November 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Charles Miller, the Policy Director of Alabama Rivers Alliance joins us to explain his opposition to a new 14 Billion Dollar Data canter that is being built in Bessemer Alabama. Then Sen Katic Britt explains what can be done to insure the Data center is being built responsibly. Finaly Griffin Prichard with the Alabama Sports Foundation joins us to talk about Dinkle Bells and how people can get involved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
A proposed fourteen billion dollar data center is planned for Bessemer,
and it's raising concerns in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm John Mounch and this is Viewpoint, Alabama on the
Alabama Radio Network. Joining me today is Charles Miller. He
is the policy director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance. Charles,
Welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Thanks John.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
The data center we're talking about is quite large, and
we've seen these things popping up all over America, really
all over the world. According to developers, there's economic upsides
to a tune four billion dollars for US state over
the next thirty years, but detractors say this comes at
the expense to the surrounding environment. Charles, what are your
concerns about the center?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So I'll tell you what really got us involved in
this is Alabama doesn't have something that most of our
neighboring states do, and that's what we call water plan Essentially, that's,
you know, a method or a kind of set of
laws that govern how water gets used. And in Alabama
(00:58):
we don't have any law is really governing that. So
if there's ever a dispute between water users, they basically
have to go to court and fight it. Out, and
like I said, that's kind of a really almost a
throwback to like the eighteenth century. It's basically what we
inherited from Great Britain, and most states have moved beyond this.
And our major concern with projects of this size and
(01:22):
scope is that kind of uncertainty of water rights, not
only for people that maybe next to the project, but
also for the project itself. These developers don't have any
kind of certainty of water rights. They're not sure they're
going to be able to get the water they need
to run this facility, and.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
As I understand, they do require a lot of water
because there's a lot of cooling involved. Because we're talking
about something that's going to span I think it's like
four hundred five hundred acres something like that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, yeah, So the whole project side is seven hundred acres.
The data halls are going to cover about one hundred acres,
which you know, if you think about being inside a
building and you have one hundred acres of interior, that
is big. And the developers have said that there's going
to be somewhere between. You know, their initial requests is
for two million gallons a day based on the electricity consumption.
(02:11):
We've seen estimates that are closer to ten million gallons
a day. So you know, our perspective is either one
of those is going to be between about seven thousand
and thirty three thousand households, and that's a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So the water is coming directly out of the municipal
water supply, the same water that would be used to
to flush toilets or run your refrigerator whatever.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
That water.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, they've put in a request to Warrior River Water Authority,
which serves homes in western Jefferson County. And yeah, my
understanding is these data centers have to use potable water
because you know, they're putting it through pipes. They don't
want those pipes to corrode, they don't want stuff to
get stuck in there. So it's got to be pretty
high quality one.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So they can't just pull it from the Black Warrior River.
They have to take it from the treated water that
we would otherwise run in our house.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, exactly. And they can't just cycle that water.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
They would have to run it through the system and
then it runs back out into the sewage system, or
they can they can pull it and they can kind
of clean it and cycle it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So there's kind of two different ways that these data
center developers do that.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
They do have.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Closed loop systems, but those aren't entirely closed and you
still lose water. I think, by and large, just because
it's cheaper, most of these places use what we call
open loop systems where exactly as you described these go.
You know, they take water from water utility, run it through, it,
picks up heat, a lot of it goes away as steam,
(03:35):
and then what's left they send to the sewage treatment plant.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And this is going to become at some cost. Somebody's
going to pay for this. I assume they're going to
pay for it, but I've also heard that a lot
of that cost could be passed on to rate payers
in the area because we might not be able to
scale up as a supply and demand thing, right, increased
demand for water with a finite supply means the price
is going to go up.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, and you know, the developers made a lot of
promises to the city council about you know, cost and
who's going to pay for infrastructure upgrades, which certainly on
the water side are going to be the major costs.
But we haven't seen anything in writing and you know
I always heard trust, but verify, and if I don't
have it in writing, I don't consider it verified. So
that's where a lot of our concerns come from.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Another concern people have, it's about electricity consumption because these
things are going to use. I forget how many megawatts
of power, but it's a lot of power, not only
for the computers themselves, but the air conditioning because these things,
as we mentioned, get hot, so they've got to air
condition that stuff. That's going to again require a lot
of power. Alabama Power claims that they have scalable resources
and they can accommodate. But how quickly can they accommodate,
(04:38):
and again, does that come meta cost to.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
The rate payers.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
That's a really good question in terms of how quickly
they can do this. So this project is penciled out
to consume one two hundred megawatts of electricity. Just for reference,
that's about nine times the entire city of Birmingham. So
we're talking about adding basically ten percent Alabama Powers grid.
And they just purchased a gas plant in South Alabama
(05:05):
called Lindsay Hill that produces nine hundred and sixty megawatts.
So even this whole new gas plant they just purchased,
which they are they've also sought and received permission to
raise rates based on that purchase. That whole new gas
plant isn't enough to cover the energy needs of this project.
So you know, I do think it's an open question.
(05:27):
Obviously for people like myself who are Alabama Power customers,
it's an important question. You know, who's going to pay
for it. And again, we have a lot of nice words,
but we don't have anything in writing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And the one of the things I heard from one
of the city council members. I believe it passed last
week from a vote I think it was five to two,
and one of the city council members who was in
favor of it said, well, now that the plan has
been passed, now we can be more transparent. And I
was unclear as to why it was they couldn't be
transparent earlier in the process, something about an.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
NDA or something like that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, And that's kind of funny because a couple of
weeks ago before the vote, the city attorney actually came
out and said to the press like, hey, we're out
of the NDA and it was only about financial things.
