Virginia residents watched data centers drain their water and spike their electric bills while politicians did nothing.
Now a Florida developer thought they could run the same play in a small Polk County town.
Ron DeSantis just sent a letter that stopped them cold.
The Commission That Ignored Its Own Residents
Fort Meade is a quiet agricultural town with about 6,000 residents.
It is not the kind of place where you expect the governor's office to intervene in a city commission vote.
But that's exactly what happened when a company tied to developer Stonebridge came to town with plans for what would be Florida's first hyperscale AI data center.
The commission heard three hours of public comment.
https://twitter.com/florida_grand/status/2046260631205011540?s=20
Three hours of residents raising alarms about electricity costs, water consumption, diesel generators, and the loss of the rural character their families have lived in for generations.
Then every single commissioner voted yes anyway.
That's the part that should make you furious – not just the developer, but the local politicians who sat through three hours of their own constituents begging them to stop and approved the deal regardless.
Ron DeSantis noticed.
The Letter That Changed Everything
Florida Department of Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly sent a letter to Fort Meade's mayor calling the planning process "fundamentally flawed."
That's a sitting cabinet official torching a unanimous city commission vote in writing – and doing it publicly.
The administration's core objection is specific: no Florida Public Service Commission-approved rate structure exists to protect residential customers and small businesses from subsidizing the facility's energy costs.
That's the move these companies run over and over.
They come into a community, promise jobs and economic development, get local politicians excited, and then quietly arrange a power deal that shifts their massive energy costs onto homeowners and small business owners who had no say in the matter.
A hyperscale AI data center doesn't run on rooftop solar.
https://twitter.com/florida_grand/status/2046569550192218436?s=20
These facilities pull enough electricity to power a mid-sized city – and the water demands for cooling are extraordinary, with large installations consuming up to 1.8 billion gallons per year.
The residents of Fort Meade knew exactly what they were being asked to absorb.
They showed up for three hours to say no.
Their commissioners said yes.
Amazon and Google Want Your State But Not Your Governor's Questions
This fight isn't unique to Fort Meade.
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft need somewhere to put the servers that run their AI empires – and they want states with cheap land, cheap power, and local politicians who don't ask hard questions.
They don't want a governor demanding to know who pays the electric bill.
Arizona already started pulling back data center tax incentives after residents and legislators asked why billion-dollar corporations needed taxpayer subsidies.
Virginia's Loudoun County is wrestling with what happens when you let these facilities multiply without rules protecting local communities.
These are the same companies that banned conservatives from their platforms, censored stories they didn't like, and spent years lecturing you about what you were allowed to say online.
Now they want Florida's water and Florida's power – at Florida ratepayers' expense.
https://twitter.com/j_fishback/status/2044025626898653503?s=20
DeSantis is saying no.
The Bigger Fight DeSantis Is Actually Winning
The grandmother in Fort Meade who showed up to that meeting and lost anyway – her electric bill was about to go up to keep a tech company's servers cool.
She couldn't stop her own commission from selling her out.
DeSantis stopped them for her.
The Florida Public Service Commission rate requirement isn't red tape.
It's the only thing standing between Florida ratepayers and an industry that will take everything it can get if nobody pushes back.
Kelly's letter may have just saved Fort Meade from a deal its own residents didn't want, couldn't stop locally, and would have been paying for decades.
That's what it looks like when a governor fights for the people who elected him instead of the corporations trying to buy access to their state.
Sources:
- "DeSantis Pushes Back On Florida Mega AI Data Center," joemygod.com, April 20, 2026.
- Alex Kelly, Florida Department of Commerce letter to Fort Meade Mayor, April 2026.
