Sheila McNeil, the Democratic nominee for Alabama Public Service Commission Place 2, on Thursday highlighted her plan to strengthen regulations governing data center proposals.

McNeil’s Alabama Data Center Accountability Plan proposes regional review before major data center projects are approved.

McNeil’s campaign said the plan would bring “communities, utilities, workers, businesses and regulators together to examine demands on electricity, water and infrastructure; costs and risks to utility customers; jobs and community benefits; and the combined effects of multiple data centers across a region.”

“I am not against data centers. I am against approving them before Alabama knows what they will cost us,” McNeil said in a Thursday statement. “We should welcome investment, technology and good jobs—but we cannot allow the costs of electricity, water, roads and other infrastructure to be shifted onto Alabama families and small businesses.”

McNeil’s campaign said the Alabama Data Center Accountability Plan would use the state’s existing Metropolitan Planning Organization model as a framework for coordinating large-scale data center development across city and county lines.

Under the proposed plan, large-scale data centers would be required to undergo regional review before final approval, examining:

• Electricity and grid capacity, including transmission, generation and reliability.
• Ratepayer impacts, including who pays for required utility upgrades.
• Water availability, including drought conditions and long-term regional demand.
• Infrastructure and transportation needs.
• Environmental and community impacts, including noise, emissions and emergency services.
• Cumulative impacts of multiple data centers in the same region.
• Jobs, wages and workforce development, including opportunities for Alabama’s skilled trades.
• Ratepayer adviser leadership.

McNeil called for a utility-cost allocation study for major projects to ensure residential and small-business customers are not “unfairly subsidizing infrastructure primarily required by large industrial loads.”

“Growth should pay for growth,” McNeil said. “If a data center requires major new transmission, generation, substations or other infrastructure, the public deserves to know who is paying for it and who is assuming the risk.”

The plan would also establish regional maps identifying areas where data centers are appropriate, conditional or restricted based on the availability of water, electricity, transportation and other infrastructure.

McNeil described the plan as both “pro-growth and pro-accountability,” arguing that the proposal is designed to make Alabama more competitive by “giving companies, communities and utilities a predictable and transparent process.”

“Companies want certainty. Communities want certainty. Ratepayers want certainty,” she said. “Alabama can compete for investment without writing a blank check.”

McNeil also expressed support for “performance-based economic incentives,” tying data center development to capital investment, local job creation, workforce training and community infrastructure improvements and benefits.

“Alabama should be open for business—but not open for exploitation,” McNeil added. “We can embrace technology and economic growth while protecting our water, our electric grid, our workers and the people who pay the bills.”

The proposal comes as data centers emerge as a major issue in Alabama’s upcoming November general election.

McNeil’s Republican opponent for PSC Place 2, former state auditor and PSC member Jim Zeigler, has proposed data center reforms including a list of every data center operating, proposed or under construction in the state, including projected water use; cost-allocation rules to ensure developers pay for infrastructure development; and mandatory notification for the public and local officials before deals are finalized.

Republican gubernatorial nominee and U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, has remained a vocal supporter of data center development, describing local opposition to the facilities as driven by China, a claim Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones described as “ridiculous.”

“I understand why Alabamians might be hesitant about data centers coming to their communities, but we need somewhere to secure and store our data,” Tuberville said in July. “Otherwise, it will go to other states like these blue states, or it will go to China, and we do not want China to be responsible for storing our information.”

Jones, meanwhile, has called for a one-year moratorium on data center permitting to examine local impacts and develop guardrails to ensure transparent development of data center infrastructure.