Lowndes County Commission sued for illegal data center tax break vote

HAYNEVILLE, Ala. – Today community group Protect Lowndes County and Alabama Rivers Alliance, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and attorneys with Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit against the Lowndes County Commission for violating Alabama’s Open Meetings Act and Open Records Act related to a vote approving more than $2.7 billion dollars in local and state tax breaks for Project Red Clay, a 1,500 megawatt, 2,200 acre hyperscale data center proposal. This is the largest data center proposed in Alabama to date. 

“I don’t think it’s an accident this developer came to Alabama’s Black Belt,” said Tom Gardner, pastor of Beulah Primitive Baptist Church in Hope Hull. Pastor Gardner’s property is about 100 feet from the proposed data center. “In a county where Black residents had to organize, march, and risk their lives for a voice in their own government, a siting process that sidelines the public is not a neutral choice—it echoes that history. We will continue to fight to ensure that all Lowndes County residents have the fullest opportunity to participate in government decisions.” 

“We refuse to stand by and allow our government to ignore the law and cut the public out of the process,” said Adrian Johnson, a member of the Protect Lowndes County coalition who lives next to proposed data center site. “We’re suing because Alabama law is clear—we have a right to be heard and have a role in this process.” 

The County Commission committed several violations of the Open Meetings Act during public meetings related to the $2.7 billion tax breaks, including:  

• Misleading residents about when and where meetings on the tax abatement would take place. 
• Refusing to use microphones or conduct meetings in a way where the public could hear some meetings.  
• Arbitrarily limiting public comment and cutting off speakers opposing tax breaks for the data center. 

Additionally, the Commission violated the Open Records Act by refusing to release documents related to Project Red Clay. 

“The process of approving these tax breaks did not happen in a transparent or equitable way as required by Alabama law. That’s why we’re asking the court to step in and invalidate these tax breaks,” said Ryan Anderson, a staff attorney in the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Alabama office. “When residents don’t support a government’s actions, that doesn’t mean county leaders can cut them out of the process. Decisions of this magnitude must be made in full view of the public.” 

“Lowndes County residents deserve full visibility into projects that stand to alter their local economy, infrastructure, and natural resources," said Todd Gleason, senior litigating counsel with NRDC. “This lawsuit seeks to ensure that major public decisions are made openly and with meaningful public participation. Regardless of where people stand on Project Red Clay itself, residents deserve a fair opportunity to understand how decisions are being made, review the information underlying those decisions, and participate in the process before major governmental actions are taken.” 

Lowndes County residents were already opposed to Project Red Clay because it would turn up to 2,000 acres of farmland along the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail into a hyperscale data center. The project would use an estimated 100,000 gallons of water a day and would use enough electricity to power approximately 900,000 residents’ homes (Alabamians already pay some of the highest energy bills in the country).  

A data center would generate industrial wastewater that would strain local resources and infrastructure. This is particularly troubling in Lowndes County because many residents lack access to safe sanitation systems, creating an ongoing public health crisis. As many as 80% of homes lack access to reliable sewage systems in the county.  

Alabama Rivers Alliance is a statewide network of groups working to protect and restore all of Alabama’s water resources through building partnerships, empowering citizens, and advocating for sound water policy and its enforcement. For more information visit alabamarivers.org 

The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. southernenvironment.org 

Established in 1970, NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Our team of more than 800 lawyers, policy experts, scientists, economists, and communications specialists work across the United States and around the world, from offices in Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Santa Monica, as well as a representative office in Beijing and affiliate offices in New Delhi (through NRDC’s wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, NRDC India Private Limited) and London (through its UK-based partner NRDC International).