Details about NDA, data center development in Brookwood
The short version: WBRC's records request exposed Applied Digital as the mystery company behind a proposed 2-million-square-foot Brookwood, Alabama data center, despite an NDA keeping locals in the dark.
Our Take
Credit WBRC 6 News for doing what too few local outlets bother to do anymore: filing the records request that pries a name loose from behind an NDA. A 2-million-square-foot data center doesn't materialize without permits, environmental filings, and almost certainly a incentive package — yet the public in Brookwood was left guessing who was even asking for the land and water until a state environmental filing accidentally did the talking.
This is the pattern we track everywhere: hyperscale developers negotiate for months under confidentiality agreements, city councils get briefed in private, and residents find out the size and stakes of a project only after regulators or reporters force it into daylight. Applied Digital saying "no decision has been made" while ADEM paperwork says otherwise is the kind of gap between corporate messaging and paper trail that should make any Brookwood taxpayer ask what else they're not being told about power draw, water use, and who's covering the tax abatements.
Alabama is quietly becoming a data-center corridor, and Brookwood residents deserve the same basic facts before shovels hit dirt, not after. Check our facility map to see how this project stacks up against the rest of the buildout, and if you're in the area, our take-action guide walks through how to actually get answers out of city hall before the ink dries.
This is GridWatch the USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WBRC 6 News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.