HEADS UP! Protect the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s Coast!

Gullah/Geechee Nation ♦ September 13, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Two counties. Two critical meetings. One coast to defend.

Monday, September 14, 2026, is a critical day for the future of the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s coast!

While Beaufort County Council prepares to discuss yet another attempt to remove Pine Island from the Cultural Protection Overlay District protecting St. Helena Island, Colleton County Council will consider regulations that could determine whether massive data centers gain a foothold in the rural ACE Basin.

These meetings overlap. Therefore, we need the Gullah/Geechee famlee, environmental justice advocates, landowners, preservationists and everyone who values the South Carolina Lowcountry to divide forces and fill both council chambers.

We cannot sit silently while destructioneers repeatedly attempt to wear down the laws that protect our land, water, culture and quality of life.

Beaufort County: Uphold the CPO!

Monday, September 14, 2026

Beaufort County Administration Building
100 Ribaut Road
Beaufort, South Carolina

• 3:45 PM: Community members are encouraged to arrive before Council enters its executive session.
• 4 PM: Beaufort County Council Caucus Meeting and executive session discussion concerning Pine Island.
• 6 PM: Regular Beaufort County Council Meeting. Public comments will be accepted.

The destructioneers behind the proposed Pine Island gated golf resort have submitted another application seeking to remove their approximately 502-acre property from the Cultural Protection Overlay District—the CPO.

This is not a new idea. It is the latest move in a campaign that has continued since 2022 through repeated development applications, proposed zoning changes, mediation, political pressure and three lawsuits.

The people have answered repeatedly: No gates! No golf! Uphold the CPO!

Why the CPO exists

The Cultural Protection Overlay was not created overnight, and it was not handed down to us by outside organizations. It grew from the voices, vision and work of the people of St. Helena Island.

In 1999, Beaufort County adopted the community-led CPO to protect the island’s rural landscape, waterways, agricultural traditions and Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage. I was honored to lead the inaugural Cultural Protection Overlay District Committee as we went into the field, listened to native families and worked to protect the land and sacred spaces of our community.

The CPO prohibits land uses that have already devastated other Sea Islands: golf courses, resorts, gated communities and restrictions on access to waterways and culturally significant places.

These are not arbitrary prohibitions. They are protective barriers against land speculation, overdevelopment, cultural displacement and the destruction of a living heritage community.

St. Helena Island remains the epicenter of Gullah/Geechee culture largely because generations of native families have retained land and because the CPO has kept the island from becoming another resort enclave.

The law applies to everyone. It does not prohibit anyone from living on the island. It prohibits particular land uses that are incompatible with the community’s legally adopted vision.

No exceptions should be granted. No carve-outs should be created.

A carve-out would not simply affect one property. It would weaken the integrity of the entire district and place the future of St. Helena Island at risk.

Beaufort County and the community have prevailed at numerous stages. The Planning Commission has repeatedly rejected the proposals. County Council has repeatedly upheld the CPO. The state case was voluntarily dismissed. The first federal lawsuit was dismissed, and reconsideration was denied.

However, the legal fight is not over. One appeal remains pending, and the newer federal challenge is stayed. That is precisely why Beaufort County Council must not undermine these victories by creating a political exception while litigation continues.

SCELP has stood beside the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition throughout this legal battle. Together, we have worked to ensure that the people whose culture, land and future are at stake have a voice in court. Review the documented legal history on SCELP’s Pine Island case page and its September 10 meeting alert. Come out and stand up to Protect St. Helena Island’s CPO on Monday, September 14th at 4 pm!

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Colleton County: Stop industrial data centers from invading the ACE Basin!

Monday, September 14, 2026

Colleton County Council Chambers
109 Benson Street, Second Floor
Walterboro, South Carolina 29488

• 5:30–6 PM: Public Hearing
• 6–8 PM: Special Called Colleton County Council Meeting
• Online: Colleton County livestream and meeting agenda

Colleton County Council will consider a proposed digital infrastructure overlay ordinance establishing permanent zoning regulations for technology industries and data centers.

The timing is critical. A six-month moratorium on data-center approvals was adopted in July, allowing the county time to examine this rapidly expanding industry. Community members and environmental organizations are now concerned that the proposed overlay could establish loopholes or approval pathways for large industrial developments in rural areas without adequate public notice and site-specific review.

This debate is directly connected to a proposal by Eagle Rock Partners and Thomas & Hutton for an approximately 850-acre data-center campus along Cooks Hill Road, south of Walterboro.

The proposal reportedly includes:

• Nine enormous industrial buildings
• More than 200 acres of wetlands within the project area
• Potential expansion across a 2,600-acre tract
• Massive and continuous demands for electricity
• Potential consumption of millions of gallons of water
• New substations, transmission infrastructure and other industrial facilities

This property is not simply “near” an environmentally sensitive area. According to SCELP’s project analysis, it is located within the ACE Basin—one of the largest intact estuarine ecosystems along the Atlantic Coast.

The site is presently classified as a Rural Development area, while the Colleton County Comprehensive Plan designates the surrounding landscape as “countryside.” That designation was intended to encourage low-density uses and protect land adjacent to farms and agricultural areas.

Nine massive data-center buildings do not resemble countryside. They do not preserve rural life. They industrialize it.

Data centers do not arrive alone.

A project of this magnitude could affect far more than the 850-acre development site.

Large data centers demand vast amounts of electricity around the clock. That demand can be used to justify additional generating plants, substations, transmission corridors, gas pipelines and other infrastructure. Water consumption and heat discharge can affect aquifers and waterways. The constant operation of industrial cooling systems and emergency generators can bring noise, light pollution and air-quality concerns into communities that have never been industrial zones.

Those effects do not stop at a property line.

The wetlands, rivers, forests and rural communities of Colleton County are connected to the larger ACE Basin ecosystem. Damage to water quality, habitat, hydrology and air quality in one section can ripple throughout the watershed.

The people who live near Cooks Hill Road must not be treated as a sacrifice zone for speculative industrial development. Neither the rural community nor the ACE Basin should be forced to carry environmental and economic costs so that private corporations can consume enormous amounts of water and electricity.

Colleton County should maintain meaningful public notice, comprehensive environmental review and enforceable protections. Data centers should not be placed in rural, residential, agricultural, wetland and culturally significant areas. It must not convert a temporary moratorium into a permanent invitation for industrial development.

CALL TO ACTION!!!

In Beaufort County:

• Attend the meetings at 100 Ribaut Road.
• Arrive by 3:45 PM if possible.
• Speak during the 6 PM public-comment period.
• Demand that Council maintain the existing CPO boundaries.
• Demand rejection of the Pine Island zoning-map amendment.
• Tell Council: No exceptions and no carve-outs from the CPO!
• Insist that the pending judicial process be allowed to continue without political interference.

In Colleton County:

• Attend the 5:30 PM public hearing at 109 Benson Street.
• Speak on the proposed digital infrastructure overlay ordinance.
• Demand protection for the ACE Basin, wetlands, rural communities and water resources.
• Demand site-specific public hearings and meaningful notice before any data center is considered.
• Oppose zoning language that could normalize industrial-scale data centers in rural Colleton County.
• Watch the proceedings through the county livestream if you cannot attend in person.

If you cannot attend, contact the appropriate County Council members in writing. Tell them that the Gullah/Geechee coast is not for sale, our cultural communities are not expendable and environmental protections must not be weakened for speculative development/destructioment.

Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree! STAND UP wit de Gullah/Geechee!