 |
News Articles
2010 News Articles | 2009 News Articles | 2008 News Articles | 2007
News Articles |
2005 News Articles
12/29/05 - White County News-Telegraph
Stop I-3 partners with
green group: I-3 opponents can make tax-free donations
Local citizens now may make tax-deductible contributions to the effort to stop the interstate that is planned to traverse the North Georgia mountains. The White County-based Stop I-3 Coalition has announced its partnership this week with the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, a large, eight-state, non-profit. The partnership, Stop I-3 Chairperson Elizabeth Wells of Sautee-Nacoochee said, enables the anti-interstate to solicit tax-free donations to its effort on its Web site (www.stopi-3.org). Read more...
12/19/05 - Athens Banner-Herald
I-3
opponents too late to fight for mountains
EDITORIAL
Opponents of the nascent proposal for an interstate highway
linking Savannah with Knoxville, Tenn. - along a route that
would, if unchanged from the current scheme, roughly follow
the east Georgia state line - are a generation or two too
late in their quest to save the north Georgia mountains from
massive human encroachment. Read
more...
(And read a response here...)
11/9/05 - Smoky Mountain Sentinel
Commissioners:
“I’ve learned more, I’m not for (Interstate
3).”
Although County Commission Chairman Stephen “Doc” Sellers said it is highly unlikely that Interstate-3 will ever become a reality, County Commissioners did all but make an official statement against the Interstate which would connect Knoxville, TN with Savannah, GA via the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains. Read more...
11/04/05, Greenwire/Environment and Energy Publishing
LLC.
Epic battle looms
over coast-to-mountains highway proposal
A new interstate highway linking coastal Georgia to the Appalachian Mountains would -- depending on how you see it -- provide a critical link in the Southeast's underdeveloped transportation network or plunge a knife in one of the richest wildlife habitats in the eastern United States. Such is the high stakes battle looming over what could become Interstate 3, a highway project that promises to become one of the nation's biggest rights-of-way battles in decades. Read more...
10/4 - NPR's "Morning Edition"
Mountain
Interstate Plans Raise Alarm
The newly signed transportation bill provides money to start planning an interstate highway from Chattanooga, Tenn., into Georgia and the mountains of North Carolina. Many people who live along the route don't want it. Listen to the story...
October-November, 2005 - The Cherokee Scout
Two editorials re-printed with permission:
Without question, Cherokee and surrounding counties need more good, decent-paying jobs with some medical benefits, the kind of employment that can take care of a family. So, again without question, our elected officials owe it to us to look into any and all possibilities for economic development. However, the proposed Interstate 3 is not the answer in this area. Read more...
Don't get fooled by the rhetoric
Sitting in Enloe Auditorium on Thursday night proved to be an interesting experience. About 300 people gathered to learn more at Interstate 3 and the effects – good and bad – the proposed road would have on our area. Read more...
9/8 - White County News-Telegraph
'Boondoggle'
Got a map? Trace all the towns and roads listed above from Savannah to Knoxville. Then you will be able to see the impact of this proposed superhighway. Whether this asphalt and concrete monstrosity is on the edge of your town, goes in your town, or through your front door, it is guaranteed to change your neighborhood forever. And not for the better. Read more...
9/7 - St Petersburg Times
From
disaster to disgrace
As we wonder why relief was so long in coming after Katrina, we should consider what other disasters the nation is not prepared for.
Most people are familiar with the fable of the little Dutch boy who, shivering through the night, kept his finger in the dike to prevent a small leak from becoming a disastrous torrent. The story is fiction but the premise is true, as the world has now seen to its shock, horror and rage. Read more...
9/2 - Savannah Morning News
Detour
highway bill
Congress on Friday approved a $10 billion disaster relief bill for hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast. That is just a downpayment on what will be an epic recovery project for years to come. Washington is going to have re-prioritize its spending to deal with the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
It can begin by rescinding the bloated transportation bill it passed last July, and President Bush signed into law.
The six-year, $286 billion monstrosity is the largest public works bill ever, and would have been even if it had not exceeded a spending cap that had been agreed to by Congress and the White House. Read more...
9/2 - Towns County Sentinel
"STOP I-3" presented
to Rotarians
The biggest controversy in this area in recent years is the proposed I-3 which is presently being talked about and studied by a variety of agencies, private and government. This Interstate is proposed to run from Savannah via Augusta to Knoxville. During this routing it is to possibly go through White and Towns County. Read more...
