Prichard

Researched: 2026-08-02 · Lead source: Brockovich AI Data Center community map (12 resident reports, 2026-04-30 → 2026-06-28) · ZIP demographics: 97.2% Black, pop 9,692 (Census ACS 2023) · County: Mobile Status: Proposed — stalled, not approved. A 480-day moratorium was under consideration by the Prichard City Council as of 2026-07-24; a business-permit application filed during that meeting forced a public hearing instead of a moratorium vote.

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

0. Snapshot

• What's proposed: Edged (Edged Energy) "Project Gateway" — a ~6 MW data center at 214 Telegraph Road, Prichard, AL 36610, on roughly 9 acres at the site of the former 911 center. Stated investment ~$93 million; ~20 permanent jobs advertised above $70,000/year. (mobilecountydatacenters.org, accessed 2026-08-02; MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Where it sits: The parcel is inside the Africatown Safety Zone. About 89% of the parcel is in the City of Prichard; about 11% is inside the City of Mobile along the Norfolk Southern rail line. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The core equity fact: Prichard's water system has been in court-appointed receivership since late 2023 after defaulting on roughly $55 million in bond debt, and loses more than half the drinking water it produces. A new industrial customer is being proposed into that system. (Inside Climate News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• There is already an operating data center in Prichard: the Lumen Prichard AL Data Center, 208 Telegraph Road — same road as the proposed Edged site. (datacenters.com, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Second, much larger project in the same county: Beacon Data Centers' "Calvert Infrastructure Hub," ~$6 billion, on a 650-acre parcel in north Mobile County near Highway 43 and Shepard House Road — decided by the Mobile County Commission, not Prichard. (mobilecountydatacenters.org, accessed 2026-08-02)

1. The Facility & Where It Sits

Edged "Project Gateway" (proposed)

Which side of town. Telegraph Road runs along Prichard's eastern edge, next to the Norfolk Southern rail corridor and the industrial belt that separates Prichard from the Mobile River. MEJAC states the parcel falls inside the Africatown Safety Zone — the buffer designation around Africatown, the community founded by survivors of the last known U.S. slave ship, which already carries heavy industrial exposure. Describing the siting, MEJAC's account of the project frames it as a new industrial neighbor directly adjacent to Africatown. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)

Exact measured distances from the parcel boundary to the nearest homes, to Mobile County Training School, and to individual churches: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Residents wanting that figure should ask the Prichard planning office for the site plan and the parcel map (contacts in §8).

Existing facility. Lumen operates a data center at 208 Telegraph Rd, Prichard — described as a regional connectivity/colocation hub. This is an existing, operating facility on the same street. (datacenters.com, accessed 2026-08-02)

Second Mobile County project (not in 36610). Beacon Data Centers' "Calvert Infrastructure Hub": 95-acre hub inside a 650-acre parcel between Highway 43 and Shepard House Road in north Mobile County near the county line; company estimate ~$6 billion; ~250 permanent and ~1,000 construction jobs; first building planned 2027; land under contract; decision sits with the Mobile County Commission. Power draw not publicly disclosed. (mobilecountydatacenters.org, accessed 2026-08-02)

2. Public Hearings & Notices

Note on the moratorium: reporting is inconsistent on length — WKRG reported the council was considering a 180-day moratorium; Fox10's 2026-07-24 report describes Hale's resolution as 480 days, renewable. Both figures are cited here as reported. (WKRG; Fox10, accessed 2026-08-02)

Scheduled date for the required public hearing: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Call the City Clerk (§8) and ask for the hearing date and the case/permit number.

Rezoning or case numbers: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Reporting describes a business permit application rather than a rezoning.

3. Power

• Edged states the facility would draw from existing Alabama Power Company infrastructure with no required grid upgrades. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Backup: 15–25 Volvo Penta diesel generators, run during outages. Diesel backup generation is the main air-quality question a 6 MW facility raises; Prichard/Africatown already carries a heavy industrial air burden. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Statewide, this is the live fight: On 2026-07-08 the Alabama Public Service Commission opened Docket 33709, a generic proceeding to set procedures and standards for reviewing contracts between Alabama Power and large-load data center customers — including how incremental costs are calculated, how benefits to other customers are measured, what is public, and whether the PSC monitors contracts after approval. Initial public comments were due 2026-08-06; reply comments 2026-08-21. (Alabama PSC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Public access to the actual contract terms is limited: reporting in July 2026 described the public being able to read Alabama Power's data center contract except the parts that could affect bills. (WBRC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• New substation or transmission line specific to the Telegraph Road site: Not found as of 2026-08-02.

