A Cynic’s Field Guide to the AI Infrastructure Wars
A data center was just announced in your county. What happens next — and who actually pays? This 24-page field guide walks the five acts of every data-center fight, names the players and their incentives, follows the money (franchise fees, tax abatements, water and power deals), and gives you the hearing-room questions and public-records requests that expose the real terms — before your town signs.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
- Part 1 — How a Fight Unfolds: announcement and incentives, zoning and permitting, public hearings, the moratorium play, litigation and aftermath — who moves first, what to watch, where the leverage is.
- Part 2 — The Players: developer, utility, local government, residents, outside money, and the state — each one’s incentives, stated plainly.
- Part 3 — Follow the Money: franchise fees, tax abatements, water allocations, power commitments — and who pays when the projections fail.
- Part 4 — The Questions That Matter: a hearing-room checklist on water, power, abatements, jobs claims, and decommissioning.
- Part 5 — The Paper Trail: the public records to request and where local decisions actually get documented.
- Part 6 — What Actually Decides Outcomes: lessons from Dover, Indiantown, Manatee County, and the national moratorium wave.
- Appendices: a moratorium tracker, a glossary, and a one-page fight timeline you can copy and carry.
WHO IT’S FOR:
Residents and community groups in a live fight; local officials, board members, and staff who must vote; and the professionals — land-use and utility attorneys, consultants, association staff, journalists — who advise them.
John Dennison is a retired Florida attorney and AI infrastructure analyst, publisher of the DENNISON SOVEREIGN INTELLIGENCE HUB and author of “The AI Water Wars: A Cynic’s Field Guide to the Fight Nobody Wins.”
John Dennison is a retired Florida attorney. This guide is informational only. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and is no substitute for counsel licensed in your jurisdiction on your facts.
