Tag Archives: Economy

Farms, Forests, Flows & Fish: Exploring Possible Futures for the Suwannee River Watershed and Estuary, WWALS Webinar 2026-10-19

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Dr. David Kaplan and Dr. Wendy Graham, both of the University of Florida, will present an online WWALS Webinar:

Noon to 1 PM, Monday, October 19, 2026

Register here to attend by zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KPoObaVMRammKk6dKYyI0Q

You can mark going on this facebook event to encourage others to attend:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2165192244412437/

WWALS Events Committee Member Hailey Hall will introduce the speakers, who will speak for about 45 minutes, followed by questions and answers.

The Suwannee River watershed supports one of the world’s largest spring systems, productive estuarine ecosystems, working agricultural and forest landscapes, and communities whose livelihoods depend on healthy water resources. Understanding how future changes in climate and land use will affect these interconnected systems is critical for informed management and conservation.

[Farms, Forests, Flows & Fish: Exploring Possible Futures for the Suwannee River Watershed & Estuary, a WWALS Webinar 2026-08-19]
Farms, Forests, Flows & Fish: Exploring Possible Futures for the Suwannee River Watershed & Estuary, a WWALS Webinar 2026-08-19

This presentation will highlight results from a large interdisciplinary research project that coupled hydrologic, estuarine ecological, and economic models to evaluate a range of plausible future scenarios for the Suwannee River watershed and estuary. Using a landscape-scale groundwater-surface water model, we examined how alternative land-use futures—including agricultural expansion, forest restoration, conservation planning, and urban growth—interact with projected climate change to influence groundwater recharge, river flows, nitrate transport, estuarine water quality, fisheries, and regional economic outcomes.

Rather than attempting to predict a single future, this scenario-based approach explores Continue reading →

Datacenter deal proposal: no documents responsive 2026-07-01

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It appears that the rumored Irwin County datacenter tax pre-payment proposal is vaporware, speculation, hearsay.

The response from the Irwin County Clerk on July 21 was:

“I have received your request. At this time, there are no documents responsive to your request.”

[Datacenter deal proposal in Ocilla Star 2026-07-01, no documents responsive, Irwin County Clerk 2026-07-21]
Datacenter deal proposal in Ocilla Star 2026-07-01, no documents responsive, Irwin County Clerk 2026-07-21

That was in response to my open records request of July 19, 2026: Continue reading →

Datacenter Moratorium Proposed –Madison County BOCC 2026-07-08

Update 2026-07-23: Madison County BOCC passed the datacenter moratorium 4:0.

Update 2026-07-18: fixed name of county in title.

On July 22, 2026, a datacenter moratorium comes up for second reading at the Madison County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners, when they can also vote to pass it.

They already read it once on July 8, after working on it for some time before that.

[Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22]
Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22

The agenda and board packet for their Regular Meeting, July 8, 2026, contains a public notice, a recently-passed state datacenter law with highlights on parts applicable to local ordinances, a Business Impact Estimate for the proposed ordinance, a redline version of the ordinance showing changes since its previous draft, and the nine-page datacenter moratorium ordinance itself.

Every county should be as diligent and transparent, no matter in which state.

The east border of Madison County is the Withlacoochee River downstream from Georgia and upstream from the Suwannee River, with first-magnitue Madison Blue Spring in between. Madison County, like all counties in the Suwannee River Basin, is on top of the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink for every purpose.

The ordinance does not explicitly name any of the rivers or springs or the aquifer, but it does include these sections, which are relevant. Continue reading →

Help stop big box sprawl, Alachua City Hall 2026-06-22

You can help stop sprawl west of Alachua along US 441, uphill from the Santa Fe River.

[Help stop US 441 big box sprawl, Alachua City Hall, June 22, 2026]
Help stop US 441 big box sprawl, Alachua City Hall, June 22, 2026

Call, write, or go to the 6 PM, June 22, 2026, Alachua City Commission meeting.

