Hayneville

Researched: 2026-08-02 · Lead source: Brockovich AI Data Center community map (3 resident reports, 2026-05-01 → 2026-06-12) · ZIP demographics: 91.7% Black, pop 3,539 (Census ACS 2023) · County: Lowndes County Status: Proposed — actively contested. A tax-abatement resolution failed 3–2 in mid-July 2026. No formal abatement request has been filed and the developer has not withdrawn.

This report is research, not legal, financial, real-estate, or investment advice.

0. Snapshot

Only 3 residents filed reports here. That is not a sign that little is happening. It is a sign that a county of roughly 9,300 people is facing one of the largest industrial proposals in its history with the least press coverage of any site in this cluster. Lowndes County has the highest-stakes proposal of the six Alabama sites in this report.

• What's proposed: "Project Red Clay" — a hyperscale data center campus on 800+ acres at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Alabama Route 21 in northeast Lowndes County, about six miles southwest of Montgomery. Developer: Cloverleaf Infrastructure. (redclaydatacenter.com; Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Scale: four 720,000 sq ft buildings + a 100,000 sq ft warehouse + a 30,000 sq ft office. Reported total floor area: 2.88 million sq ft (Yellowhammer) / ~3.01 million sq ft (Protect Lowndes County). 1,500 MW proposed. (Yellowhammer News; Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• No tenant has been named. No future owner or operator has been publicly identified. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Where it sits: roughly half a mile from a field where Selma-to-Montgomery marchers camped in 1965 — inside the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail corridor. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Opposition: over 1,000 residents signed a petition — roughly 10% of the county's entire population. (Yellowhammer News; WSFA, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The water/sewer question is unavoidable here. Lowndes County is the nationally known raw-sewage and failing-septic environmental-justice county. Cloverleaf states its cooling is closed-loop with a one-time fill; the county's own sanitation baseline is the reason residents are not taking that on faith.

1. The Facility & Where It Sits

Which side of the county. The site is in the northeast corner of Lowndes County, at the Highway 80 / Route 21 junction — the corner closest to Montgomery, and the corner the Selma-to-Montgomery march route runs through. It is not near the county seat of Hayneville (which sits several miles south, off Route 97). This is a rural-farmland siting in a county with almost no industrial base, placed at the edge nearest to metro Montgomery's power and fiber.

Distance to the historic trail. Reported as roughly half a mile from the 1965 marchers' campsite field. (Yellowhammer News; The Cool Down, accessed 2026-08-02)

Measured distances to the nearest homes, churches, and schools: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Ask the County Commission office for the parcel map and any site plan on file (§8).

2. Public Hearings & Notices

Upcoming — go to these:

• Regular meetings: second Monday of the month, 10:00 a.m. (Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Evening meetings (better for working residents): Monday, August 24, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. and Monday, September 28, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. (Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• A separate source lists the Commission meeting as the fourth Monday, 6:00–7:30 p.m., at the Charles Smith Annex Auditorium, 205 E Tuskeena St, Hayneville. (lowndes-al.gov, accessed 2026-08-02) The two sources are consistent with a mix of daytime regular meetings and evening sessions — call to confirm before you drive.

Zoning: Lowndes County's zoning authority over this site, and whether any rezoning case number exists: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Reporting centers on the tax abatement decision, not a rezoning — which suggests the county may have limited or no zoning control over the land use itself. Ask the Commission office directly whether zoning approval is required at all. This is the single most important question a resident can ask here.

No formal tax-abatement request has been filed as of the most recent reporting. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)

3. Power

• 1,500 MW proposed — Protect Lowndes County describes this as about ten times the state review threshold. (Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The utility is not settled. Protect Lowndes County states project material references both Alabama Power and Pioneer Electric (the local rural cooperative), and that the transmission route, redundancy, and cost allocation have not been disclosed. (Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Developer's position: Cloverleaf commits to funding "any power and transmission upgrades" and states there will be no ratepayer impact. A county official quoted in reporting relayed: "The power bill will not go up. They will pay their own charges." (redclaydatacenter.com; Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• You can test that claim yourself, right now. On 2026-07-08 the Alabama PSC opened Docket 33709, a generic proceeding on how Alabama Power's contracts with large-load data center customers get reviewed — including how incremental costs are calculated, who bears them, and what stays public. Initial comments were due 2026-08-06; reply comments 2026-08-21. Protect Lowndes County explicitly directs residents to comment in this docket. (Alabama PSC; Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• July 2026 reporting noted that the public can read Alabama Power's data center contract except the portions that could affect bills. (WBRC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• New substation or transmission line siting for this project: Not found as of 2026-08-02. A 1,500 MW load cannot be served without major new transmission. That infrastructure has not been publicly described. Ask.

