About Us
Re-defining Our Environmental Future
We are dedicated to protecting our coasts, beaches, and inland waters. We advocate for maintaining the traditional uses of these areas and the established uses of our Preserves, Parks, and Wildlife Refuges as places to play, relax, fish, boat, hunt, and enjoy all God has blessed us with. We support prosperity for all citizens, but it cannot be obtained at the cost of our hard-fought return to responsible stewardship of our lands and waters.
Monitoring and opposing harmful projects, as we have been doing, is vital work, but we realize it will always be a battle against those who prioritize short-term growth and profits. Only by changing the prevailing attitude from exploitation to appreciation will we attain our vision. Thus, we are working to establish a Gulf Environmental Education Center to spark wonder, awe, and a strong, protective connection to our unique ecosystems in people young and old.
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A Sad Environmental Past
In 1925, Gulf County was created with two towns in competition for power: Wewahitchka, with its hunting, freshwater fishing, and honey production, and Port St. Joe, with saltwater fishing and a port facility.
In 1938, a paper mill, chemical plant, and petroleum shipping opened in Port St. Joe, becoming the key industrial drivers for the county for 60 years. That same year, the county dredged the Gulf Industrial Canal to connect Port St. Joe’s harbor to the Intracoastal Waterway. These two man-made canals played havoc with the hydrology of the entire region (and they still do). These canals changed St. Joseph Bay from exclusively salt water to having 750 million gallons of silt-bearing freshwater diverted into it yearly.
For the next 60 years, Port St. Joe was an environmental sacrifice zone where people driving through would roll up their windows to escape the stench. Kids wading in the bay would return home with their feet black from the sludge. No one knew of the dangers of Dioxins, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and other toxic chemicals produced by paper mills or that they would last for hundreds of years in the environment. Mill workers were sold lands for housing located on top of contaminated debris. The whole county was stripped of its native vegetation and planted in “paper mill pines” as fodder for the hungry plant. The county seat moved from the Tupelo Honey town of Wewahitchka to the place where the dollars flowed.
In 1999, the paper mill closed, followed by the chemical plant a few years later. The County’s economy collapsed and thousands left, penniless.
Present Gulf County
In 2024, twenty-five years after industry bailed, Gulf County continues to be affected by its past. The bay waters, still receiving silt and tannins from the man-made canals, are not as clear as the old-timers tell us they once were. The paper mill toxins are still buried in the bay under the marine sediments, waiting to be disturbed. The land is still covered in paper-mill pines with little signs of the biodiversity that once existed. Industrial blight in the form of a giant, Port Authority-owned, rubble-strewn concrete slab greets visitors as they enter Port St. Joe. Ex Mill workers find their homes sinking into the ground.
Yet, slowly, small river towns and beach communities are beginning to grow. This time, they are celebrating their natural resources instead of exploiting them. Water-related recreation and tourism are flourishing, providing ample employment opportunities in the service industry. Retirees have moved to the sparsely populated lands, catalyzing healthcare-related jobs. Low crime, beautiful surroundings, and a gentle climate give us opportunities for responsible growth few other places enjoy.
The Importance of a Citizens Coalition
Gulf County Citizens Coalition was born in 2023, on the day word leaked that a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) company was eying Port St. Joe as a site for a purification and export plant. Our own Gulf government supported letting the plant locate in the middle of town without even the dubious protection of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission providing oversight. Our Coalition informed the public who responded by the hundreds. Although the Coalition achieved a victory in slowing, if not permanently stopping, this particular plant, it left us wondering what else we might be missing.
The Port Masterplan calls for dredging our shipping channel three times deeper and wider, exposing our bay to the old paper mill toxins that are currently covered by silt and sand. This dredging is to accommodate large cargo ships and re-industrialize the port. The unsuccessful LNG plant proposal was just part of the Plan. Biofuel production and a working port full of cargo ships are other tenants of it.
The Environmental Stewardship goal of the Port Master Plan is stated as follows: “…to conserve and protect resources, consistent with Port development and expansion needs.” (In other words, as long as conservation doesn’t interfere with desired progress, they’ll consider it in their equation.) We ignore this plan at our peril.
At present, Wewahitchka is in the crosshairs for the first time. Oil exploration north of town, between the Dead Lakes and the Apalachicola River, threatens the serenity of the Lakes and the purity of Tupelo Honey. Oil wells pose the risk of spills, chemical discharge, fires, and air pollution. At this time, our group is working with others to combat this new hazard.
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Visit our Projects Page for in-depth information.
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