4. Water & Drought

This is the most important section for Prichard.

• Prichard Water Works & Sewer Board (PWWSB) has been under court-appointed receivership since late 2023, after a judge appointed receiver John Young. The board had defaulted on roughly $55 million in bond debt. (Inside Climate News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The system loses more than half of the drinking water it produces. The receiver has said the system needs on the order of $400 million in grants and that repairs could take 20 years. As of recent reporting the utility had secured more than $11 million in grants plus another $4.4 million to begin replacing the oldest lines. (utv44, accessed 2026-08-02)
• In 2026, ADEM declined to award Prichard's water system funding through the current Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan cycle. (utv44, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Developer's position: Edged says its cooling is closed-loop/waterless (glycol-water mixture), does not draw municipal water for cooling, anticipates no routine wastewater discharge, and would use licensed offsite disposal if the glycol mixture ever needs replacement. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• What is not resolved: the facility's non-cooling water use (domestic/sanitary), its sewer connection, and whether the receiver has reviewed or signed off on a new industrial connection. Not found as of 2026-08-02. Residents should ask the receiver's office and the city directly.
• Drought: As of the U.S. Drought Monitor map for 2026-06-30, Alabama statewide was 86.32% none, 12.19% D0 (abnormally dry), 1.50% D1 (moderate drought). Drought.gov's Mobile County page listed D0 — abnormally dry. Check the live map before relying on this. (U.S. Drought Monitor; Drought.gov Mobile County, accessed 2026-08-02)

5. Population & Who Lives Here

• ZIP 36610: 97.2% Black, population 9,692 (Census ACS 2023, per the project's demographic dataset). This is one of the most heavily Black ZIP codes in Alabama.
• Prichard is a long-declining city: it peaked at roughly 45,000 residents in 1970 and has lost population in every decade since, with roughly 19,000 today. (Wikipedia: Prichard, Alabama, accessed 2026-08-02 — encyclopedia summary of Census counts; verify against Census QuickFacts)
• Prichard's disinvestment is documented at the infrastructure level, not just the income level: bond default, utility receivership, more than half of treated water lost to leaks, and denial of state revolving-fund money in 2026 (§4).
• Africatown, adjacent to the proposed site, is a nationally significant historic Black community founded by survivors of the Clotilda, and is already surrounded by heavy industry. (Wikipedia: Africatown; Africatown CDC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Poverty rate for ZIP 36610: Not independently verified here as of 2026-08-02. Use Census QuickFacts for Prichard city.

6. Money — Abatements, Incentives, Jobs

• Stated investment: ~$93 million. Stated permanent jobs: ~20 at >$70,000/yr. (Fox10, accessed 2026-08-02)
• mobilecountydatacenters.org states the ~20 jobs carry no signed commitments. (mobilecountydatacenters.org, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Any tax abatement, PILOT, or Industrial Development Board package for the Prichard site: Not found as of 2026-08-02. No abatement request, dollar value, or duration was located in public reporting. This is worth asking the City Clerk and the Mobile County Commission about directly.
• Statewide context: Alabama data center projects can qualify for abatements of up to 30 years if approved before January 1, 2027, dropping to 20 years (with a possible 10-year extension) after that date. That deadline is why several Alabama projects are moving fast. (Yellowhammer News, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Alabama legislators in 2026 moved bills to limit data center incentives and require data centers to pay for the energy-system costs they cause. (Alabama Daily News; WBRC, accessed 2026-08-02)

7. Community Reaction & News Coverage

• Organized opposition exists and is well documented. More than 200 residents packed the non-air-conditioned Prichard Municipal Auditorium in June 2026. Reporting describes the meeting as heated, with residents' questions about health effects and utility bills going unanswered. (Fox10; WKRG, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition (MEJAC) is the lead local environmental-justice organization on this and published a detailed account of engaging with the proposal. (MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Africatown C.H.E.S.S. covered the community meeting under the headline "Not in my back yard." (Africatown C.H.E.S.S., accessed 2026-08-02)
• mobilecountydatacenters.org is a county-wide tracking site with per-project fact pages and a meeting-alert signup. (mobilecountydatacenters.org, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Council President Traci Hale, introducing the moratorium, said residents have spoken and do not want data centers in the community. (Fox10, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Lawsuits or petitions specific to Prichard: Not found as of 2026-08-02.
• Local outlets actively covering this: Fox10 (WALA), WKRG, NBC15 (mynbc15), utv44, Lagniappe Mobile, AL.com.

