Sierra Club Centennial Group Members & Friends

Our next meeting is Thursday Setember 3^rd 7:00pm. Sierra GA Wildlands chair Dani Purvis will present "2026 Georgia Wildlands Committee Overview” with Cumberland Island National Seashore, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the controversial Forest Service Roadless Rule rescission updates and other important state and local issues.  Also how volunteers can engage with the GA Sierra Wildlands Committee. Mark your calendars for this informative meeting!  You can attend LIVE or on-line via Zoom.
 

In-person Meeting Location

Life University Graduate & Undergraduate Studies (Bldg 9 on Campus Map) Rm 119,

1250 Life’s Way Marietta or on-line via Zoom

Recommend the large parking area M on the Barclay Circle side of the building at 1269 Barclay Circle.

See the green Sierra Club signs on the Barclay Circle entrance to parking area M and follow them to the building and meeting room.   Social & refreshments 7:00pm  ZOOM meeting begins at 7:15pm

Please Signup/RSVP and specify in-person or Zoom on-line attendance at Centennial Group Sept Meeting as we need to know in-person attendance for food planning. Come at 6:30 if you can help setup. If you need parking and access to the building for people with disabilities contact: lynnwalston22@yahoo.com

September News,  Events and Outings

Election notes for the November 3^rd  election

Absentee ballots accepted since Aug 17     Registration deadline: Oct 5^th       Early voting October 13 to 30^th

Forest Service Roadless Rule proposed rescission: The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, or Roadless Rule, is one of our country’s most important conservation policies. USFS will solicit public comments on the rule language from August 20-September 21. The public will have 30 days to comment on the DEIS.

This will be the last opportunity for the public to weigh in before the rescission is finalized.

Established 25 years ago, its primary goal is to protect some of the nation’s last remaining intact forests. These areas are referred to as roadless areas because they are natural forests, without roads or industrial logging, where wildlife can thrive undisturbed by clearcuts and bulldozers.

The Trump administration’s U.S. Forest Service (USFS) released its proposed rule to rescind the Roadless Rule. 

The administration wants to gut the rule and open up 45 million acres of roadless forest to clear-cutting and other harmful development enabled by roading. Scientists, wildland firefighters and hundreds of thousands of Americans have fiercely opposed this attack on our public lands.

What Is at Risk?

Clean drinking water: Roadless areas protect headwaters, streams, and watersheds that supply communities, farms, fisheries, and wildlife. The Chattahoochee River provides drinking water for millions. 

Wildlife habitat and biodiversity: Intact forests provide refuge, migration corridors, and breeding habitat for native fish and wildlife.

Old-growth and mature forests: store carbon, support complex ecosystems, moderate stream temperatures, and provide natural resilience that cannot be quickly replaced.

Public lands and recreation: Roadless areas support hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, backcountry travel, and quiet recreation that depend on healthy, undeveloped landscapes.

Climate resilience: Undisturbed forests store carbon, buffer floods, protect soils, and help landscapes recover from drought, storms, and wildfire.

Fire safety: More roads bring more human access and more ignition sources into remote areas, potentially increasing, not reducing, wildfire risk.

Fiscal responsibility: Expanding road networks create long-term maintenance burdens for the Forest Service, diverting limited resources from existing road repairs, watershed restoration, and community-focused fire preparedness.

Sierra Club offers an action toolkit with links to sample postcards, language for contacting USFS and writing op-eds, and other resources to help you understand and communicate the importance of the Rule including the Website to submit public comment   See Sierra Video at: RoadLessRuleVideo  

Data Centers News:

Note the moratoriums, permit-freezes & suspensions are NOT Cancellations, only postponements of decisions

Public participation is a key element in protecting public health and stopping harmful practices.

Public participation helps ensure that permitting authorities are adhering to the law, taking into account circumstances such as highly impacted communities, and accounting for cumulative impacts; Public participation serves as a check on polluting sources, allowing communities to negotiate for mitigation or adjustments to protect their own health..

