BROOKLET ― A playfully designed water tower marks the most visible corner of Hyundai’s soon-to-open electric vehicle assembly plant near Savannah. Rising above the landscape just a few dozen yards from I-16, the tank is brightly colored and features artistic interpretations of Hyundai’s mission and vision of “together for a better future.”
Yet as the 16 million-square-foot assembly plant nears a late 2024 opening, one group of Hyundai’s neighbors despises the tower. Not because of the artwork on the outside; but because of the future source of the water on the inside.
The dissenters live in Bulloch County, a few miles west of the plant across the border of Hyundai’s home of Bryan County. Their angst involves the four planned wells to be drilled in Bulloch and meant to fill that water tower to slake Hyundai’s thirst as EV production ramps up next year.
The citizenry, led by an activist group calling itself the Bulloch Action Coalition, are mounting a bid to block the wells. The effort is a long shot: A water-sharing agreement already is in place; the Georgia Environmental Protection Division is weeks away from issuing permits for the wells; and there’s no alternative water option, at least in the short term, to serve the largest economic development project in the state’s history.
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Zoning, permitting and materials acquisition for two of the Bulloch wells already is underway, with construction expected to begin soon after the withdrawal permits are issued. State and local development authorities are contractually obligated to provide Hyundai with water, and officials say unequivocally they will meet that commitment.
Gov. Brian Kemp is a champion of the Hyundai project, which he sees as part of his legacy to make Georgia the “e-mobility capital of the world.” And federal and state lawmakers all back the plant because of the 16,000-plus jobs it is expected to create, including 8,500 on the manufacturing campus itself.
Even so, what started last year as concerns from a handful of farmers and homeowners about irrigation and drinking water at properties near the proposed well sites has grown into a pointed outcry. Their protest is marked by attacks against their political foils, from county commissioners and a local state lawmaker all the way up to Kemp, whose “Fighting for Rural Georgia” billboards from his 2022 reelection campaign still overlook I-16 between Bulloch and Macon.
“It’s a slap in the face to see those billboards with that promise that he is fighting for us,” said Lawton Sack, founder of the Bulloch Action Coalition.
A Kemp spokesman said the governor is making good on his promise to bring opportunity to all corners of the state. Kemp is committed to seeing the Hyundai plant completed “and positively transform the lives of those in the community and across our state,” according to the spokesman.
At the local level, the well opponents already have scored political victories. In the May primary election, three coalition members unseated incumbents on the Bulloch County Commission, the governing body that entered into a water-sharing agreement with Bryan County.
And earlier this week, the Bulloch Action Coalition launched a petition drive meant to trigger a referendum they hope will block the drilling of the wells. Organizers on Tuesday signed up the first of what they hope will be 6,000 registered Bulloch voters outside a public comment meeting hosted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. The forum attracted more than 200 attendees.
Yet the new Bulloch commissioners won’t take office until January, and the citizen referendum process tends to be lengthy — a similar effort in McIntosh County started in September 2023, and that vote is scheduled for Oct. 1.
Sack acknowledges that time is short and the chances of stopping the wells are slim. But he pledges that residents will continue “raising hell” until either their referendum is defeated or the wells are successfully blocked.
“They told us we couldn’t win elections. When we showed them we could, they said, ‘They’ll give up after a while.’ Yet we keep showing up,” Sack said. “What we are asking is to allow the people of Bulloch County to have a say in this fight, to let our voices be heard.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Mounting opposition
For David Bennett, the chairman-elect of the Bulloch County Commission, his interest in what have been dubbed the “Hyundai wells” began in 2023. Bennett retired from the U.S. Army four years ago and moved with his wife, Jessica, and daughters to a home 1.3 miles from the site of one of the planned wells.
Bennett sought information on how pumping up to 6.6 million gallons daily from the Floridan aquifer might affect levels in the water source beneath his property. At the time, EPD was still studying and modeling the drawdowns and would later estimate that those living closest to the wells could see up to a 19-foot drop.
But what Bennett found most puzzling in those early days was what he perceived as the lack of foresight behind the water plans and the Bulloch County government’s eagerness to supply Bryan with the plentiful but valuable resource. Bryan County has been under aquifer withdrawal restrictions related to a decades-old legal dispute between Georgia and South Carolina since 2013, and although aquifer water levels have recovered by about 40 feet over the past four decades, the imposed limits will remain.
Meanwhile, economic development officials had been prepping what is now the Hyundai site — located well within Bryan’s borders — for a large-scale industrial development since 2014.
Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America
Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America
The scenario defied logic to Bennett, as did the lack of action by the Bulloch County Commission, the governing body with the power to challenge the building of the wells. Bulloch residents started asking questions about the plans last year and were met with stall tactics.
The Bulloch Action Coalition had formed in mid-2023 amid unrelated concerns about property taxes. But as word spread last December about applications for well permits, the group broadened its scope to that issue. One of their first acts was to identify how long Bulloch had been negotiating a water-sharing agreement with Bryan. It took two Georgia Opens Record Act requests to get a draft of the water plans, and the documents showed that talks dated to 2022.