8. Find Out For Yourself

City of Prichard

• City Hall: 216 E Prichard Ave, Prichard, AL 36610 — (251) 452-7800 (countyoffice.org listing; address corroborated by MEJAC, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Official website: https://thecityofprichard.org/ (the site was unreachable from this research session on 2026-08-02 — try again or call)
• Prichard 3-1-1 connects residents to city services and service requests. (City of Prichard, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Mayor: Carletta Davis (Fox10, accessed 2026-08-02)
• City Council President: Traci Hale (Fox10, accessed 2026-08-02)
• City Clerk name, direct phone, and email: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Call (251) 452-7800 and ask for the City Clerk. Ask specifically for: (1) the date of the required public hearing on the data center business permit; (2) the permit/case number; (3) copies of the site plan; (4) the status of Council President Hale's moratorium resolution.
• Council meeting schedule and agenda-posting URL: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Ask the Clerk where agendas are posted and how far in advance.

Water

• Prichard Water Works & Sewer Board — public information site maintained during receivership: https://fixprichardwater.com/ (accessed 2026-08-02). The receiver is John Young (Inside Climate News, accessed 2026-08-02). Ask whether any new industrial connection for the Telegraph Road site has been requested or reviewed.

County (for the Calvert / north Mobile County project)

• Mobile County Commission — https://www.mobilecountyal.gov/ (accessed 2026-08-02). Decisions on the Beacon "Calvert Infrastructure Hub" sit here, not with Prichard.

Power regulator — you can file a comment yourself

• Alabama Public Service Commission, Docket 33709 (data center power contracts): https://psc.alabama.gov/docket-33709-public-comment-and-reply-info/ — initial comments were due 2026-08-06, replies 2026-08-21. (accessed 2026-08-02)

Community organizations

• MEJAC (Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition) — https://www.mejacoalition.org/get-involved (newsletter + monthly virtual community meetings), accessed 2026-08-02
• Africatown CDC — https://www.africatowncdc.com/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Mobile County Data Centers tracker — https://mobilecountydatacenters.org/ (meeting alerts by email/text), accessed 2026-08-02

Local news tip lines

• Lagniappe Mobile — https://www.lagniappemobile.com/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Fox10 / WALA — https://www.fox10tv.com/ ; WKRG — https://www.wkrg.com/ ; NBC15 — https://mynbc15.com/ (all accessed 2026-08-02). Specific newsroom tip-line phone numbers and emails: Not found as of 2026-08-02 — use each site's "Contact Us" / "Submit a tip" page.

9. If You're Thinking About Moving Here

An honest read. Not advice.

The single biggest issue is not the data center — it's the water. Prichard's water and sewer utility is in court-appointed receivership, defaulted on ~$55 million in bonds, loses more than half the water it treats, was denied state revolving-fund money in 2026, and by its own receiver's estimate needs on the order of $400 million and 20 years to fix. Anyone buying property here should assume service disruptions, boil advisories, and future rate increases as a baseline condition — independent of any data center.

On the data center specifically: the Edged proposal is small by 2026 standards (~6 MW, ~9 acres). It is not a hyperscale campus. Its claimed waterless cooling, if it holds, means it is unlikely to be the thing that breaks Prichard's water system. The unresolved items are diesel backup generator emissions (15–25 units) in a community that already carries heavy industrial air burden, noise, and the fact that a facility of that size delivers about 20 permanent jobs for a city of ~19,000 — a thin return for a permanent industrial neighbor.

Land price pressure: no evidence found of data-center-driven land speculation in 36610 as of 2026-08-02.

What's unresolved as of 2026-08-02: the public hearing date; whether the moratorium passes; whether any tax abatement is on the table; the facility's actual sewer connection and non-cooling water demand; measured distances to homes and schools; and the much larger Beacon "Calvert" project in north Mobile County, which is a county-level decision and a far bigger power and water proposition than the Prichard site.

10. Sources

All accessed 2026-08-02.

