NAHUNTA — Concerned Brantley County citizens gathered at Nahunta Primary School Saturday to discuss concerns and ongoing efforts regarding the proposed data center.
“This isn’t about a landfill or a data center, this is purely good versus evil,” Tanya Tomanek, the March 28 event organizer, said to open the event. “The veil is being lifted, and more and more people are seeing things as they are. We can stop this, we have to do it together.”
Citizens began the meeting voicing their concerns about AI overall, including the fear of replacing jobs and potential security threats.
One citizen echoed Tomanek’s sentiments, invoking her faith in her criticism, “I read my Bible ... I see what’s coming. If everything in this (proposed data center) that we’ve been hearing about was up-and-up on the level, and there was no problem with the environment, that is not our biggest issue. It’s the dark, overhanging Satanic thing of AI, that’s going to be in our lives, whether we want or not.”
That same citizen went on make a point about the data center as a political issue going forward, “I will not allow myself to vote for anybody, at any time, now or in the future, that is for this issue.”
Tomanek’s daughter spoke at the event, recounting the story of a family member living near Atlanta also protesting a data center.
“They’re fighting the same thing, except they’ve lost the battle,” the daughter said. “Because it’s a bigger area, they feel like they don’t have as much of a voice. We’re a small town ... we have the capability of coming together and making our voices heard. As one person our voices fall short, but when we come together we really can make a humongous impact.”
“If they are truly concerned about us, their employers, and our wellbeing and our future,” Tomanek said, “I can’t even wrap my head around that. They are making this decision and they too are going to have to live with the consequences. They play in that river, they picnic at that sand bar, they ride their four wheelers, they too are going to be affected, just like everybody that relies on the aquifer.”
Brunswick ecologist J.T. Flanders also spoke at the event about the environmental concerns.
“As an ecologist, I’ve been documenting biodiversity in our area, and people think we already know everything, all the species that are here, what’s around us,” Flanders said. “But, there’s new ideas coming out about how microbial diversity, and the mushrooms, and fungi, and microbes in an area drives the whole system.
“You would think, with as good as we think people are caring for our land, they would know everything around us. But somehow, we’ve gotten this large gap in knowledge about the microbial diversity in our area.
“We have to look at the entire picture of the ecological impacts of what we’re doing to our area, and that’s not been happening.”
Flanders went on to assert these data companies are using “the same consulting firms, the same survey companies”, which are paid to produce “a certain Another topic discussed at the meeting included a court case involving the Brantley County commission, the proposed landfill, and the EPD.
“We’ve been led to believe this fight against the data centers is a this or that issue,” said Flanders. “Everybody’s been using fear mongering and propaganda to try and inform the community opinion. They went after the EPD, for a mistake the county commissioners made.
“They were designated to be acting as an arm of Brantley County, trying to self-regulate a mistake they made, and that came directly out of the appeals case.”
Flanders stated there were five appeals filed by the current county commission against the landfill.
“I can see they did what they could to try and fight it,” he said. “I don’t know why they were lead to try and fight the EPD, but county commissioners have the ability to dissolve permits that are wrongfully issued.”
Tomanek also informed the attendees funding was needed for a legal retainer fee, a fee of $25,000.
Citizens also discussed a gag order supposedly in effect on the matter, as well as low voter turnout, and rumors the commission has been making decisions behind closed doors. The formation of a Board of Citizens was also discussed, as was a moratorium on data centers.
Kat Montgomery, an advocate from Brunswick-based 100 Miles conservation group, also spoke at the event. She encouraged citizens to request a moratorium of the commission at the April 7 work session.
“We’re asking people to sign up and ask for that official data center moratorium,” she said.
David Hall, a candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives, spoke. He informed the attendees the push for data centers was also coming from the state level, despite pushback from some representatives.
“They are actively fighting against data centers popping up all over the place in the rural counties,” he said “They are still outnumbered, so the state is still pushing this through. Your elected representatives, beyond the Brantley County Commissioners, are also pushing this through.”
Hall also spoke about how the push for data centers has increased Georgia Power’s need for power generation in recent years, and the potential for Georgia residents to end up paying for data center costs.
The meeting lasted nearly three hours, before adjourning.