So it was kind of odd that yesterday, they still
didn't answer any of those questions. And once again, you know,
for me once, shame on me, or fool me once,
shame on you. For me twice shame on me. It
(06:18):
kind of seems like this has been an effort to
just kind of kick that can down the road and
kind of avoid some of these uncomfortable questions that are
critically important to understanding the impact that this project is.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Going to have, and they were not getting a lot
of answers. One of the reasons why is I understand
the company has been a little bit they've not been
very open as to what it is that they want
to do. They've mentioned jobs. I think this is something
like three hundred jobs that would be available, but it's
unclear as to whether those jobs are going to go
to people here in Alabama or they're going to bring
people in from out of the state or out of
(06:51):
the country to take those jobs.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Absolutely, and I think, you know, there was a lot
of discussion about like this is bringing good paying jobs
to the area, but this is kind of separate from
the core of the city of Bessemer, and so I
wonder how many of the people who work there are
going to live in Bessemer, are going to shop in Bessemer,
are going to kind of contribute to the tax base there,
And so again there's just a lot of open questions,
and you know, we feel like, and I certainly know
(07:14):
that the residents feel like the city council and developer
have kind of been hiding behind this NDA. We don't
even know who the final customer is. You know, we
don't know if it's Google or Amazon or somebody like that,
or if it's maybe a more speculative investment.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And the when we talk about the company and they
we don't know do we know are they an American company,
are they overseas or do we even know that?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
So the developer is TPA Group.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
They're based in Atlanta. They do a lot of large
scale residential, commercial, industrial development. I don't know anything about
the other company beyond or about any company that may
be behind it beyond that.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Because it wouldn't spec. I can't imagine they were building
this on spec. Somebody has commissioned this center. I would assume, Well,
that's actually a good question.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know. One of the things that's really interesting about
especially the AI data center market, is they require these
specialized chips, And if you actually look at kind of
the electricity demand that developers have requested, not just in
this project, but overall throughout the Southeast and throughout the
United States, they're actually requesting more power than it would
(08:21):
take to power all the chips that basically are currently
existing and are in the pipeline to be built. So
there actually is in almost I would say, all of
these data center developments some element of speculation.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. I'm
speaking with Charles Miller. He's the policy director for the
Alabama Rivers Alliance, and Charles, I like to play Devil's
advocate a little bit here because I like to look
at both sides of these things. You've heard the expression
nimby not in my backyard. There's no question that these
data centers they're coming, they're here already, and they're needed.
They got to go somewhere. So if non investment, where
(08:57):
will we put it?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Well, you know, I think it's kind of interesting. There's
I think good, potentially good alternative sites in Bessemer already.
So you know, one of our kind of rules of
thumb is we're not opposed to all data centers, and
what we look to see is kind of the impact
it's going to have. And in a city like Bessemer
that has industrial parks and that has a lot of
(09:20):
brownfield areas where there was previously industry that's been abandoned
or you know, has changed land use, to us, it
makes more sense to put that kind into this kind
of development in those kind of places there's brownfield sites.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
A broadial site is a site that was being used
industrially and has been since it's not being used, but
it still maintains that designation for industrial.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And you know, they have all the utilities that they
need there. They don't have to do any new construction,
they don't have to cut down any trees, they don't
have to do any site work really, and to us,
it just makes sense. I mean, there's a good example
of this up in northeast Alabama. Google built a data
center almost more than a decade ago now, I think,
on an old coal plant site that TVA had owned,
(10:08):
so they already had the power hookups, they had transportation
to bring in servers, construction equipment, and to us, that
seems like a much better situation than taking seven hundred
acres of forested property at the edge of a city,
writing some folks backyards and you know, building something from
scratch there.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Charles, I know this isn't going to probably get decided.
It's already been decided in terms of Bessemer has They've
they've rezoned the land, but they haven't broken ground yet.
Is there another if people are interested in trying to
maybe slow this process down, is there another stop they
can make it? Do they write to Montgomery? Who did
they talk to?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You know, I think it's a great idea to reach
out to state elected officials on this. You know, in
terms of how you know this goes forward, there's a
lot of open questions. Again, in terms of water used. Unfortunately,
there's not really anywhere we can go because we don't
have any state laws, you know, restricting water use or
protecting existing water uses. But when it comes to things
(11:10):
like you know, preventing the same kind of thing from
happening again, I think we need to take a hard
look at when we let elected official sign non disclosure agreements.
And I also think, you know, as you pointed out,
with the power consumption, you know, the Public Service Commission,
which regulates electric utilities in Alabama may have some way
to weigh in here. So you know, we don't think
(11:32):
that this is a done deal by any stretch of
the imagination. And you know, it was the residence in
the area who brought us in, brought a lot of
this to our attention, and so we're going to continue
to support them.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And for people who want to find out more about
not only this, but anything that the Alabama River's Alliance
is involved in.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
You've got a website. What's that website?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, our website is Alabama Rivers dot org and we
actually have a specific page on data centers. So if
you go there, you poke around a little bit, or
you can straight to Alabama Rivers dot org slash data centers.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Charles Miller, the policy director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance,
thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
As our coverage continues of the situation with the data
center and Bessemer, we thought we'd reach out to one
of our elected leaders in Washington, d C. And Senator
Katie britt Our own JT has the interview.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Let's talk about this data center. I've got so many
questions for you here. First of all, we don't know
who the developer is in all of this. They're not
doing anything to let us know about that. I don't
see a lot of transparency. But first of all, Bessemer
City Council is the one that approved all of this,
and they've also you know, you know, there's a non
disclosure agreement that has been signed by everybody, which to
(12:42):
me is like, well, what are you doing? Is the
Bestmer City Council in way over their heads with this?
Should they be the entity that allows and approves something
this massive to take place in the state of Alabama?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, look, you know I've lead out my concerns. First,
I want to see the Northern belt Line finished. That
project obviously a lot has been invested in that. We're
committed to finishing that. And to me, what that does
and unlocks in northern and western Jefferson County amongst the
entire region up there is tremendous. You think about, you know,
(13:15):
what that does for first responders and being able to
get to emergencies, or what that does for future economic
development opportunities. It is significant, and you've got to take
a step back and say, number one, we need data centers.
We know that the race would China the next that
the race. Whoever wins the AI race, you know that
(13:36):
that is the ultimate race, and so we've got to
continue to stay focused on that and we've got to
maintain the lead we have on them. But I think
we have to be smart about how we do it.
And when you're looking at this, I think we have
we need to have some questions. Number one, you know,
how much of our current power sourcing is this going
to take? You know, what is the demand of this
(13:57):
and what percentage of that is? What you know, what
we have available? I think you know, then will that
prevent us from having other opportunities? You know how many
jobs come with this versus are there other opportunities that
could be created along the belt line that would actually
create more jobs with less power, because you know, once
you take this, and then you you take the ability
(14:19):
to deliver or pitch another economic development opportunity out there
if you're if you're not able to meet the demands
of that facility. So we got to think about all
of that, and we also, most importantly in my mind,
we have to think about affordability for Alabamians. We have
the highest power rates in the Southeast, and as I
am working diligently alongside President Trump to make sure that
(14:41):
we are rolling back regulation on energy, that we are
creating a pathway for not just energy independence, but energy dominance.
