u/One-Emu-1103

The person Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway chose to illustrate that Kansas City’s contracting system is biased has a history of ties to Kansas City Mafia figures.

Charles Cacioppo Jr., who is being represented by Hanaway in a lawsuit alleging the way Kansas City solicits outside contracts discriminates against men and white people, was prosecuted in 2003 by the Organized Crime Strike Force Unit, a U.S. Department of Justice unit tasked with disrupting and dismantling the Mafia, Irish Mob, Russian Mafia and other gangs.

Over the last two months, to counter the souring public sentiment, a group called North Carolina Connects has been running ads on TV, radio and social media promoting data centers.

What the ads don’t disclose is who’s behind North Carolina Connects: The Data Center Coalition, a powerful trade group composed of some of the largest tech corporations—Amazon, Microsoft and Google—as well as smaller companies that build, support or operate the facilities.

Job Creation, Trade Secrets

The data center industry promises local governments that the facilities will create dozens, if not hundreds, of good-paying jobs. Amazon told Richmond County officials that 500 people will eventually work at its hyperscale data center in Hamlet.

In North Carolina, data centers aren’t required to publicly disclose their employment numbers, even if they receive tax breaks. Last year Google signed an agreement with the City of Lenoir designating the company’s job figures as a trade secret.

The Raleigh City Council will decide Tuesday whether to annex a piece of land in Southeast Raleigh where developers plan to build a 100,000-square-foot data center.

The property at 3101 Jones Sausage Road is about 14 acres and owned by “B3-SFRE JSR LLC” and Charlotte-based developer Beacon Partners.

The developers are asking the city to annex the property as industrial land, which would allow the data center to move forward. It will require 12 megawatts of critical load — the power it absolutely needs to operate, according to City Council member Jane Harrison.

Former Council member Mary Black, who served from 2022 to 2024, said she plans to speak against the annexation on Tuesday.

Black said she has concerns about the city’s current regulations on the centers. This proposal is smaller than a hyperscale data center, which can require more than 100 acres of land and over 100 megawatts of power, as well as significant water.It falls on the “medium” part of the scale, according to a presentation Raleigh city staff made to the City Council in June, using less water and power than larger facilities.

By getting the land annexed into the city, the developers would have access to Raleigh city water for the data center. If it was built on unincorporated county land, it would have to buy water from another municipality.

Black said she has concerns about the city’s current lack of data center-specific regulations and she would support a moratorium on new facilities. Durham, as well as several Wake County towns, have passed moratoriums while they work on their own regulations.

The News & Observer attempted to reach F. Walker Abbot, the attorney representing the developers in the annexation petition, on Friday by email and phone, but did not receive an immediate response.

The developers estimate the property will be worth $180 million once it’s built out. The total valuation of the property for tax purposes now is about $2.3 million.The process for a data center in Raleigh

Harrison said the City Council can choose to deny the annexation petition on Tuesday. She has several concerns about the annexation proposal including:

Electricity costs; Duke Energy is already working to raise its electricity rates, and it has acknowledged that data centers are drawing more and more demand for power

Water demand, as the city just went through a drought

Renewable energy, as there’s no indication the project will be powered by renewables yet

Vibrations, sound and heat generated by the facility, as there is a neighborhood across the street

Harrison also said that she’s concerned about how transparent the process is.

Many people might not know about the proposal because it’s in the city annexation petition, meaning they would have to look at the City Council agenda and read through the 26-page petition to find it.

She also said that the process for a data center’s approval with the city may not be transparent.

If developers do get the land annexed, they will still need to get a special-use permit. A special-use permit can only be granted by the city’s Board of Adjustment, whose members are appointed by the City Council.

But that leaves the decision with an appointed body that many in Raleigh may not have heard of, Harrison said.She said she’s open to a moratorium on data centers, but believes the city’s process right now has enough guardrails to work while the council addresses the current process.

The council will consider the petition during its 1 p.m. session on Tuesday at the municipal building on West Hargett Street.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson says he will not sign onto a proposed Duke Energy Progress settlement that would increase residential electricity rates by about 6.8% over the next two years.

Duke Energy Progress serves much of eastern North Carolina and the Asheville area. The company originally sought an 18.1% increase in residential rates before reaching a settlement last week with the North Carolina Public Staff and other parties.

Jackson said the lower increase is still too much for families.

Former Duke Energy employees arrested in nearly $600K power theft

“Duke brought down their rate increase to 6.8%, but that’s still too high for families and still more than the company needs to cover its investments,” Jackson said. “We’re not signing it.”