Here’s a petition by the Suwannee-St. Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida Chapter:

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Florida?actionId=AR0619414&fbclid=IwY2xjawSZ_cZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFHckF4eGVwYmRlYUJ2U3lOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkQjqONwPFpZmnp8B2Grx_yYBxP1yHJrP5HoydoDB9Y8xeqBd1Yu_wuID_cn_aem_QfdwczhEdjHfmrHbOKaPzw Continue reading →

Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA –SGRC 2026-05-14

Only two state agencies commented on the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) for the Project Arrowhead datacenter near the Alapaha River in Irwin County, Georgia:

  • the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council (SSRWPC) in one page, and
  • the DRI facilitator, the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). Beyond a three-page summary at the beginning, the SGRC comments mostly consisted of the same 21 pages we already saw at the beginning of the comment period.

In the section of “Comments from Public Agencies” the other two letters are from the Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) and from WWALS, which you have already seen.

Fifteen citizens commented in the section labeled “Comments from the Public – Non-official.” All were opposed to the datacenter.

For much more about datacenters, including who you can contact, petitions, and upcoming meetings, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA --SGRC 2026-05-14, Comments from Public Agencies, Comments from the Public]
Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA –SGRC 2026-05-14, Comments from Public Agencies, Comments from the Public

I thank Irwin County Assistant County Manager Bonnie Kelly, Ed.D. and County Clerk Patricia Battle for each returning a copy of this document within minutes after I sent in an open records request this morning.

This is presumably the same document you can see the Irwin County Commissioners perusing in Videos: Datacenter Special Exception approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20.

The document is on the WWALS website and images of each page are below. Continue reading →

AI is sucking up all the disks and memory 2026-05-11

Here’s a problem with so-called AI, spelled out by Aaron Kostyu, Information Technology Services Director, at the May 11, 2026, Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

Commissioner Michael Smith wondered why there was only one quote for the three servers IT requested.

ITS Director Kostyu answered:

[AI is sucking up all the disks and memory, ITS Director @ Lowndes County Commission 2026-05-11]
AI is sucking up all the disks and memory, ITS Director @ Lowndes County Commission 2026-05-11

It’s because we can’t find hardware anywhere. They have increased over the last two months by 800 to 1000 percent.

None of the drives are available; none of the memory is available, because the AI industry is sucking it all up. They have done something unprecedented, Continue reading →

Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption: for-pay parks and boat ramps? @ Gilchrist County Workshop 2026-04-20

A Florida bill could force Florida county parks and boat ramps to be pay for use, and could eliminate 4-H, agricultural extension services, libraries, and even county veteran services.

If passed, HJR 203 would eliminate all property taxes on homestead property except school taxes.

It failed in the Florida Senate, but it will be heard again in a July 2026, legislative special session.

If it passes the legislature, the people will get to vote on this constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

[Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption: for-pay parks and boat ramps? @ Gilchrist County Workshop, Monday, April 20, 2026]
Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption: for-pay parks and boat ramps? @ Gilchrist County Workshop, Monday, April 20, 2026

Gilchrist County held a workshop about this on April 20, 2026. Other counties would do well to do the same.

The origin of the word republic is the latin phrase Res publica, which means public thing. It is often translated as commonwealth. I understand people don’t like paying taxes, especially property taxes. But something is needed to fund public services. Florida already does not have income tax.

That leaves a gas tax, increasing millage on everybody else, or, as slide 28 suggests, “100% Fee based parks.” Which wouldn’t help libraries or 4-H.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer people, especially young people, being able to go to the library or to the river without paying, such as to Hart Springs, Otter Springs, or the FL 47 Ramp, aka Santa Fe River Gilchrist County Park Ramp. Otherwise, they will find other, perhaps more troublesome, ways to spend their time.

Oh, and your taxes would still be paying to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin; see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf Continue reading →

The AI Layoff Trap –Brett Hemenway Falk, Gerry Tsoukalas 2026-03-02

After years of labor unions advocating for an 8-hour day and a 5-day week, Henry Ford finally saw his own self-interest and Ford Motor Company on September 25, 1926, made it company policy.