I want to make sure that that cost savings, that
unlocking that potential, that that has passed down to the consumer.
And so I have been told that this will not
raise rates. I have questions about is that for the
(15:02):
long term and how is that the case? And I
think that we as citizens in general, deserve answers to
those things. And I certainly want to make sure that
the people of Bessemer aren't saddled with and the people
Valabama aren't saddled with higher rates as a result of
this when I want to make sure, you know, I
want our rates to be lower than our neighbors, not higher.
(15:24):
And I think that this really crystallizes the question encompassing
all of those things. And so again understand the importance
of data centers. I think we need to have them,
but we have to really think about the opportunity cost
here and make sure that we're making a smart decision
for the people of Bessemer, Jefferson County, and the people
(15:44):
of our great state.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Well, who's driving the ship on this thing here, because
there's a community uproar right now about this whole thing,
from environmental issues to the cost of our power bills
going up to who's doing the development? I mean, was
there a bid going on? Who's going to be the developer?
Why won't they tell us who the developer is? What's
what this NDA that's the best fromer city council is
thrown around a lot of unanswered questions that I'm not
(16:07):
sure well, and.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I hope, I hope the best of the city council
is thoughtful about all of these things. Look and I
want Lucal and state leaders to engage in this in
a meaningful way. I think you've got to ask these
kinds of questions because at the end of the day,
this is about affordability, both at the cost of people's
power bills, you know, the power rates that come out,
(16:29):
and also it's the opportunity cost in the future. And
so you've got to make sure you're not making a
quick decision that seems good in the moment. And I've
also been told that this will take you know, several
years to actually develop and then you're not losing opportunity
cost now and in the future as a result. So
I hope that they really dig in. I hope the
(16:51):
community continues to answer questions, and also I hope we
get some answers about how are we going to get
our rates down and how are we going to make
sure that we lead in that way putting people more
money back in people's pockets and giving them a greater
opportunity to thrive. Because listen, I'm getting calls to my office,
you know, during the shutdown, people worried they can't pay
their power bill, worried they can't they can't make ends meet.
(17:14):
And so I think we've got to be honest, particularly
as leaders, about how we crystallize this, how we create opportunity,
but also we're making sure that we're looking at affordability.
And I hope that those are the questions that the
people in the community you're asking, Those are certainly the
questions that I'm looking for answers to as well. Well.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
There's also no guarantee the jobs are going to be
for locals and you know, not connected to the project.
I mean, what about three hundred Chinese people coming in
for these jobs. And secondly, I think Congress really ought
to pass laws to make data centers build their own
energy center separate from the regular grid.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, right, and I mean how much you have to
take a look, we have data centers throughout the state. Again,
it's important that we lead in this race, but we've
got to make sure that every day Alabamians aren't fitting
the bill for this. And you know, I think that
that's important. And then you just mentioned another thing about
people coming in from other countries. Look, there's been a
lot of conversation right now this is this is separate
(18:06):
from this, but about H one B visas and you know, look,
I want to make sure that we are not we
don't have a system that allows for abuse and allows
for jobs to be taken away from talented and eager Americans.
You know, what we saw in that sixty minutes piece
was that many Americans were actually having to train the
(18:28):
new foreign workers that were coming in. Look, we value
foreign workers, we understand, we understand that relationship and partnership.
But what I don't want to see is this program
continue to be abused in a way that drives down
wages for Americans, that takes away employment opportunities, and that ultimately,
(18:51):
you know, makes life unaffordable. For Americans, and when we
have talented Americans, people who are working to be educated,
we want to see them have this chance for innovationation
and work and growth in our country. And so I
think at the very least that program, the H one
B VISA program, certainly needs to be taken a look at,
and let's let's let's have some reforms.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
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(20:08):
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Speaker 1 (20:16):
And joining me now in our viewpoint Alabama Studios is
Griffin Frichard from the Alabama Sports Foundation And I think
the last time we spoke, Griffin, we were talking about
the Alabama games. But I know the ASF is busy
year round and that's why I wanted to get you
in to spread some holiday cheer and talk about Dinkle Bells.
And this is the third year for this.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
Yeah, absolutely it is. Diggle Bells is probably the staff
one of our favorite events. It is a holiday themed
pickleball tournament.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And pickleball's hot. I know for the last few years
everyone's been into pickleball.
Speaker 9 (20:47):
It's one of the fastest growing sports in the country.
And the cool thing about it is it's it really
fits what we do because it builds community, and it
focuses on community and spans age groups. You'll see fleets
of all ages out there competing and playing and having
a good time. And the conversations and relationships. It's just
an amazing event.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
And that's the great thing is while you can be
very skilled and it can be very challenging, you can
also be a very much a novice and still have
fun playing football.
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Absolutely, there's a level of pickup and play, and you
have the folks that have transitioned from tennis to pickleball
that are really really good at it, and then you
have the folks that are out there just dinking their
way around and scoring points on accident, learning the game
as they go. It's really fun to watch, and it's
really fun to watch those players that, like from year
(21:38):
one didn't really know what they were doing, to year two,
they're a little bit better, and now we're getting to
year three and their ratings have improved and they're competing
in a different division now.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So let's talk specifically about dinkle Bells because this is
a pickleball related tournament, but it's for Christmas. So what's
different between regular pickleball and dinkle Bells.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
So regular pickleball state gets red, white, and Blue America
US Olympics, all of our state games branding and tournament,
a larger crowd. Dingle Bells is a smaller tournament, about
two hundred people. We focus mainly on bringing in athletes
from central Alabama. It's a state wide tournament. State wider
invited to come play, but a majority of our athletes
(22:20):
are from the Millbrook, Pratt Bowl, Montgomery, some Birmingham. It's
seventies Springs and Millbrook, which if you guys haven't been
to this park, it is an amazing facility that they
have built. It's beautiful. The pickleball courts, they are fantastic.
