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A Houston company wants to build a hyperscale data center on farmland along Highway 80 in Lowndes County. Here is what is actually known, what is not, and what you can do.
The short version
The proposal is called Project Red Clay. It sits near the junction of U.S. Highway 80 and Alabama Highway 21 at Burkville, about six miles southwest of Montgomery. The construction permit the state issued in July 2026 puts the property at 1,043.91 acres, and an August 2026 report describes the project as having grown to 1,050 acres. The public site plan describes roughly 3.01 million square feet of buildings123.
The project is reported to have requested roughly 1,500 megawatts of electricity. Alabama's new large-load statute defines a data-center customer subject to Public Service Commission review as one with expected peak demand of at least 150 megawatts. The reported request is about ten times that threshold45.
The developer is Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a Houston company that describes itself as a developer of ready-to-build sites: it assembles land and power, then sells the package to a hyperscale operator6. Who would actually operate this facility has never been disclosed7.
What we are asking for
Not a ban. Disclosure, before a vote rather than after it. Name the operator. Publish the executed water contract and the electric-service agreement. State what the thirty-year abatement is worth in dollars8. Make the community benefit enforceable and say who enforces it. A good project survives all of that.
What we are not saying
We are not saying anyone has broken the law. We are not naming a tenant we cannot prove. Where the evidence cuts against us we publish it anyway: a George Mason University study found homes closer to data centers in Northern Virginia tended to sell for higher prices, though the authors caution it may not generalize to rural markets9.
Every number on this site carries its source. If we get something wrong, tell us and we will correct it in public.
Three things, in order
What to do this week.
- 1
Sign the new petition
The fastest of the five, and new as of August 2026. Our petition puts four demands to the Lowndes County Commission, all of them about transparency: comply with the July 27 records request, name every entity and tenant, disclose the water and energy data, and put every document on a county-run dashboard. It is not the Change.org petition that circulated in the spring, so even if you signed that one, this one needs your name too.
Read and sign the new petition - 2
Add your name
Membership is a public count of neighbors who want the whole truth before any vote. It costs nothing, commits you to nothing but staying informed, and it grows the count the other actions stand on.
Become a Member - 3
Be in the room
Commission meetings are where the county’s part of this project is decided in public, and where commissioners answer questions on the record. Rooms that are full change what happens in them: residents filled the Charles Smith Building to standing room only in April 2026, and the project has been publicly contested ever since.
See meeting dates - 4
Watch the docket that writes the rules
On July 8, 2026 the Alabama PSC opened Docket 33709 to decide how Alabama Power’s large-load data-center contracts get reviewed. Both public windows have now closed, on August 6 and August 21, and what went in is public and worth reading: Alabama Power asked that contracts stay redacted to everyone but Commission staff and the Attorney General, and the Attorney General argued the Commission must vote on each contract rather than let staff deem it approved. Eight replies landed in the final round, from the Southern Environmental Law Center, Alabama Power, Energy Alabama, the Alabama Industrial Energy Consumers, Manifest Energy, a state senator and two residents. The docket is still open and the Commission has not ruled. Two things follow. Alabama Power’s own consent says a contract filed before October 1, 2026 is judged under the current rules whatever the Commission decides. And this project’s own contract, if it is ever filed, will not appear in Docket 33709 at all: individual contracts get their own "D-" numbered dockets, and nobody finds those unless they know to look.
Read what was filed in Docket 33709 - 5
Submit a tip
A document, a name, a date, a thing you saw or heard. Every contact field is optional, and we verify before we publish anything.
Submit a tip
The next Commission meeting is September 13 at 2:00 p.m., a weekday morning. The next evening meeting, the one most people can get to, is September 28 at 6:00 p.m.
Go deeper
Pick your next page.
- 2 minutes
Just tell me what is happening
The short version, the numbers, and the questions that are still open.
About Project Red Clay → - 5 minutes
What could it cost us
Water, power bills, noise, air, land, and wildlife: what is claimed, what is documented elsewhere, and what has not been disclosed here.
The Harm → - 5 minutes
Show me the money
What has been promised, what the record actually establishes, and what a thirty-year abatement means.
The Math → - 5 minutes
Why does this ground matter
The Selma to Montgomery route, the Mants family letter, and what this county has been asked to absorb before.
Sacred Ground → - 5 minutes
How was this handled
How neighbors found out, what the company has said in writing elsewhere, and what is on the governance record.
The Secrecy → - 10 minutes
I want the primary documents
Dockets, statutes, filings, and government records with direct links. Nothing summarized.
Public Record → - Ongoing
I want to keep up
Dated updates, outside reporting, and the meeting calendar.
News and Updates →
Sources on this page
- ↑
ADEM construction stormwater permit ALR10C89L, Red Clay Technology Campus, Alabama Department of Environmental Management (2026-07-08). Notice of Intent, property and disturbed area — view source
Accessed 2026-08-06 - ↑
In rural Alabama, voters feel sold out to massive data centers: ‘Slap in the face’, al.com (2026-08-09). Reporting by Ruth Serven Smith — view source
ReportedAccessed 2026-08-10 - ↑
Rural Alabama Community Opposes Hyperscale Data Center, Inside Climate News (2026-06-10). Company plan reviewed by ICN — view source
ReportedAccessed 2026-07-12 - ↑
Rural Alabama Community Opposes Hyperscale Data Center, Inside Climate News (2026-06-10). ICN and public Cloverleaf statements — view source
ReportedAccessed 2026-07-12 - ↑
SB270 enrolled, enacted as Act 2026-610, Alabama Legislature (2026-10-01). Ala. Code § 37-4-22.1 — view source
Accessed 2026-07-12 - ↑
Project Red Clay / company description, Cloverleaf Infrastructure (2026-07-10). Developer website, corroborated by Yellowhammer News — view source
ReportedAccessed 2026-07-27 - ↑
Records Request for Documents related to Project Red Clay Data Center, Southern Environmental Law Center and Natural Resources Defense Council (2026-07-27). Request scope: confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements — view source
Not disclosed by the projectAccessed 2026-07-12 - ↑
Records Request for Documents related to Project Red Clay Data Center, Southern Environmental Law Center and Natural Resources Defense Council (2026-07-27). Request scope: incentive and tax-abatement discussions — view source
Not disclosed by the projectAccessed 2026-07-12 - ↑
Study: Home prices are higher when house is near a data center, George Mason University Schar School (2025-11-01). Schar School study — view source
Accessed 2026-07-27
Last updated