4. Water & Drought

Dig hard here, and keep digging. This is the county where sanitation failure is a documented federal civil-rights matter.

• Developer's stated position: "Closed-loop cooling system requiring a one-time fill designed by licensed Alabama engineers." Daily water use is described as equivalent to an office building, with no impact on local water supplies. (redclaydatacenter.com, accessed 2026-08-02)
• What is still undisclosed, per the residents' group: the water plan's peak and average gallons, and how wastewater would be disposed of. (Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• A "one-time fill" for a 1,500 MW closed-loop system is still an enormous single-event withdrawal, and closed loops require periodic makeup and eventual replacement. Neither the volume of the one-time fill, the makeup rate, nor the disposal path for spent coolant has been published. Not found as of 2026-08-02.
• Which utility or water authority would serve the site: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Ask the County Commission and the local water authority.
• The sanitation baseline. Lowndes County is nationally documented for raw-sewage exposure from failing and absent septic systems, and was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice environmental-justice action. This research session was unable to fetch a primary DOJ source directly (Inside Climate News returned HTTP 403 on 2026-08-02). Residents should verify the settlement terms directly at justice.gov before citing specifics. What is verifiable here: Inside Climate News published "On the Historic Route From Selma to Montgomery, an AI Cloud Looms" (2026-06-10) on this exact project and community. (Inside Climate News — listed in search results 2026-08-02; full text not retrievable in this session)
• Drought: U.S. Drought Monitor map valid 2026-06-30 showed Alabama statewide at 86.32% none / 12.19% D0 / 1.50% D1. County-specific Lowndes County status: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Check the live map. (U.S. Drought Monitor, accessed 2026-08-02)

5. Population & Who Lives Here

• ZIP 36040: 91.7% Black, population 3,539 (Census ACS 2023, per the project's demographic dataset).
• County population is roughly 9,300 — and more than 1,000 residents signed the opposition petition, i.e. about 10% of every person in the county. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Lowndes County is one of Alabama's Black Belt counties: long-declining population, high poverty, and minimal industrial tax base. Verify current figures at Census QuickFacts — Lowndes County, Alabama and Wikipedia: Lowndes County, Alabama. Exact poverty rate: Not independently verified here as of 2026-08-02.
• The county's civil-rights significance is direct, not incidental: the Selma-to-Montgomery march route runs through it, and the proposed site sits about half a mile from a documented 1965 campsite.

6. Money — Abatements, Incentives, Jobs

• Abatement sought: up to 30 years, available only if approved before January 1, 2027; after that date Alabama law limits it to 20 years with a possible 10-year extension for meeting investment requirements. This deadline is why the timeline is compressed. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Dollar value of the abatement: not specified in reporting, and Protect Lowndes County states it remained undisclosed as of late July 2026. (Yellowhammer News; Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• No PILOT arrangement mentioned in available reporting. Not found as of 2026-08-02.
• Direct community payment offered: "an initial outlay of $1M and another $9M once the project meets certain milestones." (Yellowhammer News / project materials, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Jobs, promised vs. permanent: 1,000+ construction over 3+ years; developer says "at least 50" permanent; the residents' group projects ~9 going to county residents. (redclaydatacenter.com; Protect Lowndes County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The arithmetic residents are doing: a 30-year abatement on a $1B+ investment, against roughly 9 local permanent jobs, in a county of ~9,300 people. Whether that is a good trade is a political judgment — but the numbers themselves are on the record.

7. Community Reaction & News Coverage

This is one of the most organized rural data-center oppositions in the country right now.

• Protect Lowndes County — https://protectlowndescounty.org/ — membership drive, meeting turnout, PSC docket comments. Contact: info@protectlowndescounty.org. (accessed 2026-08-02)
• #45strong — https://www.45strong.net/ — pages titled "Cloverleaf, withdraw from Lowndes County" and "Lowndes deserves a better deal." (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Petition: 1,000+ signatures, ~10% of the county population. (WSFA, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Officials on record: Chairman Charlie King Jr.; Commissioner Dickson Farrior (vice-chair; opposed the abatement); Commissioner Robert Harris (wants a formal request first); Commissioner Barganier also on record opposing any abatement. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Transparency fight: the Lowndes Signal reported concerned citizens formally requesting transparency from the county development commission. (Lowndes Signal, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Local and national coverage: WSFA (Montgomery), Lowndes Signal, Yellowhammer News, Alabama Reflector, Inside Climate News, The Cool Down.
• Lawsuits: Not found as of 2026-08-02.