We basically come in and take it over for a
weekend and we put Christmas trees up, and we put
(22:44):
lights up, and we'll be rocking sena hats and some
of us center beards and it's a lot of fun,
even the players, and this is what we encourage to
even the players come out in their festive where we
had ugly Christmas sweaters. We had a couple playing as
reindeers wearing reindeer onesies, which given the weather last year,
(23:05):
was not a terrible choice. It's a lot of fun.
We even have the official dnkle Bell Tree, which we
take a holiday tree and we decorate it with pickleballs
and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Now, do you put a little rattler inside the ball
so it makes a sound like a bell?
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Or is it just a regular old pickleball?
Speaker 9 (23:23):
So apparently altering the pickleballs is frowned upon. So yeah,
it's just you just get normal like little dinks and
donks that you get from playing the game and you
know it, and the sounds of the players when they
make a great shot and when they make a terrible
shot and when they completely.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
With And this is coming up the thirteenth and fourteenth,
it's a Saturday and Sunday at the Sports Center in Millbrook.
How much does it cost to participate?
Speaker 9 (23:51):
So registration between now in December first is fifty dollars. Now,
if you want to register, it's simple. You just got
to aligames dot com the dnkle Bells three logos on
the front page. Just get on there and click register
and it goes to it to called the Good Cause.
The money raised from dnkle Bells actually goes to our
scholarship foundation. So as you know, the State games will
(24:13):
give awaye scholarships opening ceremony events like dingle Bells in
December and our Pumpkin run, our five k in October.
The money's raised from that goes back into the foundation,
which ultimately goes for our scholarship fund.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
And the scholarship fund, you've already awarded a lot of
money over the last how long has that been going on?
Speaker 9 (24:31):
So we've given out six hundred and sixty seven, six
hundred and seventy scholarships and we've awarded close two five
hundred thousand dollars at this point. Forty two thousand dollars
was awarded in twenty twenty five thirty four scholarships for
forty two thousand dollars, and I think the total for
next year that we're kicking around is forty three thousand.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So what does it take to be eligible for one
of these scholarships?
Speaker 9 (24:55):
Registered for the State Games and come to opening ceremony?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Let's talk?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, i've got you here, let's talk about the State Games.
I know it's a little ways off, but people are
probably already training now, right.
Speaker 9 (25:04):
Yeah. It's kind of cool because it's it's as we've
grown and since we've been in Birmingham consistently since we've
been in Birmingham, and also too since we've set the
dates as the second weekend in June. People are trying
to put on their calendars more and more. I was
just at a conference the Asafford, which is the state's
pe teachers and physical health teachers, and just talking to them.
(25:28):
From year to year, it's gone from hey, let me
introduce this concept to you, to oh, hey, when are
they rolling around again? And oh, this is the sports
you guys have this year. This is kind of cool.
Let me see what I can tell my kids, and
what the kids can what they'll be interested in, and
how I can communicate this to my parents.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The state games always happened during the summertime. Has ever
been a thought about doing like the Olympics, like having
winter games as well as summer games.
Speaker 9 (25:53):
Since Alabama doesn't really have winter there's.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Nothing to be skiing.
Speaker 9 (25:58):
But I mean, but I mean this sports we have
encompass like year round activity. I mean in baseball, softball,
it's it's wrestling. I mean, we were able to basically
bring in the sports that we that would be considered
following winter sports into the summer and create that one culture.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And the people who want to do this. A lot
of times it's not a single it could be a
single person, but a lot of times, companies will come
together and they'll create a team right.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
Absolutely, and it's really cool to see too. Sponsored athletes
Like I had a lot of wrestlers this year that
were sponsored by people, are sponsored by other groups. And
even the high schools would spot would bring in their
wrestling teams. And what we've done this year is we've
added more team sports and we've changed some of our
(26:45):
team sports to make it more accessible and more affordable,
to give more people the opportunity to come and compete
and ultimately be able to have a chance to winning
a scholarship.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And it's for people, even though we talk about scholarships,
it is for people of all ages. You don't have
to be a school age. You could be forty to
fifty eighty and participate in the Alabama Oh.
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Absolutely, and we do that. Our games are all ages,
all abilities. And it's not hyperbole saying that. We literally
have in track, for instance, we go from eight to
eighty two. We have a fellow that has been competing
with us for the past twenty years that's now up
in his eighties and he is fun to watch even
you know, going back to pickleball, you start looking at
(27:26):
the ages of the people playing pickleball. You're gonna see
some late seventies, early eighties out there run in the court.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And so and so with this game with pickleball, with
the training that goes into that, these people can go
on and actually participate all year round. Do the dingle
bells in the winter, and then the uh and then
the summertime, do the do the Alabama state games?
Speaker 9 (27:45):
Oh well, take it a step further. You can run
a five k in October, played pickleball in December, and
then competing the state games in June.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
So, in another word, it is pretty much a year round thing.
Speaker 9 (27:53):
We're getting to that point, yeah, and it's it's really cool.
I mean, the team that does the state games, the
ASA Foundation's staff, like, I mean, we're working year round,
Like I mean, we're moving from one project to the next,
and we're always the fundraisers. We do off games fundraisers.
The Pumpkin Run and dingle bells are fun for us
because we get to put all of our collective energy
(28:15):
into one event and making that one event during that
one weekend amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And it sounds like this would be an amazing event
to watch or to participate. And one more time, if
people want to participate, they can go online. They should
register now they I guess you might be able to
show up, but it would be better if you actually registered
ahead of time.
Speaker 9 (28:33):
Yeah, we're not doing on site registration, so you need
a pre register register before December first or by December
first to get the fifty dollars registration fee. It'll jump
after that, but it is. It's really cool. We've had
a lot of community support. We have a number of
gift cards, gift certificates, donations that are going to ultimately
serve as prizes for our goal medalists, and some that
(28:56):
are going to service door prices. And this ranges from
experiences to gift cards to gift certificates. And my website
to register is allagames a l A g ame e
s dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Griffin Frichard with the Alabama Sports Foundation, thank you so
much for joining us. It looks like it sounds like
it's gonna be a great event and everyone should be
looking forward to it because actually the weather's been pretty
mild here recently. Hopefully that keeps up.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
Thank you for Jenson's I really appreciate that. That's fantastic.
It's going to be a cold front now amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
It's an Alabama cold front, so that's still that's not
exactly Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Now.
Speaker 9 (29:31):
We won't get to winter until February, so we'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Gryffin Pritchard from the Alabama Sports Foundation, thank you so
much for joining us.
