Embedded Files
Get Your Data Here
What's on the site:
"Moratorium Nation: A Survey of Data Center, Renewable Energy, and Battery Storage Moratoria in the United States" (free to download or read in your browser once you are verified as human)
"How to Fight a Data Center: A Citizen's Guide to Data Center Deals" (includes a link to a free abridged version of the Kindle edition)
"This Is Server Country: AI, Power, and the Remaking of Rural America" (website that includes a wealth of information)
- all courtesy Michael Bommarito, a researcher in AI, law, and finance who has lived through this process in rural Michigan
- GitHub repo (requires GH login)
Iowa Data Center Moratoriums : a list of what cities and counties in Iowa (and a few surrounding states) are doing right now. (1 page with download links for each location's documents)
Planning for Communities : one county's process and a community decision-making tool. (1 page with links to two extremely useful documents)
- These should be of great interest to the people of Marshall County, including Marshalltown.
Mitigation Suggestions : six documents that might also be useful at the P&Z Commission "Community Roundtable" on 8/27. (1 page with download links)
- The first four documents were developed in conversation with ChatGPT Plus about how other places are approaching regulations and mitigation.
- The fifth is comments from a local professional biologist/ecologist related to the "Representative Data Center Reference Scenarios".
- And the last is an Executive Order from the Governor of Pennsylvania that includes required economic and educational benefits for community members, as well as environmental and economic regulations.
Data Center Research Library : Marshalltown, Marshall County, around the US, and a description of the kinds of places developers look for and why Iowa doesn't need to give away the farm (links to 4 pages and the Marshalltown Zoning Map)
Iowa Local Government : government and planning & zoning in Marshalltown and Marshall County (links to 6 pages)
Newspaper Articles : articles I've written for the Marshalltown IA Times-Republican Opinion page (1 page)
What else is going on:
MARSHALL COUNTY ZONING MEETING - August 27, 10 a.m., Marshall County Courthouse, Meeting Room 1
rumor has it that a 6-month moratorium will be discussed
PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION "COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE" - August 27th, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, doors open at 5 p.m., 20 State Street, Marshalltown
Guided discussion of potential data center regulations
a good time to check out the "Iowa Data Center Decision Tool" 👇
COMMUNITY DECISION-MAKING ON DATA CENTERS - from the University of Iowa's Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative
The Iowa Data Center Decision Tool for counties, cities, and communities
an excellent reference to take along to the P&Z Commission "Community Roundtable" on 8/27
PENNSYLVANIA'S NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER - Governor's Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) requirements blocks speculative data center projects, gives local host communities greater say, and protects the environment and electric energy grid.
FROM IOWA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & FINANCE AUTHORITY - a sales pitch for Iowa
https://opportunityiowa.gov/business/iowa-advantage/key-industries/finance-insurance/data-centers
why Iowa can stop giving away tax revenue and require regulated development: location, location, location
THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT AND INTELLIGENT PIECE I'VE READ YET - Iowa is where the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions merged, and it could be the place where the "Autonomous Revolution" joins in and lives up to our State motto: "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain." If we're thoughtful and determined and creative enough.... Read it all!
This is a library of links to reference materials related to data center construction, infrastructure development, and community issues in Iowa and surrounding states. It was meant to focus on Marshalltown and Marshall County, but there's just too much going on everywhere to ignore right now.
I compiled many of these resources "in conversation" with ChatGPT, one of my favorite reference librarians. Sometimes I sent it out to fetch documents - and sometimes it had me get access when it wasn't able to. Eventually, I prompted it to compile this library (including instructions to verify every reference!). It created the tagging system used, which I appreciate.
ChatGPT is a fabulous tool and my favorite non-human partner for discussing ideas and arguing points - but it is an algorithm. So I have been utilizing data centers to produce some of this content.
This is a large part of why I can not in good conscience object to data centers as a whole. I use their services constantly. I bet you do, too, even if you're not aware of it. In fact, if you're reading this, a data center is actively involved. But I can and do object to thoughtless development, whether in thinking, in community planning, in resource utilization, or in construction -- and that's why this site exists.
All the writing is my own unless titled "Field Guide". ChatGPT offers to help repeatedly, and I refuse repeatedly. You will be able to tell the difference, if you look.
Some hints about dealing with the pdfs on this site, if using a computer. (On a phone, just click.)
You can scroll through them as long as your cursor is within their "box". Wander outside, and the scrolling will stop.
When you first get to a page, you will see a square with a diagonal arrow at the top left.
If you click on that, the entire document will open in your chosen pdf reader. That makes it far simpler to use.
But you can use the pdf controls a the bottom to enlarge the document without leaving the page.
(I can't move the controls to the top, sorry. I would if I could.)
You can contact me at annie@getyourdatahere.org if you have questions or comments.
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