The Ogeechee Riverkeeper has filed an administrative appeal to Georgia Environmental Protection Division regarding groundwater withdrawal permits for Bryan and Bulloch Counties, intended to supply the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America and other users.

The EPD announced Oct. 6 that the Bulloch and Bryan counties’ permit applications for four big wells to supply water to the Metaplant in Ellabell were approved. Bulloch County’s permit is for two wells, together drawing up to 3.5 million gallons per day as a monthly average but limited to 3.125 mgd as an annual average. Bryan County’s two wells, together, will be limited to 3.5 mgd as both a monthly and annual average.

In a release from the Riverkeeper sent Wednesday, the group “asserts that the EPD’s conclusions regarding these permits are incorrect, particularly regarding the impact on the Floridan Aquifer, the effectiveness of protective measures, and consideration of ‘unreasonable adverse effects.’” The appeal will require an administrative hearing. Representatives with the Hyundai Motor Group could not be reached for comment about the appeal.

Hyundai broke ground on the 2,541-acre site in October 2022 and commenced production operations at the plant in October, with the official opening of the facility in the first quarter of 2025. Currently under construction just south of I-16 East near Blitchton, the Metaplant complex is now projected to employ, eventually, 8,500 people on-site.

According to the release, the appeal “maintains the Riverkeeper’s position that Floridan aquifer groundwater should be used for people, animals, and crops – not industry. It is not in the public interest to prioritize large scale industry over living beings, yet in early 2025, public utilities in the area will have to reduce their withdrawal of pristine groundwater water for drinking and human use.”

Because it is uncertain how much, if any, the Hyundai wells may affect the water table around them, included in the permits is a requirement that a “municipal managed fund … to address any potential impacts to existing … residential … or agricultural wells” in a five-mile radius of the I-16 and Georgia Highway 119 interchange be maintained.

In August, the Development Authorities of Bulloch and Bryan County, along with the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority and Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America approved $250,000 each – $1 million total – to go toward the Well Mitigation Fund, which is meant to help residents affected by the wells that have been approved for use by the Hyundai Motor Group.

The Riverkeeper said in its release that “the appeal shows that EPD issued these permits without proper consideration of ‘unreasonable adverse effects’ and made decisions contrary to the public welfare.’” As permitted now, Hyundai Motor Group, and potentially other customers of the Bryan County system, would pay Bryan County for the water supplied from Bulloch County’s two wells, and Bryan County would in turn pay Bulloch. If Bryan County is permitted to drill the two wells it plans to own within southeastern Bulloch, the Bryan County government would receive the water usage fees paid by its customers and would pay Bulloch a “host fee” for those wells.

The non-profit Ogeechee Riverkeeper was founded in 2004 and is based in Savannah. The Ogeechee River is approximately 294 miles long and runs along the borders of Bulloch County with Screven and Effingham counties.