In February, the EPD released its study of the planned wells’ projected impact on the aquifer, prompting the coalition to explore a referendum campaign. But that was not then an option, as the commission had not yet approved an agreement related to the wells, and therefore no legislative measure existed for citizens to try for a repeal.
Credit: Katelyn Myrick
Credit: Katelyn Myrick
Those revelations spurred Bennett and three other coalition members who already were considering runs for the County Commission to file their election qualifying paperwork. Bennett, Ray Davis, Ray Brannen and Nick Newkirk all won in the May primary.
A month after the primary, with the need for the wells growing closer, the Bulloch commission approved the water-sharing agreement with Bryan. Not in a regularly scheduled meeting, but in a specially called session noticed to the public just days earlier.
That meeting opened with the county manager telling the commissioners that rejecting the agreement would likely result in either Bryan County or the state of Georgia taking the land for the wells by eminent domain and building the aquifer taps anyway — and Bulloch would miss out on making about $1.7 million annually in fees and payments related to the wells in the process. The water-sharing agreement passed by a 4-2 vote.
Infuriated by what they saw as backroom-dealing by county officials — and with a decision subject to referendum now on the books — the Bulloch Action Coalition worked with lawyers to create the referendum petitions. Should the repeals eventually succeed, Bennett said, he does not think Bryan or state officials would make good on the county manager’s eminent domain claim.
“When you’ve got a county that said, ‘Hey, we had a referendum that said we don’t want anything to do with these wells,’ I think they’re going to start to look at other avenues,” Bennett said. “That’s a risk that we’re taking with this. But I’m going to tell you: If you don’t take the risk, you’ll never know.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
‘A gift from God’
Another villain in the Hyundai water saga in the eyes of the well opponents is the area’s chief economic development official, Trip Tollison.
Tollison is a 22-year veteran of coastal Georgia commerce, serving more than half that time as leader of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Developing a water plan for the Hyundai site has been a focus of his since the property was envisioned as a home for a large-scale industrial tenant a decade ago.
Tollison recognized Bryan’s water shortcomings from the beginning and has been working on solutions ever since. Long-term answers have been identified, such as connecting to surface water from the nearby Savannah River, but no decisions have been made by state or local governments.
Should authorities choose the river option, Tollison is cautiously optimistic that the system could be linked to Bryan County and Hyundai within the next 10 years.
Stopgaps — the wells — are needed in the meantime.
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
EPD’s draft permits for the wells are good for 10 years and are renewable. Special conditions cited in the draft permits require economic development officials to submit a detailed plan for an alternative water source that can be developed in the next 25 years. The document is due within six months of the permits being issued. Since the state owns all the available water sources, it will be imperative that all regional and local officials commit politically and financially to the recommended long-term solution, Tollison said.
In an attempt to further ease objections to the wells, stakeholders including Hyundai have established a $1 million mitigation fund meant to pay for adjustments and well improvements for property owners affected by the water withdrawals.
According to EPD scientists, most Floridan aquifer well systems suck water from 40-plus feet below the current water level and should not be affected by any reduction in the aquifer’s capacity. However, the fund is a just-in-case measure to offset potential costs. Repositioning a pump costs $900 to $1,200, and pump replacement ranges from $12,000 to $15,000, said Savannah-area well drilling pro Pete Peterson.
A Hyundai spokesman said the company is committed to being a responsible corporate citizen and an active member of the community.
Hyundai “has heard the concerns from the citizens of Bulloch County,” said Joe LaMuraglia, the Hyundai factory’s communications manager. “While we believe in the science that the Georgia EPD has provided, contributing to the fund along with our partners is the right thing to do to mitigate any potential issues that may arise. "
Bulloch residents scoff at the mitigation fund. They say the seed money is not enough to cover pump improvements, increased energy costs related to pumping water from deeper depths and, for farmers, the price of crop losses should agricultural wells run dry.
Proponents of the wells point to the jobs and economic activity the Hyundai plant will drive. State Sen. Billy Hickman, a Statesboro Republican, points to the local poverty rate: 25% in Bulloch and 37% in Statesboro, the county seat.
“Hyundai is going to provide jobs for our people, and they need the water,” Hickman said. “I’m an accountant, not a geologist, and the professionals tell us there is not a problem with these wells. I’m going to trust their opinion.”
Well opponents don’t share Hickman’s confidence. They note that the EPD and its scientists are under the jurisdiction of the governor.
To some, the fight is now about principle. The water in the aquifer is not the property of Hyundai, any government or economic development authority, or even the farmers and homeowners who live above it.
“This aquifer is a gift from God, and he expects us to protect it, to conserve it and handle it responsibly,” said Tim Powell, a Bulloch resident and business owner. “Sucking 60,453,125,000 gallons out of the people’s aquifer in the next 25 years before surface water is routed to the Hyundai plant does not live up to that responsibility.”
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