It is worth separating three different things: what is established, what is contested, and what has simply never been disclosed. Mixing them is how a community loses credibility.
Established: the public site plan describes roughly 800 acres and about 3.01 million square feet. A request of roughly 1,500 megawatts has been reported, about ten times the 150 megawatt threshold at which Alabama’s new statute requires Public Service Commission review. The abatement at issue is thirty years, and the Commission chairman committed three times on May 26 not to vote for one.
Contested: the permanent job count, which has been given as 50, as 50 to 100, as 50 to 200, and as 200 to 300 depending on the speaker. The investment figure, given as over $1 billion on the developer’s website and as $1.5 billion from the chairman on May 26. The built square footage, given as 3.01 million, 3.7 million, and 5 million in different documents at different dates. We keep all versions with their dates rather than picking the convenient one.
Undisclosed: the tenant. The peak water draw as opposed to the average. The wastewater volume and where it goes. The generator count, fuel, and permitted hours. The transmission route and who pays for the upgrades. The dollar value of the abatement. Whether an executed community-benefit agreement exists and who could enforce it.
That last list is not an accusation. It is a list of documents. Every one of them exists somewhere, and every one of them could be published before a vote rather than after.12345678910