Part one: the water
Cooling a large facility can use as much water as a small town. The contracts that allocate it are public, but they are written in a dialect few residents speak — acre-feet, drawdown curves, replenishment schedules. I read them with hydrologists and translated them back into kitchen-table terms.
In two counties, the facilities arrived with genuine benefits: upgraded substations, paved roads, a new training centre. In a third, the aquifer told a different story — one the press releases skipped.
Part two: the jobs
Construction brings a boom; operations bring a skeleton crew. The gap between those two numbers is where most political promises quietly dissolve. I interviewed electricians who rode the boom, and the diner owners who survived the bust that followed.
What the investigation found
- Tax abatements routinely outlast the employment peaks they were meant to buy.
- Water-use disclosures vary wildly between jurisdictions — comparison is nearly impossible by design.
- Counties that negotiated as blocs secured measurably better terms.
How it was reported
Over five months I filed records requests in nine counties, interviewed utility engineers, county commissioners, and the night-shift technicians who keep the halls humming. Every major claim was put to the companies involved; their responses are published in full alongside the piece.
Reporter and essayist writing about work, technology and the people who live with both. Based in New York.
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