Georgia is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for new data centers to support the AI boom, and developers are pushing local officials to approve massive construction projects outside of normal processes and over residents’ objections, Edward Donnelly found in an ongoing investigation supported by the Fund. Through public records and on-the-ground reporting, Donnelly tracked how developers hired lobbyists to influence regulations, outside of public view. One corporation partnered with local developers to obtain rezoning approval to build in what is currently designated as a “rural conservation” area. As Donnelly expands his reporting into other states experiencing the AI data boom, he is finding similar patterns of local influence campaigns and rushed approvals.
Grantee tracks corporations’ influence campaigns to build giant AI data centers in rural Georgia counties
