by David Chapman
Staff Writer
In what has become an annual event during the warmer months, the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce skipped its typical meeting space and cruised the St. Johns River Friday.
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon was the guide, providing almost 40 members of the group a rundown on the latest happenings regarding the river and efforts by the river advocacy to preserve its health.
It was Armingeon’s last such breakfast cruise with the group. He will step down from the organization in February.
“Any time is a great time to be on the river,” he told the group.
Armingeon’s focus was the Riverkeeper’s continued battle with Georgia-Pacific over the company’s proposed pipeline to transfer the company’s effluent 4 miles into the St. Johns River. It now discharges into Rice Creek, a tributary.
“Our position is they need to do more and we continue to oppose it,” said Armingeon. “Simply moving it from one source to another in 2011 is archaic and not really a solution.”
Instead, Armingeon told the Downtown Council he believes the solution is at the mill level and he would rather see the company use the $40 million it would cost for the pipeline to be used instead for a viable solution.
Armingeon commended the Downtown Council and Jacksonville’s business community in general for its appreciation of the river, saying for the most part that both grasped the importance of the river years ago.
He told the group to continue watching legislation that could impact the river’s health and to remain engaged.
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