Over a year into the planned development of a large-scale data center in Bessemer, residents and activists continue to seek answers about what is shaping up to be one of the world's largest data centers.
What was initially pitched as a 700-acre development has quickly grown past 1,600 acres in the $14.5 billion project. The development, called Project Marvel, is being conducted by Logistics Land Investment, a real estate firm owned by a Georgia-based TPA-Group. The center is being constructed on a rural land plot just southwest of Birmingham. Though the developers claim that the majority of the land will remain unused, it is slated to house 18 buildings.
From the beginning, residents and advocates for Alabama's water systems have objected to the data center, which has become a national hot-button issue, especially with the proliferation of data centers needed to fuel the massive new demand for artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
While data centers are often touted for bringing economic growth and additional jobs, residents have voiced their objections to city and county officials, citing concerns about energy costs, environmental impact, strain on natural resources, and even aesthetics.
According to Charles Miller, the policy director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, the environmental impact, along with the strain on the area's national resources, is also a concern.
"So much of what we have been doing, you know, not just in Bessemer, but all over the state, when we've worked with communities that have concerns about data centers, we've just been bumping up against this lack of transparency from data center developers," Miller told 1819 News. "You know, these are big facilities. They come with some pretty hefty promises of investment, sometimes jobs, but they also come with a pretty heavy price tag for some of our natural resources, like power and water."
According to Miller, the effect on the water supply for the Bessemer center and others could prove disastrous due to the state's antiquated water laws.
"Our power uses water," Miller said. "Because we're using natural gas, coal, [and] nuclear in a lot of cases to power these data centers and power the rest of our electrical grid. So, it's not just necessarily even about the data center water use. It's kind of the whole picture that's our concern: they use a lot of water. We've seen in Georgia and in other places around the country, it has some really negative impacts on people in the community, and we want to avoid that in Alabama."
He continued, "We want to bring Alabama's water law into the 21st century. We're kind of stuck in this late 17th- and 18th-century framework that we inherited when we became an independent country. And obviously, that's not a framework that works for a 21st-century economy. And large-scale water users like data centers are actually problematic within the existing legal framework that we have."
Concerns about data centers' environmental impact are just one aspect. Marshall Killingsworth, who owns land that touches the development land, feels like the center would irrevocably damage so much that was appealing about the area. Killingsworth emphasized that he was "not a tree hugger." However, many in the community object to the center because it would destroy the area's natural beauty with excessive noise and lighting.
"The reason this is so important: this land is one of the most pristine pieces of property left in Jefferson County, and possibly even the state of Alabama," Killingsworth said. "And this type of development is sitting in a bowl. And flowing through this are multiple creeks, Little Blue Creek, Five Mile Creek, with wetlands that are just unimaginable to even think about putting a structure of this type together."
Killingsworth was among the first to approach the city council and the zoning authority when the project came to light in January 2025. Since then, he claims he has not received answers or clarification to any of his questions.
"I submitted over 300 questions in writing to the city council, to the zoning commission, to the mayor [and] to the city attorney, and had them certified, delivered," Killingworth continued. "And we never got an answer to any of those."
Among a litany of accusations, claims of excessive secrecy and a lack of transparency have also abounded, aided by the fact that several city employees, including the mayor and city attorney, have admitted to signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
"You could not even reach out to legal assistance or any of that in this area because of conflict of interest or NDA signatures," Killingsworth said. "So that's what we faced: the lack of transparency. Absolutely nothing has been there."
Miller was also nonplussed by the number of NDAs, citing it as a concern on both sides of the political spectrum.
"One thing that I've been telling folks to do for almost two years now: tell your elected officials that you don't want them signing non-disclosure agreements with people who are developing data centers, or really any other kind of large-scale development," Miller said. "I kind of just don't understand why you would sign a non-disclosure agreement as an elected official. You're there to serve the public, not some private interest."
Miller has approached leaders in areas besides Bessmer. However, he and Killingsworth noted a staggering level of community action opposing the data center.
"I have seen kind of unprecedented levels of people getting involved just on their own," Miller said. In Bessemer, so many of our residents and so many of the people in that community were the ones who were starting this process. They were kind of self-organizing before I even showed up."
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