Speaker 9 (29:37):
Thanks for having men.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
A proposed fourteen billion dollar data center is planned for Bessemer,
and it's raising concerns in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm John Mounch and this is Viewpoint, Alabama on the
Alabama Radio Network. Joining me today is Charles Miller. He
is the policy director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance. Charles,
Welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Thanks John.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
The data center we're talking about is quite large, and
we've seen these things popping up all over America, really
all over the world. According to developers, there's economic upsides
to a tune four billion dollars for US state over
the next thirty years, but detractors say this comes at
the expense to the surrounding environment. Charles, what are your
concerns about the center?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So I'll tell you what really got us involved in
this is Alabama doesn't have something that most of our
neighboring states do, and that's what we call water plan Essentially, that's,
you know, a method or a kind of set of
laws that govern how water gets used. And in Alabama
(00:58):
we don't have any law is really governing that. So
if there's ever a dispute between water users, they basically
have to go to court and fight it. Out, and
like I said, that's kind of a really almost a
throwback to like the eighteenth century. It's basically what we
inherited from Great Britain, and most states have moved beyond this.
And our major concern with projects of this size and
(01:22):
scope is that kind of uncertainty of water rights, not
only for people that maybe next to the project, but
also for the project itself. These developers don't have any
kind of certainty of water rights. They're not sure they're
going to be able to get the water they need
to run this facility, and.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
As I understand, they do require a lot of water
because there's a lot of cooling involved. Because we're talking
about something that's going to span I think it's like
four hundred five hundred acres something like that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, yeah, So the whole project side is seven hundred acres.
The data halls are going to cover about one hundred acres,
which you know, if you think about being inside a
building and you have one hundred acres of interior, that
is big. And the developers have said that there's going
to be somewhere between. You know, their initial requests is
for two million gallons a day based on the electricity consumption.
(02:11):
We've seen estimates that are closer to ten million gallons
a day. So you know, our perspective is either one
of those is going to be between about seven thousand
and thirty three thousand households, and that's a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So the water is coming directly out of the municipal
water supply, the same water that would be used to
to flush toilets or run your refrigerator whatever.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
That water.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, they've put in a request to Warrior River Water Authority,
which serves homes in western Jefferson County. And yeah, my
understanding is these data centers have to use potable water
because you know, they're putting it through pipes. They don't
want those pipes to corrode, they don't want stuff to
get stuck in there. So it's got to be pretty
high quality one.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So they can't just pull it from the Black Warrior River.
They have to take it from the treated water that
we would otherwise run in our house.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, exactly. And they can't just cycle that water.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
They would have to run it through the system and
then it runs back out into the sewage system, or
they can they can pull it and they can kind
of clean it and cycle it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So there's kind of two different ways that these data
center developers do that.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
They do have.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Closed loop systems, but those aren't entirely closed and you
still lose water. I think, by and large, just because
it's cheaper, most of these places use what we call
open loop systems where exactly as you described these go.
You know, they take water from water utility, run it through, it,
picks up heat, a lot of it goes away as steam,
(03:35):
and then what's left they send to the sewage treatment plant.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And this is going to become at some cost. Somebody's
going to pay for this. I assume they're going to
pay for it, but I've also heard that a lot
of that cost could be passed on to rate payers
in the area because we might not be able to
scale up as a supply and demand thing, right, increased
demand for water with a finite supply means the price
is going to go up.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, and you know, the developers made a lot of
promises to the city council about you know, cost and
who's going to pay for infrastructure upgrades, which certainly on
the water side are going to be the major costs.
But we haven't seen anything in writing and you know
I always heard trust, but verify, and if I don't
have it in writing, I don't consider it verified. So
that's where a lot of our concerns come from.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Another concern people have, it's about electricity consumption because these
things are going to use. I forget how many megawatts
of power, but it's a lot of power, not only
for the computers themselves, but the air conditioning because these things,
as we mentioned, get hot, so they've got to air
condition that stuff. That's going to again require a lot
of power. Alabama Power claims that they have scalable resources
and they can accommodate. But how quickly can they accommodate,
(04:38):
and again, does that come meta cost to.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
The rate payers.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
That's a really good question in terms of how quickly
they can do this. So this project is penciled out
to consume one two hundred megawatts of electricity. Just for reference,
that's about nine times the entire city of Birmingham. So
we're talking about adding basically ten percent Alabama Powers grid.
And they just purchased a gas plant in South Alabama
(05:05):
called Lindsay Hill that produces nine hundred and sixty megawatts.
So even this whole new gas plant they just purchased,
which they are they've also sought and received permission to
raise rates based on that purchase. That whole new gas
plant isn't enough to cover the energy needs of this project.
So you know, I do think it's an open question.
(05:27):
Obviously for people like myself who are Alabama Power customers,
it's an important question. You know, who's going to pay
for it. And again, we have a lot of nice words,
but we don't have anything in writing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And the one of the things I heard from one
of the city council members. I believe it passed last
week from a vote I think it was five to two,
and one of the city council members who was in
favor of it said, well, now that the plan has
been passed, now we can be more transparent. And I
was unclear as to why it was they couldn't be
transparent earlier in the process, something about an.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
NDA or something like that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, And that's kind of funny because a couple of
weeks ago before the vote, the city attorney actually came
out and said to the press like, hey, we're out
of the NDA and it was only about financial things.