1. Mobile County Data Centers tracker — https://mobilecountydatacenters.org/
2. MEJAC, "Doing it Differently: Hard Earned Lessons from Engaging with a Proposed AI Data Center on the Africatown side of Prichard" (2026-05-26) — https://www.mejacoalition.org/2026/05/26/africatown-data-center/
3. Fox10 TV, "Prichard City Council considers moratorium on data centers" (2026-07-24) — https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/07/24/prichard-city-council-considers-moratorium-data-centers/
4. Fox10 TV, "Prichard residents voice concerns over proposed data center at packed town hall" (2026-06-12) — https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/06/12/prichard-residents-voice-concerns-over-proposed-data-center-packed-town-hall/
5. Fox10 TV, "Proposed data center in Prichard draws mixed reactions" (2026-06-01) — https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/06/01/proposed-data-center-prichard-draws-mixed-reactions/
6. Fox10 TV, "Prichard Mayor says she talked to potential new developer…" (2026-04-19) — https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/04/19/prichard-mayor-says-she-talked-potential-new-developer-about-noise-traffic-environmental-impact-concerns/
7. Fox10 TV, "Prichard residents see councilman's firsthand tour of Atlanta data center" (2026-07-29) — https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/07/29/prichard-residents-see-councilmans-firsthand-tour-atlanta-data-center/
8. WKRG, "City of Prichard to host public hearing on data center" — https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/city-of-prichard-to-host-public-hearing-on-data-center/
9. WKRG, "Prichard sets community meeting to discuss proposed data center" — https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/prichard-sets-community-meeting-to-discuss-proposed-data-center/
10. WKRG, "Prichard residents voice concerns for their health, bills during data center meeting" — https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/prichard-data-center-meeting-gets-heated-as-residents-voice-concern-for-their-health-bills-etc/
11. WKRG, "$93M proposed data center to bring 20 jobs to Prichard" — https://www.wkrg.com/news/93m-proposed-data-center-to-bring-20-jobs-to-prichard/
12. WKRG, "Inside look at existing data center raises concerns among Prichard residents" — https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/inside-look-at-existing-data-center-raises-concerns-among-prichard-residents/
13. Africatown C.H.E.S.S., "PRICHARD Data Center Community Meeting – 'Not in my back yard'" (2026-06) — https://www.africatown-chess.org/2026/06/africatown-news-prichard-data-center-community-meeting-not-in-my-back-yard/2177/
14. Lagniappe Mobile, "Data center eyeing Prichard" — https://www.lagniappemobile.com/news/prichard/data-center-eyeing-prichard/article_ecd9e8bc-be27-4d51-a2ea-359208351c20.html
15. NBC15, "Prichard hosts community meeting on proposed $93M data center project" — https://mynbc15.com/news/local/prichard-hosts-community-meeting-on-proposed-93-million-data-center-project
16. utv44, "'The community has spoken': Prichard residents push back on proposed data center" — https://utv44.com/news/local/the-community-has-spoken-prichard-residents-push-back-on-proposed-data-center
17. utv44, "Prichard Water Receiver to provide public update on system progress, finances, planning" — https://utv44.com/news/local/prichard-water-receiver-to-provide-public-update-on-system-progress-finances-planning
18. utv44, "ADEM denies Prichard water funding while new project studies path forward" — https://utv44.com/news/local/adem-denies-prichard-water-funding-while-new-project-studies-path-forward
19. Inside Climate News, "As Alabama Judge Orders a Takeover of a Failing Water System…" — https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12102023/judge-orders-receivership-prichard-alabama-failing-water-utility/
20. Prichard Water Works & Sewer Board — https://fixprichardwater.com/
21. Lumen Prichard AL Data Center listing (208 Telegraph Rd) — https://www.datacenters.com/lumen-prichard-al
22. Alabama PSC, Docket 33709 public comment info — https://psc.alabama.gov/docket-33709-public-comment-and-reply-info/
23. 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/
24. Alabama Daily News, "Bills moving to rein in incentives for data centers…" — https://aldailynews.com/bills-moving-to-lessen-state-incentives-for-data-centers-require-them-to-pay-for-energy-increases/
25. Yellowhammer News, "Mystery data center could receive 30-year tax break…" (abatement deadline context) — https://yellowhammernews.com/mystery-data-center-could-receive-30-year-tax-break-beside-sacred-selma-march-ground/
26. U.S. Drought Monitor, Alabama — https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?AL
27. Drought.gov, Mobile County conditions — https://www.drought.gov/states/alabama/county/mobile
28. Wikipedia, Prichard, Alabama — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prichard,_Alabama
29. Wikipedia, Africatown — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africatown
30. Africatown CDC — https://www.africatowncdc.com/
31. City of Prichard — https://thecityofprichard.org/
32. Prichard City Hall address/phone listing — https://www.countyoffice.org/prichard-city-hall-prichard-al-417/