The Bessemer data center deal kept residents in the dark after city leaders signed non-disclosure agreements with developers of “Project Marvel,” a massive 4.5 million-square-foot facility. Local officials bound by these strict secrecy agreements restricted what could be disclosed publicly regarding the development’s environmental footprint, tax incentives, and extreme demands on power and water resources. The deal triggered strong public backlash and legal scrutiny from environmental advocacy organizations over municipal transparency, environmental justice, and local accountability in majority-Black communities.
A secret agreement gave developers broad control over what leaders in the Alabama city could tell the public.
Overview:
Officials in majority-Black Bessemer agreed to sweeping secrecy demands as developers advanced a massive data center residents fear will strain water, power and public health.
When Bessemer, Alabama, considered approving a massive new data center project earlier this year, there were very few public details about what, exactly, was being proposed — or how local elected officials in the historic, majority-Black city were negotiating with the project’s backers.
That’s because a number of city leaders, including Mayor Kenneth Gulley, signed a strict non-disclosure agreement with the developers behind Project Marvel, a proposed 4.5 million square foot facility set to become one of the largest data centers in the world.
LEARN MORE: A Huge Data Center Set for a Black Alabama City Gains Ground
Now that the agreement has been made public under threat of a lawsuit, the details show how much authority the developers had over city officials, and how thoroughly they wanted to keep the public in the dark.
Plans Kept Under Wraps
Besides banning the public release of site plans or related reports or studies, the non-disclosure agreement city leaders signed blocked the public disclosure of any information about Project Marvel’s developers. It also requires the city to destroy any information related to the project that the developers deemed confidential — including any official city documents or notes.
#Bessemer #DataCenter #GovernmentTransparency
