00:00A fight over farmland in Kentucky now has Meta's name on it.
00:04With a $15 billion starting price tag from Alabama tax breaks to a Nashville courtroom
00:11and a federal ruling that shakes up the nation's biggest grid.
00:16Here is what is happening.
00:18A fight over farmland in northern Kentucky just got a very big name attached to it.
00:25Meta has been revealed as the company behind a 2,000-acre hyperscale campus in Maysville.
00:31In Mason County, with an initial investment of about $15 billion,
00:37an attorney for the project says it could eventually grow far beyond that over a 40-year
00:42multi-phase life.
00:45Meta is expected to close on the property in November and will seek state tax exemptions.
00:50Supporters point to 2,000 construction jobs and at least 400 permanent positions.
00:57But the citizens group We Are Mason County KY has two lawsuits pending.
01:03Seeking transparency and farmland preservation,
01:07Executive Director Max Moran says the county declined low-frequency noise rules,
01:13set a 750-foot setback from homes,
01:17and has not delivered promised buyout offers.
01:21That kind of local friction is playing out in Alabama, too,
01:25where commissioners in Londies County approved a 20-year,
01:29$1.15 billion tax abatement for Project Red Clay,
01:34billed as the state's largest planned data center.
01:38The vote came on a Tuesday morning,
01:40earlier than the October 20th date on the agenda.
01:43The site sits along the Selma to Montgomery Trail in unincorporated territory where the county has
01:50no zoning authority,
01:52and the project has requested 1,500 megawatts from Alabama power.
01:58Developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure projects $124 million a year in
02:04local tax revenue,
02:06but the abatement costs about $57 million annually.
02:11District Judge Adrian Johnson,
02:13a future neighbor,
02:15criticized the lack of transparency,
02:17and the end user has still not been named.
02:20Construction is expected to begin in early 2027.
02:25That opposition is now making its way into courtrooms in Nashville.
02:30A federal judge dismissed three of nine claims D.C. Blocks brought against Metro government over a
02:36proposed data center next to the Nashville Zoo
02:40and denied the company's request for a preliminary injunction.
02:44The judge said some claims were too unclear about what rights the company says Metro took away.
02:50D.C. Blocks sued in August,
02:53challenging the city's data center moratorium and a halt in permit processing,
02:58and argues the site once operated as a data center under tenant Asurian.
03:04Its claims include due process,
03:07equal protection and takings.
03:09The company now has 21 days to amend its complaint.
03:13Meanwhile,
03:14a zoo petition against the project has gathered more than 600,000 signatures.
03:20And council member Courtney Johnston says Metro has the right to set land use decisions.
03:27And the reason this fight keeps gaining momentum comes down to one thing.
03:32Power.
03:34Federal regulators have rejected the core of PJM Interconnection's plan
03:38for connecting large loads.
03:41Like data centers on the nation's largest grid,
03:44the proposal, called the Interim Resource Adequacy Service,
03:49would have let big loads connect without matching new capacity if they agreed to be curtailed.
03:54Before grid emergencies.
03:57Before grid emergencies.
03:57F.E.R.C. said it appears to intrude on state authority over retail customers and may be discriminatory.
04:05While approving PJM's definition and registry of large loads,
04:09Commissioner Rosner warned that non-critical data centers should be curtailed before homes,
04:15hospitals and schools.
04:17Jeffery's analysts say higher capacity prices could last longer.
04:22Benefiting Constellation, NRG,
04:26Tallinn and Vistra,
04:27and that states,
04:28including Ohio and Pennsylvania,
04:31may now take the lead.
04:33The pressure on the grid is only half the story.
04:37Water tells the other half.
04:39In Georgia,
04:40a Georgia tech researcher estimates that generating a data center's electricity uses about 10
04:46times more water than cooling it on site.
04:50In Mitchell County,
04:52NextEra proposed a 1500-megawatt gas plant that would draw about 1 million gallons a
04:58day from the Claiborne Aquifer.
05:01And resident Lauren Dormany is among those challenging the rezoning in Superior Court.
05:06In Rockdale County,
05:09commissioners rejected the rezoning for Project Rockforge.
05:13Altamaha riverkeeper Fletcher Sams says 33 data center campuses are proposed in the
05:19Osimulgee Basin,
05:21where Georgia Power's plant shearer is permitted to draw over 200 million gallons a day.
05:27In a region of about 650,000 people,
05:32local lawmakers are taking notice.
05:34In Clarksville's Montgomery County,
05:38Tennessee,
05:39commissioners approved tight new rules for future data centers on Monday.
05:43The minimum setback from homes was raised from 100 feet to 500 feet by amendment.
05:50Applicants must keep noise within 3 decibels of ambient levels and below 55 decibels at
05:56neighboring property lines.
05:59They must also provide letters from water,
06:02power and gas providers confirming they can be served,
06:06pay for needed utility upgrades,
06:08and build on sites of 10 to 100 acres.
06:12Commissioners discussed postponing the resolution and a moratorium,
06:16but neither passed.
06:18Regional Planning Director Jeff Tindall has said similar rules could go to the Clarksville City
06:23Council if they are well received.
06:27Yet despite that regulatory wave,
06:30construction is pressing forward.
06:33In Taylor,
06:34Texas,
06:35City Council unanimously approved the Taylor Technology Campus from Powerhouse and Big Watt Digital.
06:42Formerly known as Project Mustang,
06:44The site covers 664 acres in Williamson County,
06:49about 35 miles northeast of Austin,
06:53with up to 1 gigawatt of capacity and a first phase of 500 megawatts.
06:58It would run on dedicated behind-the-meter power from a new 750-megawatt natural
07:04gas plant,
07:06with first power targeted for the first half of 2028.
07:10The site reportedly will use closed-loop cooling to reduce water use.
07:16Powerhouse,
07:17a division of American real estate partners,
07:20has a pipeline of more than 8 gigawatts,
07:23and Brookfield recently took a minority stake.
07:27And the financial commitment behind that construction is staggering.
07:32Yet so are the obstacles.
07:34Industry research finds 30-50% of the 16 gigawatts of U.S. data center.
07:41Capacity scheduled to come online faces severe delays or cancellation.
07:46Generator step-up transformer lead times now exceed 160 weeks.
07:52And about 80% of U.S. power transformer demand is met by imports.
07:58Allian's research points to a shortage of roughly 439,000 skilled.
08:03Construction workers in big markets waits for a firm power commitment run 4-7 years.
08:11And more than 100 moratoria are active.
08:15Oracle and OpenAI scrapped a plan to expand the Abilene, Texas campus from 1.2 to 2 gigawatts.
08:23Meanwhile, U.S. construction spending has reached $85.3 billion.
08:37It helps us cover more of these stories.