So it was kind of odd that yesterday, they still
didn't answer any of those questions. And once again, you know,
for me once, shame on me, or fool me once,
shame on you. For me twice shame on me. It
(06:18):
kind of seems like this has been an effort to
just kind of kick that can down the road and
kind of avoid some of these uncomfortable questions that are
critically important to understanding the impact that this project is.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Going to have, and they were not getting a lot
of answers. One of the reasons why is I understand
the company has been a little bit they've not been
very open as to what it is that they want
to do. They've mentioned jobs. I think this is something
like three hundred jobs that would be available, but it's
unclear as to whether those jobs are going to go
to people here in Alabama or they're going to bring
people in from out of the state or out of
(06:51):
the country to take those jobs.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Absolutely, and I think, you know, there was a lot
of discussion about like this is bringing good paying jobs
to the area, but this is kind of separate from
the core of the city of Bessemer, and so I
wonder how many of the people who work there are
going to live in Bessemer, are going to shop in Bessemer,
are going to kind of contribute to the tax base there,
And so again there's just a lot of open questions,
and you know, we feel like, and I certainly know
(07:14):
that the residents feel like the city council and developer
have kind of been hiding behind this NDA. We don't
even know who the final customer is. You know, we
don't know if it's Google or Amazon or somebody like that,
or if it's maybe a more speculative investment.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And the when we talk about the company and they
we don't know do we know are they an American company,
are they overseas or do we even know that?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
So the developer is TPA Group.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
They're based in Atlanta. They do a lot of large
scale residential, commercial, industrial development. I don't know anything about
the other company beyond or about any company that may
be behind it beyond that.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Because it wouldn't spec. I can't imagine they were building
this on spec. Somebody has commissioned this center. I would assume, Well,
that's actually a good question.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know. One of the things that's really interesting about
especially the AI data center market, is they require these
specialized chips, And if you actually look at kind of
the electricity demand that developers have requested, not just in
this project, but overall throughout the Southeast and throughout the
United States, they're actually requesting more power than it would
(08:21):
take to power all the chips that basically are currently
existing and are in the pipeline to be built. So
there actually is in almost I would say, all of
these data center developments some element of speculation.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. I'm
speaking with Charles Miller. He's the policy director for the
Alabama Rivers Alliance, and Charles, I like to play Devil's
advocate a little bit here because I like to look
at both sides of these things. You've heard the expression
nimby not in my backyard. There's no question that these
data centers they're coming, they're here already, and they're needed.
They got to go somewhere. So if non investment, where
(08:57):
will we put it?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Well, you know, I think it's kind of interesting. There's
I think good, potentially good alternative sites in Bessemer already.
So you know, one of our kind of rules of
thumb is we're not opposed to all data centers, and
what we look to see is kind of the impact
it's going to have. And in a city like Bessemer
that has industrial parks and that has a lot of
(09:20):
brownfield areas where there was previously industry that's been abandoned
or you know, has changed land use, to us, it
makes more sense to put that kind into this kind
of development in those kind of places there's brownfield sites.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
A broadial site is a site that was being used
industrially and has been since it's not being used, but
it still maintains that designation for industrial.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And you know, they have all the utilities that they
need there. They don't have to do any new construction,
they don't have to cut down any trees, they don't
have to do any site work really, and to us,
it just makes sense. I mean, there's a good example
of this up in northeast Alabama. Google built a data
center almost more than a decade ago now, I think,
on an old coal plant site that TVA had owned,
(10:08):
so they already had the power hookups, they had transportation
to bring in servers, construction equipment, and to us, that
seems like a much better situation than taking seven hundred
acres of forested property at the edge of a city,
writing some folks backyards and you know, building something from
scratch there.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Charles, I know this isn't going to probably get decided.
It's already been decided in terms of Bessemer has They've
they've rezoned the land, but they haven't broken ground yet.
Is there another if people are interested in trying to
maybe slow this process down, is there another stop they
can make it? Do they write to Montgomery? Who did
they talk to?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You know, I think it's a great idea to reach
out to state elected officials on this. You know, in
terms of how you know this goes forward, there's a
lot of open questions. Again, in terms of water used. Unfortunately,
there's not really anywhere we can go because we don't
have any state laws, you know, restricting water use or
protecting existing water uses. But when it comes to things
(11:10):
like you know, preventing the same kind of thing from
happening again, I think we need to take a hard
look at when we let elected official sign non disclosure agreements.
And I also think, you know, as you pointed out,
with the power consumption, you know, the Public Service Commission,
which regulates electric utilities in Alabama may have some way
to weigh in here. So you know, we don't think
(11:32):
that this is a done deal by any stretch of
the imagination. And you know, it was the residence in
the area who brought us in, brought a lot of
this to our attention, and so we're going to continue
to support them.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And for people who want to find out more about
not only this, but anything that the Alabama River's Alliance
is involved in.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
You've got a website. What's that website?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, our website is Alabama Rivers dot org and we
actually have a specific page on data centers. So if
you go there, you poke around a little bit, or
you can straight to Alabama Rivers dot org slash data centers.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Charles Miller, the policy director for the Alabama Rivers Alliance,
thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
As our coverage continues of the situation with the data
center and Bessemer, we thought we'd reach out to one
of our elected leaders in Washington, d C. And Senator
Katie britt Our own JT has the interview.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Let's talk about this data center. I've got so many
questions for you here. First of all, we don't know
who the developer is in all of this. They're not
doing anything to let us know about that. I don't
see a lot of transparency. But first of all, Bessemer
City Council is the one that approved all of this,
and they've also you know, you know, there's a non
disclosure agreement that has been signed by everybody, which to
(12:42):
me is like, well, what are you doing? Is the
Bestmer City Council in way over their heads with this?
Should they be the entity that allows and approves something
this massive to take place in the state of Alabama?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, look, you know I've lead out my concerns. First,
I want to see the Northern belt Line finished. That
project obviously a lot has been invested in that. We're
committed to finishing that. And to me, what that does
and unlocks in northern and western Jefferson County amongst the
entire region up there is tremendous. You think about, you know,
(13:15):
what that does for first responders and being able to
get to emergencies, or what that does for future economic
development opportunities. It is significant, and you've got to take
a step back and say, number one, we need data centers.
We know that the race would China the next that
the race. Whoever wins the AI race, you know that
(13:36):
that is the ultimate race, and so we've got to
continue to stay focused on that and we've got to
maintain the lead we have on them. But I think
we have to be smart about how we do it.
And when you're looking at this, I think we have
we need to have some questions. Number one, you know,
how much of our current power sourcing is this going
to take? You know, what is the demand of this
(13:57):
and what percentage of that is? What you know, what
we have available? I think you know, then will that
prevent us from having other opportunities? You know how many
jobs come with this versus are there other opportunities that
could be created along the belt line that would actually
create more jobs with less power, because you know, once
you take this, and then you you take the ability
(14:19):
to deliver or pitch another economic development opportunity out there
if you're if you're not able to meet the demands
of that facility. So we got to think about all
of that, and we also, most importantly in my mind,
we have to think about affordability for Alabamians. We have
the highest power rates in the Southeast, and as I
am working diligently alongside President Trump to make sure that
(14:41):
we are rolling back regulation on energy, that we are
creating a pathway for not just energy independence, but energy dominance.