Douglas County Developer East Village Dothan, LLC is seeking approval to build a five-building complex on more than 700 acres of land south of the Interstate 20 Liberty Road exit.  Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to deny rezoning for a massive 4.4-million-square-foot data center campus due to heavy environmental and infrastructure concerns. (To block the developers from shifting the 700-acre project across the border, adjacent Carroll County leaders proactively approved a development moratorium through late 2026).

Marietta City Council voted 5-2 to approve a controversial 11-acre data center on Powers Ferry Place. 

The decision came after a standing-room-only meeting marked by protests over noise, environmental impacts and utility costs. 

A six-month moratorium passed last month did not block the development because the application was submitted earlier. 

Milton Data Center Moratorium: In July the Milton City Council extended its emergency data center permitting freeze for up to 180 days to update its Unified Development Code following resident concerns over land loss and grid strains.  Milton is acting to avoid heavy utility footprints like the nearby 14-acre facility at Union Hill Road in Alpharetta, which pulls 5.4 to 8.1 megawatts of continuous, instantaneous power, risking future consumer utility rate spikes.

Paulding County Board of Commissioners voted to suspend new data center applications, zoning requests, and civil plan reviews until January 1, 2027.

See also Georgia Sierra Club  Data Centers web page   Map of Georgia Data Centers at Science For Georgia

September Events:

Data Centers and Health Webinar Series:

Communities are taking action to protect their communities from the harmful and unchecked data center growth.

The series has experts discuss impacts (like low frequency vibrations) these massive developments can have on the health of communities, neighbors, and environment.

Presentations will be one hour, followed by a 30 minute Q&A session.

Next up in the series are four more webinars:   
Sep. 8: Water        Sep. 22: Air           Oct. 6: Light              Oct. 20: Heat

Sept 19^th 8:30-12:00pm Roswell Rivers Alive Annual Cleanup - Volunteers help protect local waterways during the 35th annual cleanup.  Co-hosted by Keep Roswell Beautiful & City of Roswell focusing on invasive plant removal and trash clearing.

Registration: Sign up by Sept. 16 at Roswell365.

Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy September Events Ranger-hikes, Bird Walks, River Cleanups + more. See CNPC_Events

Chattahoochee Nature Center September (their 50^th anniversary) Sept 20^th farm-fair, outings, exhibits, films and events.  Info at: CNC September Activities

Chattahoochee River Keeper cleanups, and other September events in and around the river.  See calendar at ChattRiverkeeper

Birds Georgia's Fall Flyway Festival has bird migration related events during September.

Chattahoochee River Keeper cleanups, and other June events in and around the river.  See calendar at ChattRiverkeeper

The River Line Historic Area's Calendar: volunteer opportunities in 2 historic cemeteries, Shoupade Park and Nickajack Creek water monitoring in SE Cobb County.   See: https://riverline.org/calendar/

Sierra Club Centennial Group is looking for a volunteer Group Treasurer

If you can assist, e-mail Lynn Walston: lynnwalston22@yahoo.com

September Events:

 Currently scheduled Sierra Outings

Outings can be announced at any time and often fill up quickly. Get email notice of Sierra Club hikes

when announced, visit SierraClubGeorgiaOutings click Sign up for our Outings Email List.

September 19 Sweetwater Creek Park cool morning hike along bluffs overlooking the creek and autumn flowers in the meadow. Info/signup:  Sweetwater Creek Hike

September 26^th Cruise on West Point Lake a sunset and full moon rise over the water with a guide from Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

August Outing picture: Our Appalachian Trail hike up Siler Bald in NC to see the wildflowers & butterflies – (led by Lee Graham) 

Okefenokee Bid for UNESCO World Heritage Center – See latest info at Okefenokee.

The Upper Etowah River Alliance (UERA). The Upper Etowah River Watershed encompasses 610 square miles or 390,400 acres.  It includes parts of five counties — Lumpkin, Pickens, Dawson, Forsyth, and Cherokee — and over 100 tributaries, including Shoal, Amicalola, Yellow, Setting Down, Long Swamp, & Sharp Mountain creeks. The Etowah River begins near Dahlonega and runs 98 miles until it reaches Lake Allatoona. 

