How we got here
The record,
in order.
Dated events only. Litigation entries are labeled as containing allegations that have not been adjudicated.
2026
- Meeting
Commission meeting: a zoning resolution, and the developer on the record
At least 150 residents attended the Commission’s fourth-Monday meeting. Commissioners said they had no information to share; a resolution supporting state legislation to grant the county planning and zoning authority passed unanimously. In a statement that evening, the developer said Sandstone Cliffs DevCo, the entity holding the ADEM permit, belongs to Cloverleaf, and put the project’s cost at least $1.5 billion in the development stage while continuing to withhold the operator’s name. SELC’s Ryan Anderson told the commission the July 27 records request had been acknowledged but not fulfilled.
Source → - Public record
The reply window closes in PSC Docket 33709
The second and final public window in the Commission’s review of Alabama Power large-load data-center contracts closes. Eight replies are on file: the Southern Environmental Law Center, Alabama Power, Energy Alabama, the Alabama Industrial Energy Consumers, Manifest Energy, State Senator Lance Bell and resident Wanda Shelby on August 21, and resident Mary Rosenboom on August 20. The docket carries 39 documents and remains open. The Commission has not ruled.
Source → - Company
Nvidia takes a minority stake in Cloverleaf Infrastructure
Cloverleaf, the developer behind Project Red Clay, announced a strategic partnership in which Nvidia takes an undisclosed minority investment, giving Cloverleaf access to Nvidia’s data center reference architecture. No announcement of the partnership mentions Alabama, Lowndes County, or this project.
Source → - Public record
First community-benefit grants announced
The Central Alabama Community Foundation and Project Red Clay announced the first grants anyone outside the deal can verify: $50,000 to Hope Inspired Ministries for a shared high-school life coach, and $75,000 to the Organized Community Action Program for utility assistance and weatherization. Both are inside the county but outside any impact this project would create.
Source → - Reporting
Doug Jones calls for a one-year moratorium
At an event in Hope Hull attended by about 50 residents, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones called for a one-year statewide moratorium on new data center construction and urged the Public Service Commission to pause approving data center contracts while transparency standards are written. State Rep. Phillip Ensler, the lieutenant governor nominee, also spoke.
Source → - Public record
The window to contest the land-disturbance permit closes
The thirty-day period to contest ADEM permit ALR10C89L expires. The permit, issued July 8, 2026 to Sandstone Cliffs DevCo LLC, authorizes clearing, grubbing, mass grading, and sediment basins on 270.42 acres of a stated 1,043.91-acre property, with construction anticipated to begin August 1, 2026. It is a construction stormwater permit for early civil work only, not approval for the campus, its operation, its water, its wastewater, or its electric service.
Source → - Public record
Initial comments close in PSC Docket 33709
Initial comments close in the Public Service Commission’s review of Alabama Power large-load data-center contracts. Alabama Power asks that only a redacted contract be made public, with the unredacted contract and supporting economic data given confidentially to Commission staff and the Attorney General. The Attorney General argues that commissioners must vote on each contract, that staff-only deemed approval lacks a statutory basis, and that the number of contracts deemed approved since 1996 is unclear. These are filed positions, not rulings. Reply comments remain due on or before August 21, 2026.
Source → - Reporting
An Alabama Power large-load contract reaches the state record
WSFA reports on an Alabama Power electric-service contract submitted to the Public Service Commission for a data center in Jefferson County, a different project from this one. The public version withholds the term, the capacity, the pricing, the financial security, the load-buildup period, the energy thresholds, and the minimum bill.
Source → - Legal
Coalition announced; records request filed
At the Commission’s regular meeting, Protect Lowndes County announced it is working alongside the Alabama Rivers Alliance. The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a public-records request with the Commission the same day, on behalf of both organizations, with a first statutory deadline under state law on or before August 10, 2026 and a lawful path to more time for a request this size. Residents spoke against the project, and one asked the county to require the maximum water demand in writing, reviewed by county counsel. No commissioner voted on it or answered substantively. The Commission entered executive session and returned only to adjourn, without discussing the project in public. From the podium, the district director for U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell announced the July 30 town hall, described as covering multiple topics rather than only the data center.
