Bessemer city officials took the next steps to allow a $14 billion data center project to move forward last week, despite objections from city residents and environmental groups.

The Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to change the zoning for the proposed 670-acre site from residential to light industrial, allowing the project, known as Project Marvel, to move forward with approval from the city.

However, Project Marvel has proved to be controversial, with Bessemer residents and local environmental groups raising concerns about the pollution and water usage the data center may cause. In light of the opposition, the City Council sent the plans back to the planning and zoning commission, who approved the project twice before the council approved the zoning change. Still, no environmental assessments related to the project have been released by developers or the city. 

One of the primary concerns of opponents to Project Marvel has been the strain the center may put on the city’s water system. The center is expected to use about two million gallons of water per day to cool its equipment. 

“They requested two million gallons a day from a fairly rural, under-resourced, drinking water utility, and we have questions about whether that utility can upgrade its system without any cost to its customers in order to serve the data center,” said Ryan Anderson, a staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Residents have also raised concerns about noise pollution from the center’s cooling systems at city council meetings — a growing concern around the country from those living near data centers and proposed data centers as more are built to accommodate the AI boom. Others are concerned the center’s electricity usage will raise utility bills across the city.

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-AL, expressed concerns about the data center’s impact on utility bills following the council’s vote. 

“I’ve been told that it’s not going to raise rates and I want to know is that commitment for the long term. I want to make sure that we are making life more affordable for Alabamians,” Britt said. “We have the highest power rates in the Southeast. I think that is unacceptable.”

The proposed site of the data center is also home to a rare species of fish, the Birmingham darter. Environmental advocates, who are worried that the project could threaten its habitat, recently filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking the Birmingham darter to be recognized as an endangered species, which could add another hurdle to Project Marvel’s construction. The center’s developers have maintained that the species is not present on the proposed site.

Transparency has also been a central issue as the city has considered Project Marvel. Several city officials signed nondisclosure agreements that limited public discussion of the project. 

Alabama top stories in brief

Alabama Public Television votes to keep PBS programming

• Alabama Public Television officials voted last week to maintain its contract with PBS, keeping programming like “Sesame Street” and “PBS Newshour” on air in the state.
• The commission voted 5-1 in favor of keeping PBS programming. The vote came in response to a proposal from two commissioners who proposed cutting ties to PBS in response to the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• This proposal drew criticism from many Alabama residents. APT received more than 1,400 emails ahead of the vote regarding their ties to PBS. Additionally, several protestors gathered outside of APT’s headquarters ahead of the meeting to advocate for maintaining ties to PBS.

A massive carbon capture project planned for Conecuh National Forest area has some concerned

• A 74,000-acre carbon capture project has been proposed in Covington County, adjacent to Conecuh National Forest. 
• The project — proposed by Reliant CCS, a Colorado-based renewable energy firm — plans to capture carbon dioxide, turn it into a liquid and  then inject it in underground wells, according to documents the company filed with the Environmental Protections Agency.
• Carbon capture projects are meant to mitigate the amount of carbon dioxide that reaches the atmosphere. However, some locals are concerned that the environmental risks may outweigh the benefits for this project. Critics are concerned about how this may impact the habitat in the forest, which is home to several endangered species, including gopher tortoises and red-cockaded woodpeckers.
• State Rep. Matthew Hammett, R-Andalusia, has pre-filed a bill banning carbon dioxide injection in Covington County in opposition to the project.

Federal judge orders new Alabama Senate map due to racial gerrymandering

• U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco has ordered that Alabama use a new state senate map in upcoming elections after ruling that state lawmakers diluted Black voting power in the Montgomery area. 
• Manasco, a Trump appointed judge, said that the state violated the Voting Rights Act by packing Black voters in Montgomery’s Senate District 26. 
• Manasco also put into place a new court-selected map to be used in the 2026 and 2030 elections.

Ivey removes all members of Motor Sports Hall of Fame Commission due to violation, misspent funds

• Gov. Kay Ivey has removed all 18 members of the Motorsports Hall of Fame Commission in response to an October audit that the commission violated state laws or regulations 35 times, as well as misspent $200,000 in funds.
• The Motorsports Hall of Fame Commission oversees the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, which includes a museum located near Talladega Superspeedway. Members of the commission are appointed by the governor and serve eight-year terms.
• The five-year audit, which was conducted by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, found several violations of the commission’s regulations under state law, including instances where they sold vehicles owned by or donated to the commission and then deposited the money into a private foundation affiliated with the commission, rather than to the commission itself.
• Additionally, the commission spent $200,000 for unauthorized purposes or without documentation.
• “For various reasons, Governor Ivey believes this is the right time for a fresh start at the Hall of Fame,” a letter to commissioners from Ivey’s appointments director said.

Library board bans ‘gender ideology;’ further delays Fairhope funding

• The Alabama Public Library Service voted last week to restrict books for minors that contain “transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders.”
• The ban is meant to restrict minor’s access to books containing, “gender ideology,” a term that the board is yet to define, by grouping books that contain transgender characters in with books that are considered obscene or sexually explicit. 
• The board also delayed a vote that would reinstate state funding for the Fairhope Public Library, with the chair of the board, John Wahl, saying that he is still reviewing the library’s material to make sure it is in compliance with APLS’s administrative code.
• Fairhope Public Library has been without state funding since March, when the board suspended its funding because books the board deemed “sexually explicit” were housed in the library’s young adult section.
• The library has been forced to forfeit all of its state funding for the year, totalling in at roughly $22,000.

Announcements

• We are now publishing a weekly podcast to go with each edition of the Alabama Roundup. The podcast will feature the same stories as the Roundup, and will be slightly adapted for listening. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify here. 

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