Plant Bowen (near Cartersville) AP-1 Coal Ash Permit Draft has been Released! Details at:  PlantBowenCoalAshInfo  Also more info at Why It Matters

Georgia Power wants to close the largest coal ash site in Georgia by installing a liner and capping an ash pit that sits on top of unstable karst, which is prone to sinkholes.  In 2002, a four acre wide, 30 foot deep sinkhole opened up underneath Plant Bowen’s coal ash pit.

2.25 million gallons of toxic coal ash leaked into Euharlee Creek which flows into the Etowah River.  The Etowah River passes Cartersville and the Etowah Indian Mounds then flows to Rome where it meets the Oostanaula River  and forms the Coosa River.

After the spill, arsenic levels rose to 1250 parts per billion, exceeding federal drinking water standards by 120 times. Downstream drinking water intakes were forced to suspend operation. Leaving the coal ash in place on unstable ground at Plant Bowen puts our water and health at risk.

Urgent Issue – Okefenokee Twin Pines Mining proposal:  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided the area where Twin Pines wants to set up its mine is no longer under its jurisdiction. Essentially, new federal rules issued by the Trump administration mean the proposed project area is no longer a federally protected wetland.

This means Twin Pines no longer needs federal approval to get started, so it’s up Georgia officials (and us to voice our concerns). There are still several state permits the company needs from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). Chemical company Chemours (a Dupont spinoff) is a potential buyer of the Twin Pines mine project and its products. Help us pressure them to publicly oppose the project.  Sierra Club Georgia keeps an update on efforts to prevent the mine at: Sierra Club Georgia Okefenokee

The Georgia Water Coalition has a way for folks to send a message to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp asking him to take action to protect the Okefenokee. The Georgia EPD director is appointed to the job by the governor, so we’re asking Gov. Kemp to get involved.  Click here to send a message to Gov. Kemp urging him to protect the Okefenokee.

Transit Planning in Cobb County:  Please provide feedback to the Cobb County Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP). The CTP is a series of county transportation projects that will be considered for future implementation, up to 30 years.  Make sure to get involved by having your opinion heard!   Take the on-line Cobb Transit Survey at:   Cobb Transit Survey

Georgia Legislative resources:

Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen publishes the list as a call to action, highlighting the worst offenses to Georgia's water - offenses that are the consequences of an under-funded state environmental agency and a lack of political will to enforce laws that protect our water, land, air, and people. Check out water-protecting action items from Protect Georgia

Drawdown Georgia– Drawdown is that point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.  Drawdown is working on Climate Change solutions sponsored by Ray Anderson Foundation.  Join them and be an early mover in bringing climate solutions home.  Drawdown Georgia is the first, state-centered effort to crowdsolve for climate change, with 20, high-impact solutions that are tailored to Georgia’s unique natural, economic, and social resources. See: Draw down Georgia 

See our Centennial Facebook page and Georgia Sierra Club Meetup page.  

Cobb 4 Transit revamped & launched: The Centennial Group Sierra Club is supporting the launch of Cobb 4 Transit, a new citizen-led initiative to bring transit to Cobb County, and continue to highlight the county's plans for future transit initiatives. Learn more here: www.cobb4transit.org. 

Click here to join the Sierra Club today!

We meet on the first Thursday of each month to host a variety of programs related to our environmental goals of resource conservation and wilderness preservation. We also conduct free outdoor trips. Members and nonmembers are welcome!  The Sierra Club Centennial Group is part of the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter and serves Northwest Metro Atlanta. For more information about the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter.

The Centennial Group of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club was organized in 1992, the one hundredth anniversary year of the national Sierra Club. Our members from Cobb, Cherokee, and North Fulton counties volunteer to educate, enable, and encourage our fellow citizens to protect Georgia's environment "for our families and our future".  We meet on the first Thursday of most months at Life University. We host a variety of programs relating to our goals and our appreciation of Georgia's natural beauty and resources. We also host free outings for members and nonmembers.