Facebook LinkedIn Email Print The Florida Channel/Florida Trident At a public hearing, State Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah Gardens, explains his proposed rules for both promoting and regulating construction of massive data centers in Florida. Hoping to position Florida as the next big destination for large and hyperscale data centers that power artificial intelligence, state lawmakers are weighing how much corporate secrecy is enough but not too much and how to manage the centers’ intensive demands for energy and water where they operate. Sen. Bryan Avila, Miami-Dade Republican, is leading the charge, saying Florida can outcompete motivated states such as Georgia, Virginia and Texas to land the multibillion-dollar projects here, creating thousands of high-tech jobs, tax revenue and related economic development. But doing so, he says, pits the public’s right to know about and manage data-center plans – including their massive impact on local water and energy resources – against developers’ preference for secrecy. DataCenterMap.com/Florida Trident Florida has more than 120 data centers now, mostly in Miami-Dade and in Tampa, with several hypersize centers in the planning stages. “Undou