8. Find Out For Yourself

Lowndes County Commission — this is the body that decides.

• Address: 205 A East Tuskeena Street, Hayneville, AL 36040 (lowndes-al.gov, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Phone: (334) 548-2331 (same source)
• County Administrator: Jacquelyn Thomas. Assistant Administrator: Kimberly West. (same source)
• To get on a meeting agenda: requests must go to Kimberly West, with a cutoff of noon on the Thursday before the meeting. (same source)
• Meetings: regular meetings second Monday, 10:00 a.m.; evening sessions August 24, 2026 (6:00 p.m.) and September 28, 2026 (6:00 p.m.) (Protect Lowndes County). A county source lists fourth-Monday, 6:00–7:30 p.m. meetings at the Charles Smith Annex Auditorium, 205 E Tuskeena St, Hayneville (lowndes-al.gov). Call (334) 548-2331 to confirm date, time and room before attending.
• Commissioners page: https://www.lowndes-al.gov/government/commissioners/index.php (accessed 2026-08-02). Individual commissioner phone numbers and emails: Not found as of 2026-08-02 — request them from the Administrator's office.
• Agenda-posting URL: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Ask Kimberly West where agendas are posted and whether you can be emailed them.

Ask these five questions when you call:

1. Does Lowndes County have zoning authority over this site, or is the tax abatement the only county decision?
2. Has Cloverleaf filed a formal abatement request yet, and what is its dollar value and term?
3. Which utility will serve the load — Alabama Power or Pioneer Electric — and where does the transmission line run?
4. What are the peak and average gallons per day, the size of the one-time fill, and where does wastewater and spent coolant go?
5. Where and when are agendas posted, and how do I get on the agenda to speak?

Developer

• Project Red Clay: https://redclaydatacenter.com/ · projectredclay@cloverleafinfra.com (accessed 2026-08-02)

State power regulator — file a comment yourself

• Alabama PSC Docket 33709: https://psc.alabama.gov/docket-33709-public-comment-and-reply-info/ — opened 2026-07-08; initial comments due 2026-08-06, reply comments 2026-08-21 (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Alabama PSC main site: https://psc.alabama.gov/

Community groups

• Protect Lowndes County: https://protectlowndescounty.org/ · info@protectlowndescounty.org
• #45strong: https://www.45strong.net/

Local news

• The Lowndes Signal — https://www.lowndessignal.com/ (the county's own newspaper; it has covered this closely). Tip line/email: Not found as of 2026-08-02 — use the site's contact page.
• WSFA 12 (Montgomery) — https://www.wsfa.com/ — has produced the most sustained TV coverage of Project Red Clay.
• Alabama Reflector — https://alabamareflector.com/ · Inside Climate News — https://insideclimatenews.org/

9. If You're Thinking About Moving Here

An honest read. Not advice.

Land here is cheap, rural, and beautiful, and it is currently the object of a 1,500-megawatt industrial proposal. If you are considering buying land or relocating to Lowndes County, understand that the northeast corner of the county — the Highway 80 / Route 21 area — is under active assembly. More than 800 acres have already been assembled quietly enough that neighbors reported first learning of it in spring 2026.

Water and sanitation come first, before anything about the data center. Lowndes County's septic and raw-sewage problem is the reason it is nationally known. Anyone buying land here should have soil percolation and septic feasibility independently evaluated before purchase, regardless of what the seller says. That was true before Project Red Clay and remains true.

On the project itself, the unresolved items are large:

• No tenant has been named. You would be accepting an industrial neighbor whose operator is unknown.
• The utility serving 1,500 MW is not settled between Alabama Power and Pioneer Electric, and the transmission route is undisclosed — meaning you cannot yet know whose land new lines cross.
• Water volumes and wastewater disposal are undisclosed in a county whose defining problem is wastewater.
• The abatement's dollar value is undisclosed, and it is a 30-year commitment if approved before January 1, 2027.
• Whether the county even has zoning authority to say no is unclear from public reporting.

