Planned AL Data Center Would Be The Size Of 18 Wal-Mart Super Centers, And Local Pols Know/Say Nothing About It
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If built to planned capacity, the data center would be one of the largest in the United States and could become one of the largest single consumers of electricity in the state. Of nearly a dozen residents interviewed by Inside Climate News, none expressed support for the project as planned. Instead, all shared fear and frustration over their inability to obtain information about the $14.5 billion proposal from politicians charged with representing the public. Efforts by Inside Climate News to speak with public officials in Bessemer about the proposal, called Project Marvel, were met with silence. The mayor, his chief of staff and the city’s attorney all signed a non-disclosure agreement with the developer, staffers said, and would not be able to answer questions about the project. Members of the Bessemer City Council, tasked with approving or rejecting the rezoning necessary for the proposed data center, have repeatedly refused to comment. “I thought I answered your question,” said Carla Jackson, a council member who represents the area of Bessemer where the data center is planned. “And I was so sweet about it. Right now, while it’s under litigation, I’m not going to talk about it.”
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The proposed data center campus in Bessemer, if realized, would consist of 18 buildings, each larger than the average Walmart Supercenter, that would house massive server farms for data storage and processing. Located on about 700 acres of wooded land currently zoned for agricultural use, the proposed physical infrastructure would require the permanent clear-cutting of at least 100 acres of forest. The company behind the project is a newly created limited liability company, Logistics Land Investments LLC, first formed in May 2023, according to records from the Delaware Secretary of State. The company’s registered agent is not a person, according to business records, but the Corporation Trust Company, also based in Delaware—an entity that has been used by large tech companies like Google and Apple for corporate dealings in the past.
Despite its brief history, Logistics Land Investments has already found itself in at least one legal battle. Court records show that company has been sued by the First Baptist Church of Red Oak, Texas, a place of worship that was located on land the development company was interested in buying for another project. After the sale fell through, the church sued, arguing that the company had wrongly breached their agreement. The president of Bessemer’s City Council, Donna Thigpen, was the only public official interviewed who confirmed she had not yet signed an NDA. In fact, Thigpen said, she’d been largely left in the dark on the proposed data center thus far. “We have not met with the builders yet,” she said. “We know nothing about it.”
She referred further questions to the mayor’s office, though she noted he’d signed an NDA. The mayor’s office did not respond to several requests for comment. The only information about the project made public so far has been in limited answers from the company’s attorneys to residents’ concerns voiced in planning and zoning meetings held earlier this year. Those few answers provide only small, fragmented insights into what could be one of the largest capital outlays in recent state history.
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11052025/bessemer-alabama-proposed-data-center/
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