I want to make sure that that cost savings, that
unlocking that potential, that that has passed down to the consumer.
And so I have been told that this will not
raise rates. I have questions about is that for the
(15:02):
long term and how is that the case? And I
think that we as citizens in general, deserve answers to
those things. And I certainly want to make sure that
the people of Bessemer aren't saddled with and the people
Valabama aren't saddled with higher rates as a result of
this when I want to make sure, you know, I
want our rates to be lower than our neighbors, not higher.
(15:24):
And I think that this really crystallizes the question encompassing
all of those things. And so again understand the importance
of data centers. I think we need to have them,
but we have to really think about the opportunity cost
here and make sure that we're making a smart decision
for the people of Bessemer, Jefferson County, and the people
(15:44):
of our great state.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Well, who's driving the ship on this thing here, because
there's a community uproar right now about this whole thing,
from environmental issues to the cost of our power bills
going up to who's doing the development? I mean, was
there a bid going on? Who's going to be the developer?
Why won't they tell us who the developer is? What's
what this NDA that's the best fromer city council is
thrown around a lot of unanswered questions that I'm not
(16:07):
sure well, and.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I hope, I hope the best of the city council
is thoughtful about all of these things. Look and I
want Lucal and state leaders to engage in this in
a meaningful way. I think you've got to ask these
kinds of questions because at the end of the day,
this is about affordability, both at the cost of people's
power bills, you know, the power rates that come out,
(16:29):
and also it's the opportunity cost in the future. And
so you've got to make sure you're not making a
quick decision that seems good in the moment. And I've
also been told that this will take you know, several
years to actually develop and then you're not losing opportunity
cost now and in the future as a result. So
I hope that they really dig in. I hope the
(16:51):
community continues to answer questions, and also I hope we
get some answers about how are we going to get
our rates down and how are we going to make
sure that we lead in that way putting people more
money back in people's pockets and giving them a greater
opportunity to thrive. Because listen, I'm getting calls to my office,
you know, during the shutdown, people worried they can't pay
their power bill, worried they can't they can't make ends meet.
(17:14):
And so I think we've got to be honest, particularly
as leaders, about how we crystallize this, how we create opportunity,
but also we're making sure that we're looking at affordability.
And I hope that those are the questions that the
people in the community you're asking, Those are certainly the
questions that I'm looking for answers to as well. Well.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
There's also no guarantee the jobs are going to be
for locals and you know, not connected to the project.
I mean, what about three hundred Chinese people coming in
for these jobs. And secondly, I think Congress really ought
to pass laws to make data centers build their own
energy center separate from the regular grid.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, right, and I mean how much you have to
take a look, we have data centers throughout the state. Again,
it's important that we lead in this race, but we've
got to make sure that every day Alabamians aren't fitting
the bill for this. And you know, I think that
that's important. And then you just mentioned another thing about
people coming in from other countries. Look, there's been a
lot of conversation right now this is this is separate
(18:06):
from this, but about H one B visas and you know, look,
I want to make sure that we are not we
don't have a system that allows for abuse and allows
for jobs to be taken away from talented and eager Americans.
You know, what we saw in that sixty minutes piece
was that many Americans were actually having to train the
(18:28):
new foreign workers that were coming in. Look, we value
foreign workers, we understand, we understand that relationship and partnership.
But what I don't want to see is this program
continue to be abused in a way that drives down
wages for Americans, that takes away employment opportunities, and that ultimately,
(18:51):
you know, makes life unaffordable. For Americans, and when we
have talented Americans, people who are working to be educated,
we want to see them have this chance for innovationation
and work and growth in our country. And so I
think at the very least that program, the H one
B VISA program, certainly needs to be taken a look at,
and let's let's let's have some reforms.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
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Speaker 4 (19:29):
There's something wrong.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
I'm having a stroke. Are you having an allergic reaction?
I'm having a stroke.
Speaker 8 (19:36):
When someone is having a stroke, they may not be
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Clear, I'm having a stroke.
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(20:08):
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to you by the American Stroke Association and the AD Council.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And joining me now in our viewpoint Alabama Studios is
Griffin Frichard from the Alabama Sports Foundation And I think
the last time we spoke, Griffin, we were talking about
the Alabama games. But I know the ASF is busy
year round and that's why I wanted to get you
in to spread some holiday cheer and talk about Dinkle Bells.
And this is the third year for this.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
Yeah, absolutely it is. Diggle Bells is probably the staff
one of our favorite events. It is a holiday themed
pickleball tournament.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And pickleball's hot. I know for the last few years
everyone's been into pickleball.
Speaker 9 (20:47):
It's one of the fastest growing sports in the country.
And the cool thing about it is it's it really
fits what we do because it builds community, and it
focuses on community and spans age groups. You'll see fleets
of all ages out there competing and playing and having
a good time. And the conversations and relationships. It's just
an amazing event.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
And that's the great thing is while you can be
very skilled and it can be very challenging, you can
also be a very much a novice and still have
fun playing football.
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Absolutely, there's a level of pickup and play, and you
have the folks that have transitioned from tennis to pickleball
that are really really good at it, and then you
have the folks that are out there just dinking their
way around and scoring points on accident, learning the game
as they go. It's really fun to watch, and it's
really fun to watch those players that, like from year
(21:38):
one didn't really know what they were doing, to year two,
they're a little bit better, and now we're getting to
year three and their ratings have improved and they're competing
in a different division now.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So let's talk specifically about dinkle Bells because this is
a pickleball related tournament, but it's for Christmas. So what's
different between regular pickleball and dinkle Bells.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
So regular pickleball state gets red, white, and Blue America
US Olympics, all of our state games branding and tournament,
a larger crowd. Dingle Bells is a smaller tournament, about
two hundred people. We focus mainly on bringing in athletes
from central Alabama. It's a state wide tournament. State wider
invited to come play, but a majority of our athletes
(22:20):
are from the Millbrook, Pratt Bowl, Montgomery, some Birmingham. It's
seventies Springs and Millbrook, which if you guys haven't been
to this park, it is an amazing facility that they
have built. It's beautiful. The pickleball courts, they are fantastic.
We basically come in and take it over for a
weekend and we put Christmas trees up, and we put
(22:44):
lights up, and we'll be rocking sena hats and some
of us center beards and it's a lot of fun,
even the players, and this is what we encourage to
even the players come out in their festive where we
had ugly Christmas sweaters. We had a couple playing as
reindeers wearing reindeer onesies, which given the weather last year,
(23:05):
was not a terrible choice. It's a lot of fun.
