Fort Meade city commissioners to take final vote on data center Tuesday night

Fort Meade city leaders are set to cast a final vote Tuesday night on a proposal to build a large data center off Highway 17. Developers suggest the facility, once constructed and sold to a third party such as Amazon, Google, or Oracle, could generate approximately $100 million annually. However, the project has drawn protests from local neighbors who express significant concerns regarding the data center's potential water and power consumption. In response, the developers assert the proposed center would utilize 75% less water than typical data centers, comparing its usage to a large gas station or a high school. They also claim that tariffs established with Duke Energy would prevent residential customers from experiencing higher utility bills, despite the facility's considerable energy demands, which could power hundreds of thousands of homes.