Source → - Public record
PSC opens Docket 33709
A generic proceeding reviewing Alabama Power large-load data-center contracts.
Source → - Company
Wrightstown, Wisconsin adopts a one-year moratorium
Six months after Cloverleaf said it would not pursue data centers in Greenleaf, trustees in the adjacent village unanimously adopted a one-year moratorium, after a resident petition gathered more than 300 signatures. An advisory referendum on utility infrastructure for large-scale data centers goes to the Wrightstown ballot on August 11, 2026. It names no project and no company.
Source → - Legal
Johnson v. King filed
No. 2:26-cv-00491, M.D. Ala. The complaint contains allegations that are unadjudicated.
Source → - Reporting
- Company
Cloverleaf public open house
Company-hosted open house.
- Meeting
Commission meeting: King’s 30-year commitments
Chairman Charlie King commits three times not to vote for a 30-year abatement. A second denial motion by Commissioner Farrior dies.
Source → - Public record
Lowndes primary
Robert Harris loses; Cee Jackson wins outright with no runoff.
- Meeting
Commission meeting cancelled without notice
Cancelled without seven-day notice, conceded on tape May 26 by county attorney Prince Chestnut.
- Statute
HB399 passes the Legislature
Passed unanimously; caps data-center abatements at 20 years for any abatement granted on or after January 1, 2027. Sent to Gov. Ivey April 10; Bloomberg Tax and LegiScan report he signed it April 16. The Act itself took effect June 1, 2026.
- Reporting
The project becomes publicly contested
A Highway 80 Cafe meeting drew roughly 100 attendees on under a week’s notice.
Source → - Company
Edwardsville, Illinois: public denial, private record
City officials publicly told residents there was no formal data-center proposal. Two dozen emails obtained through public records showed nearly a year of detailed Cloverleaf discussions about land surveys, special-use permitting, and engineering. Cloverleaf never filed a formal proposal, and by March said conversations had gone quiet while it waited on utility information. No withdrawal has been reported.
Source → - Company
Greenleaf, Wisconsin withdrawal
Cloverleaf withdraws after speaking with local leadership. Records later showed the company was already in contact with the adjacent Village of Wrightstown that same January, so the withdrawal proved to be a move rather than an exit.
Source →
2025
- Public record
PSC approves Lindsay Hill gas plant purchase
Alabama PSC approves Alabama Power’s purchase, justified in part by data-center demand.
- Company
Dundee, Michigan withdrawal
Dundee council votes to block water supply; Cloverleaf retracts its pre-development agreement.
Source → - Company
Cloverleaf "ten times out of ten" email
Development Principal Michael Evans wrote to Dundee Township officials that Cloverleaf will not work where the development is unwelcome. Obtained via Michigan FOIA.
- Public record
DOJ terminates the Title VI settlement
The 2023 environmental-justice settlement was terminated.
Source →
2024
- Company
- Company
Cloverleaf Infrastructure incorporated
Incorporated in Houston, Texas.
2023
- Public record
DOJ-HHS Title VI resolution agreement
Interim resolution agreement with the Alabama Department of Public Health, the first federal environmental-justice Title VI action of its kind.
Source →
2012
- Public record
What is coming
Dates ahead.
Pintlala Water System annual membership meeting
Annual membership meeting. The notice directs members who plan to vote to bring their certificate of membership and photo identification.
Lowndes County Commission regular meeting
Second-Monday daytime meeting.
Lowndes County Commission regular meeting
Fourth-Monday evening meeting. This is the one most people can get to.
Act 2026-610 takes effect
The 150 MW Public Service Commission review threshold for large-load data-center customers becomes effective.
Lowndes County Commission regular meeting
Second-Monday daytime meeting.
Record current to