You guys need to dig deep into this Project Blue. Something smells fishy to me. Why all the secrecy? Who is the ultimate end user of the site? I suspect whoever (or whatever) it is does not want their identity revealed. Why? Because they know it would be a PR disaster and create a giant public reaction against the project. Huuum? Just who would be that scared? My guess? Chinese money.
We are doing our best to chip away at PB. While all economic development projects have some level of secrecy surrounding their project at the earliest of stages, PB is unusual - it is why we have had two separate elected officials complain about being asked to support a project while being blindfolded.
No one seems to know who the end user is, but they have gone out of their way to use proxies to hide their identity. Chinese is a good guess but I think we are at a phase where data centers are increasingly becoming unpopular with some people - not everyone - and therefore they try operate in secret when possible to avoid PR battles.
You guys need to dig deep into this Project Blue. Something smells fishy to me. Why all the secrecy? Who is the ultimate end user of the site? I suspect whoever (or whatever) it is does not want their identity revealed. Why? Because they know it would be a PR disaster and create a giant public reaction against the project. Huuum? Just who would be that scared? My guess? Chinese money.
We are doing our best to chip away at PB. While all economic development projects have some level of secrecy surrounding their project at the earliest of stages, PB is unusual - it is why we have had two separate elected officials complain about being asked to support a project while being blindfolded.
No one seems to know who the end user is, but they have gone out of their way to use proxies to hide their identity. Chinese is a good guess but I think we are at a phase where data centers are increasingly becoming unpopular with some people - not everyone - and therefore they try operate in secret when possible to avoid PR battles.
Joe,
Thanks for your response. Very responsible reporting. Not sure what I can do to contribute to the investigative effort, but I'm here to help.
As an old retired techie (and futurist), we should not approve these 'data centers' without a full-on environmental analysis.
If you want to know where I sit on these public policy issues, I invite you to take a look at my Substack columns. Open and no paywall. https://charliegranthamtucson.substack.com/publish/home
Non disclosure agreements strike me as inherently undemocratic.
NDAs are common in economic development but this project underscores why both the city and county are working to reform their policies.
I suspect this won’t happen again.