Site portrait

Dalton 4

Whitfield County, Georgia · Core Scientific · under review

Independent observatory

Site grade

probable grade · window B–D

Rated C on site, but E on “Energy”.

This page says the same thing as the technical sheet, in the order of a decision to take: what weighs, what is missing, and what is still worth asking for while it can still be asked.

Annotated aerial view of Dalton 4: footprint, watercourse and distances — Straight-line distances from the reference coordinate. The rings are distance buffers, not statutory zoning. Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics · OpenStreetMap (ODbL)

The five pillars behind the grade

Energy 2 of 6 measures E
Water 2 of 4 measures B
Land & biodiversity 2 of 7 measures B
Local impact 1 of 7 measures ·
Transparency & governance 0 of 2 measures –

A pillar with no letter rests on too few measures to defend one. We publish the count rather than a letter we could not stand behind.

The points that will decide

Energy

Grid congestion / connection queue : heavy local grid congestion
Local grid carbon intensity : 382.1 gCO2e/kWh

To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer

Water

Local water stress : moderate water stress
Water body status : water body in good status

To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer

Land & biodiversity

Overlap / distance to protected areas : no protected natural area on record within 5 km, to our knowledge
Soil status (artificialized / natural / agricultural) : previously developed land

To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer

What this looks like from the street

Noise — continuous, day and night

Cooling runs permanently and standby generators are tested on a schedule. What is regulated is not a distance but how far the noise rises at the neighbour's.

We hold neither a nearest-dwelling distance nor an acoustic study for this site. Both are obtainable: the study is a document in the file.

Standby generators and their fuel

A facility like this keeps standby generators and the tanks that feed them. They are what gets tested, what gets smelled, and what triggers its own permitting. Their number, their fuel and the volume stored are in the file where one exists.

We measure no health effect and we do not claim to. We publish what is in the file, and what is not.

What we have not measured

Grid connection capacity / proximitynot yet collected by us
Heat-network connectabilityverified absent from the file we read
Basin withdrawal pressurenot yet collected by us
Ecological corridors (TVB)verified absent from the file we read
Municipality socio-economic profilenot yet collected by us
Technological hazard / nearby Seveso sitesnot yet collected by us
Observed level of oppositionverified absent from the file we read
Elected officials' position (voted facts only)verified absent from the file we read

These gaps are ours, not the developer's: they say where our measurement stops, and they do not penalise the site.

Where the procedure stands

announced
under review
under construction
operating

the town or county that zones the land

Any record held by the town, the county or the development agency — impact study, tax-assistance application, acoustic study — is obtained by a request, written or even oral, under the state's public-records law. The deadline: three business days at most. Where only some records are ready, the agency must produce those within the period, and within that same period give a description of the rest and a timeline.

O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(b)(1)(A), reproduit intégralement en annexe du guide officiel du procureur général de Géorgie

What to get written into the approval

To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Will the waste heat be recovered, by whom, and from which phase? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Which avoidance, reduction and offset measures? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Is the land already designated for development in a supra-municipal plan? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Does the planning document have to be changed for this project? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : How many permanent jobs after construction, and of what skill level? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : What tax revenue for the municipality, over what period, with what abatements? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : What consultation is planned, on what date, and who answers it? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer
To ask for : Is the full file open to consultation, where, and until when? to put to the inquiry — a written observation enters the file and requires an answer

Commitments that are not in the approval cannot be enforced: what is not written cannot be demanded later.

↔ Technical sheet — the measures one by one, their values and their sources