about $20 billion in cost overruns in expanding nuclear-power capacity at Plant Vogtle, and corresponding financial burdens imposed on residential energy customers

Contact
David Kyler, Executive Director
Climate impacts
Drought, Erosion-Subsidence, Flooding (ocean, riverine, urban), Heat, Hurricanes/Tropical Storms, Wildfires
Strategies
Nature-based solutions and green infrastructure (example: wetland restoration), Legal/permit challenges to development, contamination, pollution, etc, Land trusts / conservation, Political activism, including protests, petitions, and lobbying, Community organizing and education, Risk mapping and/or monitoring e.g. flooding/contaminants etc, Legislation/policy reform
Environmental Justice Concerns
Logging/biomass, Superfund sites, Hazardous/toxic sites, Fracking/oil and gas development/pipelines, Mining, Nuclear power plants, Coal/coke plants and emissions, Industrial agriculture/animal waste, Groundwater contamination, Air pollution, Hypoxia (oceanic dead zones), Fighting development/destruction of wildlife/extinction of species
501c3 Tax Deductible
Yes
Accepting Donation
Yes