8/31 - Georgia ForestWatch's Quarterly Newsletter, "Forest
News," Autumn 2005
Our back yards must get
bigger if the Stop I-3 fight is to succeed
Instinctive inclinations to protect one’s back yard are going to have to be redefined if conservation and community organizations are to prevent a new Interstate highway from rampaging across Southern Appalachia.
These organizations also are going to have to resist natural inclinations to become their own worst enemies if the long, hard fight looming against “Interstate 3” is to succeed.
The back yard, for starters, is a whole lot bigger than many in the conservation community are used to dealing with – much bigger than a single ranger district, wilderness or wildlife management area, individual national trail, national forest, national park, stream, creek or wild and scenic river. Read more...
8/29 - The New York Times
Destroying
the National Parks
Most of us think of America's national parks as everlasting places, parts of the bedrock of how we know our own country. But they are shaped and protected by an underlying body of legislation, which is distilled into a basic policy document that governs their operation. Read more...
8/28 - White County News-Telegraph
Interstate
3 opponents ask why
Members of the multi-state Stop I-3 organization want to know why an interstate is being planned for Southern Appalachians.
Elizabeth Wells, Chairperson of the Georgia division of the anti-interstate group formed this spring as a reaction to a proposed interstate from Savannah to Knoxville, said Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has communicated by letter with the group, telling them a $1.3 million feasibility study being financed by the federal government will determine if an interstate is a good idea. "However, he didn't answer the most important question," Wells said, "which is who wants this interstate and why." Read more...
8/26 - White County News-Telegraph
Our
View
At Tuesday's Interstate 3 public information meeting at White County High School, North Georgia citizens were told that their opinion will count when it is being decided whether to build an interstate that would traverse the North Georgia mountains.
D.J. Gerken, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the more than 200 people in attendance that during the feasibility study for the highway, there will be "an important and significant role for public participation." Read more...
8/24 - The Gainesville Times
Chambliss takes no stance
on mountain interstate
Sen. Saxby Chambliss speaks during a visit Tuesday to The Times. The Republican from Moultrie called the controversial plan to build a superhighway that runs from Knoxville, Tenn., to Savannah a "quality of life" issue, and that he wants to wait until the feasibility study is complete before taking a position.
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss called the plan to build an interstate from Savannah to Knoxville, Tenn., a "quality of life" issue Tuesday, saying he would wait to take a stance on it. Read more...
8/24 - The Gainesville Times
I-3 opponents say politicians
invited to rally, but most didn't show
About 250 people showed up Tuesday night at White County High School to learn more about a proposed interstate highway through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
President Bush signed a federal transportation bill Aug. 10 that allocates $1.3 million for a feasibility study on Interstate 3, a hypothetical route that would link Savannah to Knoxville, Tenn., by cutting across North Georgia.
The meeting was organized by the Stop I-3 coalition, a partnership of grassroots groups in Northeast Georgia, East Tennessee and the western Carolinas. Coalition leaders earlier said the event would allow the public to "hear all sides of the issue." Read more...
8/23 - The Toccoa Record
Norwood
holds closed meeting
The Toccoa Record U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood met with local city and county commissioners as well as Development Authority members on Aug. 11 to discuss the proposed I-3 project and other economic development issues.
However, a representative of The Toccoa Record was not allowed
to attend the meeting. Read
more...
8/12 - The Northeast Georgian
Norwood says no I-3 route being
considered
Congressman Charlie Norwood is finished talking about proposed Interstate 3. Norwood told Habersham County officials Saturday that rumors continue to run wild about the project, and that all information is premature at this point. He said a study, funded in this year's highway appropriations bill, will determine if and where Interstate 3, from Savannah to Knoxville, Tenn., and Interstate 14, from Augusta to Natchez, Miss., would run. That study will include both routing and potential environmental impact.
"This is the last time I'm going to talk about it until after the study comes out," Norwood told members of the Habersham County Commission in a meeting at the Habersham County Airport. Read more...
8/11 - The Clayton Tribune
Norwood: Wait and see on I-3
U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, a 9th District Republican, received an earful of negative opinions Monday from Rabun County residents concerned about the proposed Interstate 3. Read more...
8/5 - The Northeast Georgian
Highway bill to help fund Cornelia
corridor widening
The new federal highway bill passed by Congress last week earmarks $2 million to upgrade Cornelia's commercial corridor from Cannon Bridge Road to Walnut Street. Georgia Department of Transportation plans call for widening approximately 2.74 miles of state Highway 105 (more commonly known as Veterans Memorial Drive) to ease traffic congestion and improve safety in the area. Read more...