We even have the official dnkle Bell Tree, which we
take a holiday tree and we decorate it with pickleballs
and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Now, do you put a little rattler inside the ball
so it makes a sound like a bell?
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Or is it just a regular old pickleball?
Speaker 9 (23:23):
So apparently altering the pickleballs is frowned upon. So yeah,
it's just you just get normal like little dinks and
donks that you get from playing the game and you
know it, and the sounds of the players when they
make a great shot and when they make a terrible
shot and when they completely.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
With And this is coming up the thirteenth and fourteenth,
it's a Saturday and Sunday at the Sports Center in Millbrook.
How much does it cost to participate?
Speaker 9 (23:51):
So registration between now in December first is fifty dollars. Now,
if you want to register, it's simple. You just got
to aligames dot com the dnkle Bells three logos on
the front page. Just get on there and click register
and it goes to it to called the Good Cause.
The money raised from dnkle Bells actually goes to our
scholarship foundation. So as you know, the State games will
(24:13):
give awaye scholarships opening ceremony events like dingle Bells in
December and our Pumpkin run, our five k in October.
The money's raised from that goes back into the foundation,
which ultimately goes for our scholarship fund.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
And the scholarship fund, you've already awarded a lot of
money over the last how long has that been going on?
Speaker 9 (24:31):
So we've given out six hundred and sixty seven, six
hundred and seventy scholarships and we've awarded close two five
hundred thousand dollars at this point. Forty two thousand dollars
was awarded in twenty twenty five thirty four scholarships for
forty two thousand dollars, and I think the total for
next year that we're kicking around is forty three thousand.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So what does it take to be eligible for one
of these scholarships?
Speaker 9 (24:55):
Registered for the State Games and come to opening ceremony?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Let's talk?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, i've got you here, let's talk about the State Games.
I know it's a little ways off, but people are
probably already training now, right.
Speaker 9 (25:04):
Yeah. It's kind of cool because it's it's as we've
grown and since we've been in Birmingham consistently since we've
been in Birmingham, and also too since we've set the
dates as the second weekend in June. People are trying
to put on their calendars more and more. I was
just at a conference the Asafford, which is the state's
pe teachers and physical health teachers, and just talking to them.
(25:28):
From year to year, it's gone from hey, let me
introduce this concept to you, to oh, hey, when are
they rolling around again? And oh, this is the sports
you guys have this year. This is kind of cool.
Let me see what I can tell my kids, and
what the kids can what they'll be interested in, and
how I can communicate this to my parents.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The state games always happened during the summertime. Has ever
been a thought about doing like the Olympics, like having
winter games as well as summer games.
Speaker 9 (25:53):
Since Alabama doesn't really have winter there's.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Nothing to be skiing.
Speaker 9 (25:58):
But I mean, but I mean this sports we have
encompass like year round activity. I mean in baseball, softball,
it's it's wrestling. I mean, we were able to basically
bring in the sports that we that would be considered
following winter sports into the summer and create that one culture.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And the people who want to do this. A lot
of times it's not a single it could be a
single person, but a lot of times, companies will come
together and they'll create a team right.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
Absolutely, and it's really cool to see too. Sponsored athletes
Like I had a lot of wrestlers this year that
were sponsored by people, are sponsored by other groups. And
even the high schools would spot would bring in their
wrestling teams. And what we've done this year is we've
added more team sports and we've changed some of our
(26:45):
team sports to make it more accessible and more affordable,
to give more people the opportunity to come and compete
and ultimately be able to have a chance to winning
a scholarship.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And it's for people, even though we talk about scholarships,
it is for people of all ages. You don't have
to be a school age. You could be forty to
fifty eighty and participate in the Alabama Oh.
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Absolutely, and we do that. Our games are all ages,
all abilities. And it's not hyperbole saying that. We literally
have in track, for instance, we go from eight to
eighty two. We have a fellow that has been competing
with us for the past twenty years that's now up
in his eighties and he is fun to watch even
you know, going back to pickleball, you start looking at
(27:26):
the ages of the people playing pickleball. You're gonna see
some late seventies, early eighties out there run in the court.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And so and so with this game with pickleball, with
the training that goes into that, these people can go
on and actually participate all year round. Do the dingle
bells in the winter, and then the uh and then
the summertime, do the do the Alabama state games?
Speaker 9 (27:45):
Oh well, take it a step further. You can run
a five k in October, played pickleball in December, and
then competing the state games in June.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
So, in another word, it is pretty much a year round thing.
Speaker 9 (27:53):
We're getting to that point, yeah, and it's it's really cool.
I mean, the team that does the state games, the
ASA Foundation's staff, like, I mean, we're working year round,
Like I mean, we're moving from one project to the next,
and we're always the fundraisers. We do off games fundraisers.
The Pumpkin Run and dingle bells are fun for us
because we get to put all of our collective energy
(28:15):
into one event and making that one event during that
one weekend amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And it sounds like this would be an amazing event
to watch or to participate. And one more time, if
people want to participate, they can go online. They should
register now they I guess you might be able to
show up, but it would be better if you actually registered
ahead of time.
Speaker 9 (28:33):
Yeah, we're not doing on site registration, so you need
a pre register register before December first or by December
first to get the fifty dollars registration fee. It'll jump
after that, but it is. It's really cool. We've had
a lot of community support. We have a number of
gift cards, gift certificates, donations that are going to ultimately
serve as prizes for our goal medalists, and some that
(28:56):
are going to service door prices. And this ranges from
experiences to gift cards to gift certificates. And my website
to register is allagames a l A g ame e
s dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Griffin Frichard with the Alabama Sports Foundation, thank you so
much for joining us. It looks like it sounds like
it's gonna be a great event and everyone should be
looking forward to it because actually the weather's been pretty
mild here recently. Hopefully that keeps up.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
Thank you for Jenson's I really appreciate that. That's fantastic.
It's going to be a cold front now amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
It's an Alabama cold front, so that's still that's not
exactly Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Now.
Speaker 9 (29:31):
We won't get to winter until February, so we'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Gryffin Pritchard from the Alabama Sports Foundation, thank you so
much for joining us.
Speaker 9 (29:37):
Thanks for having men.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
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