BESSEMER, Ala.—Do not move forward without more information.
That’s the advice representatives of the Center for Biological Diversity have provided to Bessemer City Council members ahead of a Tuesday vote to green light a $14.5 billion data center project that could cause significant environmental harm.
In a letter sent to the council members on Monday, the environmental nonprofit urged them to delay consideration of a rezoning proposal that would allow the project to advance, raising a raft of concerns related to the Endangered Species Act.
Before considering final approval of the development plan, the letter said, Bessemer city leaders should facilitate the publication of any environmental review already conducted, require the developer to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the project’s potential impacts on protected species and meaningfully consider further public input in light of those updates.
The data center project, proposed by Logistic Land Investments, a secretive, Delaware-based limited liability corporation, is slated to include the clearcutting of more than 100 acres of land on a 700-acre, wooded site currently zoned for agricultural use. The developer’s plans currently call for the construction of 18 buildings totaling around 4.5 million square feet, each larger than the average Walmart Supercenter.
So far, public opposition to the project has been vocal and near-universal, with planning and zoning commission meetings packed with residents speaking out against the proposed hyperscale data center campus.
Experts interviewed by Inside Climate News have said that the project could have permanent, irreversible impacts on the environment, including the potential extinction of the Birmingham darter, a newly identified, imperilled species of fish found only in the watershed located in the vicinity of the proposed data center site.
“This would nuke this creek,” Thomas Near, a Yale University biologist, told Inside Climate News in June.
Brad Kaaber, a representative of the developer, has denied that the project will have any negative impact on the environment or surrounding community, pointing to an environmental review that so far has not been publicly released.
Kaaber did not respond to a request for comment on the Center for Biological Diversity’s letter to council members.
In addition to the potential impact on the Birmingham darter, which is not yet a protected species under the Endangered Species Act, the Center for Biological Diversity outlined concerns about the ramifications of the project for the watercress darter, which already has federal legal protection.
“Water withdrawals and water degradation caused by the Complex would directly threaten this species’ survival and adversely modify its habitat in perpetuity,” the letter said. “Clearcutting more than 100 acres of forest and replacing it with development will significantly clog the adjacent creeks with sediment and permanently alter the habitat of endangered fish, mussels, and turtles.”
Estimates of water consumption by the proposed data center have varied widely, with public documents suggesting that usage could range between 2 million and 2 billion gallons per day. Warrior River Water Authority, a local water utility, has said that usage of even 2 million gallons per day—equivalent to around a third of its current supply capacity—would require “significant upgrades” to the water system that could not be completed immediately.
“Industrial withdrawals of this magnitude would lower the water table throughout the upper Black Warrior River watershed and dry up … springs that are vital to this species’ survival,” the Center for Biological Diversity said in its letter.
The proposed data center campus would be the largest in state history and one of the largest such developments in the country. If built to full capacity, the Bessemer data center campus could consume around 10.5 million megawatt hours of energy per year, according to the developer’s estimates.
That’s more than 90 times the amount of energy used by all residences in Bessemer and more than 10 times the amount of energy used by all residences in Birmingham annually, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Will Harlan, southeast director and senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview that if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not consulted on federally listed species, including the watercress darter, as required by the Endangered Species Act, the organization will consider legal action.
In its comprehensive conservation plan for the watercress darter, the federal agency lists development as a key threat to the endangered fish species.
“One of the primary threats to fish and wildlife populations in Alabama is the historic and ongoing loss and degradation of habitat, largely due to development pressures related to the state’s increasing human population,” the plan said.
The Bessemer City Council is scheduled to consider final approval of the proposed rezoning and development plans Tuesday at 9 a.m.
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Reporter, Alabama
Lee Hedgepeth is Inside Climate News’ Alabama reporter. Raised in Grand Bay, Alabama, a small town on the Gulf Coast, Lee holds master’s degrees in community journalism and political development from the University of Alabama and Tulane University. Lee is the founder of Tread, a newsletter of Southern journalism, and has also worked for news outlets across Alabama, including CBS 42, Alabama Political Reporter and the Anniston Star. His reporting has focused on issues impacting members of marginalized groups, including homelessness, poverty, and the death penalty. His award-winning journalism has appeared in publications across the country and has been cited by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, among others.
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