8/4 - White County News - Telegraph
White
County Commission rejects I-3 plan
White County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to say
no to Interstate 3.
In front of a packed courtroom and at the urging of District
8 State Rep. Charles Jenkins, the commission resolved to oppose
efforts to build a highway through the North Georgia mountains.
Commissioners agreed that they could not endorse federal efforts
to build an interstate highway from Savannah to Augusta to
Knoxville based on the information they have been given. Read
more...
7/31 - St. Petersburg Times
Interstate
is to mountains what drilling is to the gulf
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. - Mountain people don't often ask for outside help, but now they need yours. Otherwise, the trucking lobby and some pork-happy lawmakers are going to ram a $50-billion interstate highway through the Southern Appalachians of northeastern Georgia and far western North Carolina, where no such boondoggle ought to go.
It looks greased. The pork - excuse me, transportation - bill Congress was poised to pass Friday authorizes $2.64-million to study the "feasibility" of that and another dubious interstate. That's three times what the House initially proposed. Read more...
7/29 - Anderson Independent-Mail
I-3 study receives funding
boost
The $286.4 billion highway bill passed by Congress early Friday contained an unexpected surprise for supporters of a proposed interstate that would link Knoxville, Tenn., with Savannah, Ga.
A feasibility study on Interstate 3 earmarked in the bill by Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., received $1.32 million, $900,000 higher than his original request.
Stop I-3, a coalition opposed to the Interstate plowing through the northeast Georgia mountains, immediately sought an explanation for the dramatic increase. Read more...
7/27 - Chattooga Quarterly
Editorial
by Buzz Williams
Many, myself included, were caught off guard by the rapid, well orchestrated effort to plan, fund and construct a new interstate highway through the Blue Ridge mountains. Rest assured that the Chattooga Conservancy will be working hard to beat this thing back. Doing so will be a tough task given the head start the other side has gained. To win, we will need the help of a dedicated constituency in executing a clear strategy. I have outlined an initial strategy in this Quarterly’s feature article on page 5. Here I would like to give a little more background on who I believe is at the heart of the plan to sacrifice our natural resources—that we all know are so important to everyone—for the benefit of a few short sighted politicians and the hungry corporations behind them. Read more...
7/27 - Chattooga Quarterly
Interstate
3
An interstate highway wider than three football fields is on the fast track for the north Georgia mountains. The initial route, outlined in federal legislation authorizing a "study" of feasible routes and cost, would connect the port of Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville, Tennessee, and pass through the mountains near Helen, Georgia. However, the proposed route through the north Georgia mountains for Interstate 3, as it has been named, could change depending on the outcome of the feasibility study. Strong opposition from White and Towns Counties, which lie in the first proposed route, is already causing proponents of the road to talk about other options. According to Georgia State Representative Charles Jenkins, whose electorate includes residents of the northeast Georgia mountains, the route could shift to Highway 441 through Rabun County, where current road widening is already underway. Jenkins opposes the highway and claims to be in contact with the Georgia federal delegation that proposed the legislation for the feasibility study. He said in a recent public meeting in Rabun County, "They say this thing is a done deal," and later, "all I’m hearing is Highway 441." That would put an Interstate Highway in the Chattooga River watershed along Stekoa Creek—already the most polluted tributary to the National Wild & Scenic Chattooga River. The Chattooga Conservancy is mobilizing to stop I-3. Read more...
7/24 - Athens Banner-Herald
Reactions
mixed to proposed interstates
In the mountain areas of north Georgia, Tennessee and North
Carolina, opposition is building to a proposed new interstate
that would run from Knoxville, Tenn., to Savannah.
And farther south, in east Georgia, reaction so far is lukewarm
at best to Interstate 3, an idea being championed by U.S.
Rep. Charlie Norwood, an Augusta Republican.
Like the man who first introduced the idea last fall, former congressman Max Burns, Norwood says the highway could bring economic development to rural, relatively poor areas along its way - counties like Franklin, Elbert, Hart and Stephens that lie well outside the Atlanta economic engine. Burns proposed both Interstate 3 and Interstate 14, which would link Augusta with Natchez, Miss., during a tough re-election campaign that he ultimately lost to Athens lawyer John Barrow. Read more...
7/23 - Anderson Independent-Mail
I-3 study on the way to President's
desk
A $400,000 feasibility study on Interstate 3 is one step away from reaching President George W. Bush's desk.
