Lowndes County, Alabama, has about 9,500 residents, and one in four lives below the poverty line. On Oct. 13, its county commission voted 3-2 to give a Houston developer a 20-year tax abatement worth more than $1.1 billion.
The county is nearly 70% Black. The project, called Project Red Clay, would be the largest data center in Alabama, on about 800 acres of farmland in Burkville, near U.S. 80 and Alabama 21. That stretch of highway is the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the land includes the Robert Gardner farm, Campsite 3 of the 1965 voting rights march.
The developer, Cloverleaf Infrastructure, was incorporated in 2024. It says the center would bring at least 225 permanent jobs averaging $100,000 and more than 1,000 construction jobs, with construction starting in 2027. It projects about $124 million a year in local tax revenue once the facility is built, including about $70 million for schools, and $25 million a year for the state.
The vote came with little warning. Commissioner Robert Harris moved to vote on the abatement itself instead of scheduling the special meeting that had been planned, as Alabama Reporter described it. Chairman Charlie King and Commissioners Fletcher Hayes and Harris voted yes. Vice-chairman Dickson Farrior and Commissioner Joseph Barganier voted no.
Residents had asked for answers first. More than 350 people signed an August petition requesting transparency on the project, including its plans for wastewater. The facility would draw up to 1.5 gigawatts of power, roughly what 900,000 Alabama homes use, and a great deal of water. Reports differ on the daily figure, from 10,000 to 100,000 gallons.
The NAACP says the decision fits a pattern. “The vote in Lowndes County represents a larger trend…to leave the people most impacted out of the decisions,” said Abre’ Conner, the organization’s director of environmental and climate justice. She said the break comes “for the vague possibility of economic gain.”
Ryan Anderson of the Southern Environmental Law Center said: “Residents deserve far better than unchecked claims of economic benefit and backroom deals.” Resident Adrian Johnson said: “These developers have completely underestimated Lowndes County, thinking we would fall for their dubious claims.”
Catherine Coleman Flowers, the Lowndes County environmental justice activist, invited President Trump to “come to Lowndes County and spend the night in the homes of the people that are going to be living near this data center.” The county has long struggled with basic sanitation, and the NAACP argues a facility this size compounds environmental burdens that Black Belt residents already carry.
Alabama has passed a law that, starting in 2027, will cap data center abatements at 20 years, down from 30. Lowndes County’s deal was approved before it takes effect.
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