What is settled: the abatement resolution failed 3–2 in mid-July 2026, at least two commissioners are on record against any abatement, over a thousand residents signed against it, and the developer has not withdrawn. This is unresolved, not over.

Land price pressure: with 800+ acres assembled and more possible, expect upward pressure on parcels near the Hwy 80 / Route 21 junction and flat-to-uncertain pressure elsewhere. No published land-price data was located. Not found as of 2026-08-02.

If you want to be near Montgomery with rural land, this corner of Lowndes County is exactly what the developer wanted too. Go to the August 24 evening meeting before you sign anything.

10. Sources

All accessed 2026-08-02.

1. Project Red Clay (developer site) — https://redclaydatacenter.com/
2. Protect Lowndes County — https://protectlowndescounty.org/
3. #45strong, "Cloverleaf, withdraw from Lowndes County" — https://www.45strong.net/who-decides
4. #45strong, "Lowndes deserves a better deal" — https://www.45strong.net/news
5. Yellowhammer News, "Mystery data center could receive 30-year tax break beside sacred Selma march ground" — https://yellowhammernews.com/mystery-data-center-could-receive-30-year-tax-break-beside-sacred-selma-march-ground/
6. Yellowhammer News, "An 800-acre data center is being quietly pushed in Lowndes County. Its neighbors are just finding out." — https://yellowhammernews.com/an-800-acre-data-center-is-being-quietly-pushed-in-lowndes-county-its-neighbors-are-just-finding-out/
7. WSFA, "Residents pack Lowndes County meeting over proposed data center" (2026-04-29) — https://www.wsfa.com/2026/04/29/residents-pack-lowndes-county-meeting-over-proposed-data-center/
8. WSFA, "Lowndes County leaders, residents continue debate over proposed Project Red Clay data center" (2026-04-30) — https://www.wsfa.com/2026/04/30/lowndes-county-leaders-residents-continue-debate-over-proposed-project-red-clay-data-center/
9. WSFA, "More than 1,000 sign petition opposing proposed Lowndes County data center as debate intensifies" (2026-05-27) — https://www.wsfa.com/2026/05/27/more-than-1000-sign-petition-opposing-proposed-lowndes-county-data-center-debate-intensifies/
10. WSFA, "Cloverleaf responds to Lowndes County data center concerns after weeks of resident pushback" (2026-06-04) — https://www.wsfa.com/2026/06/04/cloverleaf-responds-lowndes-county-data-center-concerns-after-weeks-resident-pushback/
11. Inside Climate News, "On the Historic Route From Selma to Montgomery, an AI Cloud Looms" (2026-06-10) — https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10062026/rural-alabama-community-opposes-hyperscale-data-center/ (returned HTTP 403 to automated retrieval on 2026-08-02; listed for readers)
12. The Cool Down, "Residents push back as giant data center targets Selma march 'sacred ground'" — https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/data-center-opposition-alabama-residents-challenge-project-red-clay/
13. Lowndes Signal, "Concerned citizens request development commission transparency" — https://www.lowndessignal.com/news/concerned-citizens-request-development-commission-transparency-393f26d5
14. Lowndes Signal, "CACF president discusses data center partnership" — https://www.lowndessignal.com/news/cacf-president-discusses-data-center-partnership-2a099e45
15. Lowndes Signal, "Letter to the editor: We have many unanswered questions" — https://www.lowndessignal.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-we-have-many-unanswered-questions-2ae460f6
16. Lowndes County Commission Office — https://www.lowndes-al.gov/government/departments/lowndes_county_commission_s_office.php
17. Lowndes County Commissioners — https://www.lowndes-al.gov/government/commissioners/index.php
18. Alabama PSC, Docket 33709 public comment and reply info — https://psc.alabama.gov/docket-33709-public-comment-and-reply-info/
19. WBRC, "Public can read Alabama Power's data center contract, just not parts that could affect bill" (2026-07-30) — https://www.wbrc.com/2026/07/30/public-can-read-alabama-powers-data-center-contract-just-not-parts-that-could-affect-bill/
20. U.S. Drought Monitor, Alabama — https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?AL
21. Wikipedia, Lowndes County, Alabama — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowndes_County,_Alabama
22. Wikipedia, Hayneville, Alabama — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayneville,_Alabama
23. Census QuickFacts, Lowndes County, Alabama — https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/lowndescountyalabama