The study is part of a bill proposed by Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., currently in conference committee, to build Interstate 3, a direct route from Savannah to Knoxville, Tenn. Read more...
7/19 - The Northeast Georgian
Questions answered on I-3
A proposed freeway from Savannah to Knoxville by way of Augusta has raised many questions and concerns in Northeast Georgia. Both the Habersham and Rabun county commissions have voiced their opposition to the proposed Interstate 3. Plus, a rapidly-growing grassroots organization called the Stop I-3 Coalition has taken on the mission of preventing the interstate from coming into the mountain region. Read more...
7/14 - The Clayton Tribune
Commissioners: No interstate
At the end of its second hour-long town hall meeting, the Rabun County Board of Commissioners declared unanimous opposition to a proposed Interstate 3 being routed through the county.
Those in the packed courtroom, many wearing badges with I-3 circled in red and a slash diagonally cutting through the circle, gave commissioners a standing ovation. Read more...
7/13 - The Northeast Georgian
I-3: Just say 'no'
Reactions have been consistent from people I've spoken with about the federal government's proposal to build an interstate freeway along Highway 17: First they're shocked, then they're dismayed. While officials in Georgia's economically-depressed flatlands may thrill at the prospect of commerce and jobs brought by a freeway route, I shudder at the thought of our quiet mountain lifestyle destroyed. Read more...
7/9 - Rabun commissioners declare unanimous opposition to Interstate.
The five-member Rabun Board of Commissioners Thursday declared its unanimous opposition to any proposed Interstate highway coming through the county. Read more...
7/7 - The Clayton Tribune
Letter to the editor
I hope everyone can attend the Co. Commission meeting this Thursday night. While we are enjoying our cool summer here our leaders and representatives in Washington are meeting with their corporate cohorts to decide again what's good for us. This time it's a new interstate highway from Savannah through Rabun County to Knoxville. Read more...
7/6 - Smoky Mountain News
-
Battle lines drawn as Georgia seeks to lighten Atlanta’s load
Residents of far Western North Carolina have launched the beginnings of what organizers say will be a massive fight to defeat a proposed new interstate through the mountains — one that would bisect Clay, Cherokee, Graham and possibly Macon counties en route from Savannah to Knoxville. Read more... -
It’s going where?
Ever since rumors of a new interstate through Western North Carolina began circulating a few weeks ago, curious residents have spent hours studying maps and debating the optimum route that will likely be chosen by federal road planners conducting the feasibility study. Read more... -
WNC politicians weigh in
Both state and national elected leaders from Western North Carolina are expressing reservations about building a new interstate through the mountains. Read more...
6/24 - The Northeast Georgian
Commission says 'no' to I-3
The Habersham County Commission has agreed to send a formal letter to state elected officials expressing the board's opposition to the proposed Interstate 3. "I think the board should indicate as a whole in writing that we do not need an interstate in Habersham County," Chairperson Lynne Dockery said at Monday's commission meeting. "My question to the attorney is can we pass a resolution forbidding it?" said commissioner Doug Vermilya. "Or do they have bigger guns than we do?" Read more...
6/28 - The Northeast Georgian
Stop I-3 Coalition encourages
writing letters to congressmen
The Stop I-3 Coalition had its second working meeting on Sunday at Nacoochee Presbyterian Church in White County. The coalition met to review research committee reports from the committees that formed during its first meeting, and to discuss future plans. Read more...
6/23 - White County News - Telegraph
Letter to the editor
I’m writing to urge to eliminate the funding for the study of Interstate 3 as proposed by H.R. 3, TEA-LU. The suggested routing through northeast Georgia is incomprehensible. Mountains, mountain communities and expressways are not a good mix – environmentally, economically and esthetically. Read more...
6/17 - The Knoxville News Sentinel
Are we ready for another interstate?
Knoxville is about to endure many months of construction on Interstate 40 through downtown, along with the major frustrations and disruption of traffic patterns that will accompany it. Now comes news of the possibility of another interstate highway hitting Knoxville and connecting with the Georgia coast.
Interstate 3 is more than a lofty concept. It is heavily on the minds of a number of Georgia lawmakers who are asking for a feasibility study of two routes: I-3 from Knoxville to Savannah, Ga., and I-14 from Augusta, Ga., west through Alabama to Natchez, Miss., on the Mississippi River. Read more...
6/3 - The Northeast Georgian
Interstate 3 route study could
begin soon
A representative from Congressman Charlie Norwood's office said Tuesday a study on the route of a proposed new Interstate 3 could begin this summer and be completed by the end of the year.. Read more...