Interview with Woody Woodside, September 23, 2013

Partial Transcript: This is the Georgia Environmental Oral History Project, interview number three, with M.H. Woody Woodside who is President of the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce.

Partial Transcript: Let's start a little bit at the very beginning, where were you born and raised?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside discusses coming to Georgia from Charleston, South Carolina, where he graduated from The Citadel in 1970. He discusses his motivation for moving: to be an infantry lieutenant at Fort Benning.

Keywords: Fort Benning; North Carolina; South Carolina; The Citadel; infantry; infantry lieutenant; military

Partial Transcript: And then afterwards I was working with a company out of Charleston in Atlanta when I met a man who had left the staff of Senator Talmadge to run for Congress in the First District, his name was Bo Ginn.

Segment Synopsis: Woodside discusses working with Congressmen Bo Ginn (elected 1972) and Lindsay Thomas (elected 1983), who served for eleven years and ten years respectively.

Keywords: Bo Ginn; Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber; Congress; Herman Talmadge; Lindsay Thomas; coastal Georgia

Partial Transcript: Okay, well, um, backtracking just a little bit with Congressman Ginn, so that would have been you're saying '71, '72?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside discusses the environmental "issues" in the early 1970s in Georgia. He talks further about the protection of coastal marshlands, the reduction of water usage into the 1980s and 1990s, and managing polluted sites ("superfunds").

Keywords: 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; Bo Ginn; Georgia Pacific; Hercules; LCP; LCP Chemicals; Marshland Protection Act; coast; coastal Georgia; environmental protection; manufacturing; marsh protection; marshes; marshland; marshland protection; mercury; pollutants; superfund; superfund sites; water conservation; water use

Partial Transcript: Well, going back again in time, um, I'm wondering, in fact, were "superfunds," had they even been established in the '70s and early '80s?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside discusses the intersection of business and the regulation of environmental protection in the 1970s and 1980s.

Keywords: Coastal Resources Division; EPA; EPD; Environmental Protection Agency; Environmental Protection Division; Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Hercules; environmental regulations; regulations; superfunds

Partial Transcript: It means jobs, and it means somebody to have the ability to work, and live, and play in the Golden Isles, so there's still an economical side to this thing that, that's where we were really landing and certainly respecting the environment.

Segment Synopsis: Woodside talks about the concerns brought about by ecotourism in coastal Georgia, at the intersection of environmental protection, job creation, social controversies, and the considerations of both community and land use.

Keywords: Bo Ginn; Cannon's Point; Cumberland Island; Georgia Conservancy; Georgia barrier islands; Golden Isles; Plum Orchard; Sapelo Island; St. Simons; St. Simons Island; St. Simons land trust; Stafford Plantation; barrier islands; coastal Georgia; ecotourism; ecotourism in Georgia; land-use planning; life estate

Partial Transcript: Um, in terms of uhh, the Land Trust, since we'll be talking with Mr. Slade shortly, what does the real estate industry think of putting aside a lot of land that could otherwise be developed?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside discusses the effects of development and economic growth on the environmental protection of the Georgia barrier islands and coastal regions. Woodside also discusses Jekyll Island as an "asset of the state of Georgia" for ecotourism.

Keywords: 65/35; 65/35 Task Force; Charles Seabrook; Georgia coast; Jekyll Island; Jekyll Island 65/35; The Georgia Conservancy; dock permits; dock permitting; environmental policy; environmental protection; flood insurance; flooding; land development; marshes; marshland; real estate; wetland permits; wetland policy; wetland protection

Partial Transcript: Does the, uhh, in terms of environmental issues, does the Chamber have a, or has it had, a particular policy policy on, uhh, how it deals with issues, be it the Hercules and LCP, the pollution issues, or is it just "ad hoc" as it comes up?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside talks about the relationship between "the Chamber" and issues of chemical pollution, harbor maintenance, beach protection and "renourishment," and the interests of the barrier island communities.

Keywords: Chamber of Commerce; Georgia Chamber of Commerce; Georgia beach renourishment; Harbor Maintenance Tax; Hercules; Jekyll Creek; Jekyll Island; LCP Chemicals; LCP Chemicals Georgia; North Pacific; St. Simons; air quality; beach re-nourishment; beach renourishment; chemical industries; environmental permits; green initiatives; harbor maintenance; inter-coastal waterway

Partial Transcript: What other issues have come up over your years, environmentally?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside talks about the process of implementing new water management plans on the Georgia barrier islands. He also discusses the process of creating coalitions, implementing environmental policy alongside considerations of community, and encouraging growth while maintaining the islands.

Keywords: environmental coalitions; environmental organizations; sewer water commission; sewer water management; water management

Partial Transcript: Oh, I just, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you think the attitude of the rest of the state, maybe the Georgia legislature, has been towards Glynn County and the issues you face here, maybe how that has or hasn't changed?

Segment Synopsis: Woodside talks about the relationship between legislature, tax initiatives, and the support of coastal Georgia land development by other delegations within Georgia.

Keywords: GEC; Georgia Environmental Conference; Glynn County; The Atlanta Journal Constitution; The Brunswick News; coastal Georgia; coastal development; environmental legislature

Partial Transcript: Well, Woody, thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to sort of leave us with or to say in terms of environmental--?