u/TheFactCollector

Cumberland Island National Seashore is the diamond of Georgia’s coast. Establishing Cumberland Island—Georgia’s largest barrier island—as a national park in 1972 is one of the primary reasons most of our barrier islands remain undeveloped today. Although most of Cumberland’s land is owned by the National Park Service, some remains in private ownership.

On September 9, the National Parks Service released a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) related to two proposed land transactions between the National Park Service and private landowners on Cumberland Island.

The proposed land swaps on Cumberland Island do have potential to positively impact our beloved national seashore. Unfortunately, there is one major issue: mansions.

As written, the Draft EA would allow eight new 15,000 square foot homes on eight two-acre lots on the south end of Cumberland Island. This size limit is completely out of character with the reason the National Seashore was established: to protect the island’s outstanding natural, historical, cultural, and recreational values while providing a lasting source of outdoor enjoyment for the public. Simply put: the National Park Service should not swap land so that people can build 15,000 square foot mansions on Cumberland Island.  

The NPS is accepting comments on the Draft EA through October 16 via a form on their website. We encourage you to read through our comments summarized below and then send your comments to the NPS. Tell the National Park Service that giant mansions do not belong on Cumberland Island, and any positive benefits of the proposed land swap are not worth the negative impact of this deal.

Each year, critically endangered North Atlantic right whales migrate along the Atlantic coast, coming to the waters off the Georgia and North Florida coasts to birth their young. According to NOAA Fisheries’ estimates, only about 380 individuals are left on the planet, with around 70 breeding females. One of the leading causes of death: entanglement in commercial fishing gear.

Despite a call for action from Congress, NOAA, and advocates across the country, a 2022 budget bill has delayed lifesaving regulations aimed at reducing entanglement. Now, HR 9436 seeks to extend those delays through 2035 and will be voted on any day now.

HR 9436 is a bad bill. It does not address the lack of protective regulations for endangered species and ignores the work of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, a congressionally mandated stakeholder group. It locks a regulatory freeze from 2022 in place until 2035, further delaying lifesaving regulations aimed at reducing entanglement. And it removes incentives for investment in ropeless gear, which would protect both the lobster fishing industry and right whales.

Speak up for private dock standards that protect our marshes!

In June, GA Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Resources Division (CRD) proposed new rules for private docks allowing a walkway up to 1,100 feet long and 6 feet wide (6600 square feet), more than twice the currently allowed 3,000 sq. ft. limit (even bigger than the standards for commercial or community docks). These long docks have significant impacts on Georgia’s marshlands, yet despite community members and stakeholders asking for stronger rules that protect our salt marshes and public access to this cherished public resource, CRD has now released updated rules that are even WORSE.

The latest rules (proposed in August) will increase the allowed walkway to 1,500 feet long and 6 feet wide, or 9,000 total square feet—TRIPLE the current limit. They have also introduced a variance process that could allow people to build a dock 10% larger. At an estimated cost of $450 per linear foot, a 1,650 ft. walkway would cost $742,500.

Georgia’s salt marshes are pristine and healthy because our state has spent more than 55 years protecting them. Join us in asking for rules that will continue to hold this vital and iconic resource in trust for all our people—not parcel it up for private use by the wealthy.

Wed, Sep 30th from 4:30-6pm ET/3:30-5 CT/1:30-3 PT

SONG (Southerners on New Ground) is excited to invite folks to learn more about our Down with Data Centers campaign. Join us as we celebrate the successfully passed data center moratoriums (and bans) and share out lessons from a powerful group organizers! We'll explore the strategies used to organize in the South, how to win a moratorium, and next steps in the fight against automation of our public sphere. This is a space for questions, curiosity, and collaboration--bring your time, talents, and vision as we work together to organize a liberated South.

Last Thursday, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya handed over up to $6 billion of NIH’s research budget to Hegseth’s Department of War. Please sign the petition with SUFS to stop the steal!,

Come the Communications Workers of America Union Hall and hear from D2 Councilmembers Kelsea Bond and Mathewos Samson, State Rep. Ruwa Romman, Public Service Commissioner Peter Hubbard, environmental advocacy leaders, and more!

No company, ESPECIALLY a media company, should ever be allowed consolidate to this level and gain this much power.

"Some, like commissioner Alicia Johnson say the plan offers good protections for ratepayers". GA Power is a greedy corporation and every person on the PSC who voted for this needs to be thrown out.