A.M. ATL: Data center heroes

Morning, y’all! We made it to Friday. Time to dissociate under a blanket.

Let’s get to it.

THE PUSH FOR GEORGIA’S FIRST NATIONAL PARK

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park near Macon is an ancient site of the Muscogee Nation, rich with history and spiritual meaning. With some luck, it could also become the nation’s 64th national park, and Georgia’s very first.

Tracie Revis, a Muscogee Nation citizen, is the acting CEO of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative. She’s been working with the city of Macon and with Muscogee people all the way to Oklahoma to share the significance of the site and drum up support for the cause.

There’s reason for optimism. Despite Trump administration cuts, most of Georgia’s congressional delegation backs measures in both the House and Senate for national park designation.

Benefits to the area would be manifold. According to a 2017 report commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Association, a national park designation could:

Increase visitors to the area by 1.1 million
Support an additional 2,814 jobs
Add $206.7 million in annual economic activity

🔎 TODAY’S MUST-READ: The AJC’s Jeremy Redmon weaves a postcolonial history of the Muscogee people

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LAWMAKERS DEBATE HOW TO PROTECT GEORGIANS FROM DATA CENTER COSTS

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

While the influx of data centers in Georgia promises jobs and local prosperity, their outsized use of power, water and land is so significant Georgia legislators must decide whether customers need further protection from the centers’ vast appetites.

Senate Bill 34 is considered by consumer advocates to be the “gold standard” for protecting residential customers from data centers’ energy costs.
It would make Georgia Power charge data centers for any costs “substantially” related to providing their electricity, rather than make customers absorb the difference.
It would also force the utility to make data centers pay for the new power plants, transmission infrastructure, fuel and other self-serving costs.
Other data center-related bills under consideration during this legislative session address state tax breaks for the centers and transparency about their water and energy use.

You see, it’s not just the data centers. In order to run all of their fancy computing, the centers need more power. Georgia Power is in the middle of a huge $16B power fleet and grid expansion. That’s the low estimate — some estimates put the price at $60B.

🔎 READ MORE: What chance the bills have of becoming law

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

⚖️ A judge dismissed most of the claims in a long-running lawsuit seeking Fulton County’s 2020 ballots. Yes, the same ballots the FBI seized last week. The lawsuit was filed by residents who claimed the ballots would reveal fraud.

🧊 Democrats are demanding “dramatic changes” and “real accountability” for ICE and other law enforcement agencies involved in immigration raids. Their demands include things like clear identification for officers and warrants to enter homes and businesses.

WEEKEND PLANS

Credit: Courtesy Atlanta Brick Con

🧱 Atlanta Brick Con: Larger-than-life creations, building zones, games. It’s everything the Lego-loving child (and adult, let’s be honest) could want.

🏈 Big Game Bash at the Battery: Watch the highly trademarked big professional football game (the Super Bowl) along with a Bad Bunny halftime sing-along and team-themed photo opportunities.

🎶 Black History Bowl Championship: Top up your Black history knowledge, enjoy praise music and art and interactive exhibits.

THE PRETTIEST DIAMONDS ARE IN THE DIRT

The Hank Aaron Diamonds’ initiative is bringing fresh fields to Atlanta Public Schools.

Through the Atlanta Braves Foundation’s Henry Louis Aaron Fund, the project will provide turf infields and upgrades to all APS high school baseball and softball fields.
That’s 16 fields across the 11 schools that have both sports.

Hank's driving mission was to increase accessibility to baseball, allowing every kid to grow up with the game and the possibility of achieving the same dreams that he had of becoming a professional player. The Hank Aaron Diamonds program is emblematic of his passion — allowing future generations to pursue their goals in an environment that gives them the ability to shine, both on and off the field.

- Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller

NEWS BITES

Can apes play pretend? Scientists use an imaginary tea party to find out

That’s disappointing. Give those apes a real tea party!

The U.S. speedskating team bonds through weird phone cases, a pink backpack

Why are there feet on the backpack?

Dermatologists recommend a humidifier for parched winter skin

Seriously, anyone else feel like walking beef jerky lately? Or a crumbling saltine cracker? I’ve never used so much lotion in my life.

The Win Column discusses who to root for in the Patriots v. Seahawks Super Bowl

I bet you’ll never guess who.

ON THIS DATE

Feb. 6, 1994

Credit: AJC

Skategate: Unfolding saga casts shadow over Games. There’s a sordid little Whodunit stealing the show over in America. … Everyone wants to know about Tonya Harding. … Exactly a month ago, Nancy Kerrigan was felled by a baton blow and her anguished cry of “Why me!” touched off a snowballing tale quintessentially American. Big-money rivals. A bizarre conspiracy. Glamour and celebrity.

It’s Olympics time. Yesterday we mentioned the O.J. Simpson white Bronco chase. Today, another iconic ’90s moment in history. What a wild time. Yet, somehow wild in a way that seems weirder, but less … unprecedented than our current wild times.

ONE MORE THING

OK. You have to do a figure skating routine. What is your music? Mine would be “The Moldau” from Czech composer Bedřich Smetana‘s symphonic poems “Ma Vlast” (My Homeland). Or “Watermelon Crawl” by Tracy Byrd. It depends.

In fact, I’m going to make Producer Nicole add hers below. Go, Nicole:

“It’s so hard to choose, but I’d go with either ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (shout-out to my years of ballet classes), ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, or ‘River’ by Leon Bridges — or I’d channel the ‘Queen of Soul’ and pick ‘Chain of Fools’ by Aretha Franklin.”

Have the weekend of your dreams. You are worthy of love and appreciation and are doing a great job!

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.

Until next time.

About the Author

Native American leading effort to create Georgia’s first national park

The Ocmulgee Mounds near Macon in Middle Georgia were home to the Muscogee. A push to grant the site national park status has hit a hurdle.

Classic City’s ‘town-gown’ ties tested by University of Georgia decisions

Athens residents and the University of Georgia have been at odds over demolishing Legion Pool and turning President's House into a hotel complex as neighbors seek more input.