Why? Workers with free time and money to spend bought cars: long-term profit!

A century later, many companies are doing the opposite: laying off workers and replacing them with so-called AI: short-term profiteering. This trend only increases, because if competitors are doing it, every company has incentive to do it.

But companies are sabotaging themselves. Fired workers cannot easily find new jobs, so they can’t afford to buy. An economy with no purchasing is in trouble.

[The AI Layoff Trap 2026-03-02 --Brett Hemenway Falk, Gerry Tsoukalas, No jobs means no buying, One policy works to stop it]
The AI Layoff Trap 2026-03-02 –Brett Hemenway Falk, Gerry Tsoukalas, No jobs means no buying, One policy works to stop it

There are other issues, such as firing experienced people means companies lose their ability to do new things or to deal with unexpected challenges, and fewer jobs mean people trying to join the job market find nothing, so there’s little new talent incoming and few left to train them. But the chase for short-term profits overrides all that.

Plus the proliferation of hyper-scale datacenters catering to this so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI), using much cooling water, either directly, or through new power plants. See:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

New research models this corporate behavior and finds that most proposed solutions do not stop it. Continue reading →

Review and comment: DRI for Project Arrowhead Datacenter, Irwin County, GA 2026-04-24

Update 2026-06-01: Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA –SGRC 2026-05-14.

Update 2026-05-13: Project Arrowhead in Irwin County considered risk to Alapaha River and Floridan Aquifer –WWALS to SGRC about DRI 2026-05-11.

Everyone has two weeks, until Monday, May 11, 2026, to review and comment on the Development of Regional Importance (DRI) application by Project Arrowhead to build a huge datacenter in Irwin County, Georgia, near Irwinville and the Alapaha River.

The attachments SGRC sent are on the WWALS website, with images of each page below.

https://wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-24-dri-irwin-county-project-arrowhead

I see nothing from the applicant that WWALS hasn’t previously posted, such as when the DRI application appeared on April 10.

The Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) has helpfully annotated the Kimley-Horn site maps we saw back in March, and added other useful maps.

Plus SGRC points out the most significant part of the Data Center Ordinance the Irwin County Commission passed on April 6: the table permitting a Data Center as a Special Exception (SE) allowable use in the Agriculture (A-U), Heavy Industrial (H-I), and the Adult Commercial (C-A). I’m not sure that ordinance added SE for A-U, but it certainly called it out.

For much about what we do not know, such as who the real applicant is, or what closed loop cooling means in this case, see Who is Project Arrowhead in Irwin County, GA? –Vesper 2026-04-16.

https://wwals.net/?p=70067

For much more about Datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Review and comment: DRI for Project Arrowhead Datacenter, Irwin County, GA, Comment to SGRC by May 11, 2026]
Review and comment: DRI for Project Arrowhead Datacenter, Irwin County, GA, Comment to SGRC by May 11, 2026

Received by email Friday, April 24, 2026, at 7:32 PM: Continue reading →

Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06

It looks like the Irwin County Commission added a few things about water, power, and enforcement to their draft datacenter ordinance before they passed it.

The final version, received today in response to a WWALS open records request, is on the WWALS website.

For comparison, a copy of the original draft is here:

https://wwals.net/?p=69663

Do you see any other differences?

For more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06, Changes to Water, Energy, Enforcement]
Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06, Changes to Water, Energy, Enforcement

Subclause (3) is new on page 4:

(d) Water Usage Standards.

(1) Only closed-loop cooling systems are permitted in Irwin County.

(2) There shall be no discharge of cooling water into public sewers or ground without treatment.

(3) Before a certificate of occupancy is provided, all data centers shall submit a hydrogeologic study conducted by an independent third-party engineering firm showing estimated annual water usage. Such report should compare estimated water usage to the prior owner/user of the subject property or of that of similar surrounding areas.

Also on page 4, this subclause (1) is new: Continue reading →