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May 26, 2023

Lincoln data center project appears to finally be moving forward

Dirt work has been going on for several weeks on land on the northwest corner of

Dirt work has been going on for several weeks on land on the northwest corner of the 56th Street exit on Interstate 80, which is where a large data center project was proposed all the way back in 2019.

Lincoln's Google data center project appears to still be moving forward, even as the company pauses other projects elsewhere.

Some work has occurred over the past few months at the site on the northwest corner of the 56th Street interchange on Interstate 80, and some public filings suggest additional work is likely to happen soon.

Google has never publicly announced it is the company that has proposed the large data center, but the entity that filed for tax incentives is one of the company's subsidiaries.

The data center project, originally proposed in 2019, showed a phased build-out that could include as much as 2 million feet of building space and 960 employees at the site by 2040.

There has been speculation that the project could be in danger of being shelved, largely because of a lack of work at the site since the announcement but also because of moves by Google elsewhere.

For example, in April 2022, the giant technology company announced plans to build a data center in northwest Omaha — its third in the Omaha metro area. That move cast some doubt on its need for a fourth data center just an hour away.

In December, numerous media outlets reported that Google was halting a data center project in Becker, Minnesota, that appears to be similar in size and scope to the one planned in Lincoln.

Also, there was a report in April that Google was putting a planned 80-acre mega campus in San Jose, California, on hold, although the company later disputed that report.

In February, Google said in a conference call with financial analysts that it plans to evaluate all of its real estate holdings.

In Lincoln, a subsidiary company named Agate LLC paid nearly $18.6 million for about 600 acres. That amount, however, is a drop in the bucket for a company the size of Google, which reported more than $60 billion in earnings in 2022.

Google also so far has failed to publicly announce its U.S. capital expenditure plans for the year, something it has done in the spring for several years in a row.

But recent applications made to regulatory bodies do seem to indicate that the Lincoln project is continuing to move forward, albeit slowly.

In February, the project sought an administrative amendment to its original application to the city of Lincoln, seeking to "provide street profiles, grading and draining, and water quality information so the applicant may proceed with a building permit and/or final plat."

Also in February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy posted a joint public notice that they were reviewing the project for state certification in accordance with the provisions of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which ensures that any discharges into regulated bodies of water will comply with regulations.

That application shows seven different phases of the project.

The entities apparently have since approved a stormwater pollution prevention plan, which shows that mass grading of approximately 400 acres of the site is scheduled to begin sometime in June.

And at its May 19 board meeting, the Lincoln Electric System approved a resolution to allow its CEO to negotiate a one-year facility extension and interconnection agreement with Agate LLC.

Farmland across the U.S. is disappearing by the millions of acres each decade by some estimates as sprawling urban development driven by rising housing costs pushes further into rural pastures.

The farmland that still exists in the U.S. is heavily dedicated to growing plants that Americans can't consume—grass. That grass, accounting for more than 300 million acres now, feeds our livestock, provides sod for new development, and serves as a cover crop to protect soil health between harvests.

Demand for major crops like corn and soybeans to feed Americans is only forecast by the USDA to grow in the coming decade, and demand for U.S. agricultural exports is expected to grow similarly.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way people purchased and consumed food, placing renewed attention on an increasingly consolidated agricultural industry where family farms have been swallowed up by large food corporations.

And after shifting behaviors caused massive economic swings in the U.S. and elsewhere, the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced food producers to once again account for yet another shock with so much of the world's grain capital taken offline by warfare.

War and corporate interests aside, farms have also had to reckon with a changing climate. Wheat fields were once commonplace across the country, but drought conditions of late have caused farmers to give up growing the crop entirely. Agitated by climate change, the shortage of water in parts of the country coupled with higher interest rates and the ongoing war in Ukraine are making agricultural businesses harder to run profitably.

To illustrate where American farms still persevere, Stacker compiled a list of counties with the most farmland in Nebraska using data from the Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency. Farmers reported the data as mandated by participation in USDA income support programs, including Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage as well as loan assistance. Counties are ranked by total acres of farmland.

In Nebraska, there are 8,549,170 acres of farmland, with common soybeans being the most common crop.

- Farmland: 510,963 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 1,126

- Most common crop: Native grass (291,396 acres, 57.0% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 513,349 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 323

- Most common crop: Native grass (446,401 acres, 87.0% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 517,817 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 686

- Most common crop: Native grass (215,996 acres, 41.7% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 526,201 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 1,687

- Most common crop: Native grass (141,936 acres, 27.0% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 526,253 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 489

- Most common crop: Native grass (413,995 acres, 78.7% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 533,280 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 1,758

- Most common crop: Yellow corn (171,726 acres, 32.2% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 544,555 acres (1.3% of state total)

- Farms: 639

- Most common crop: Native grass (335,966 acres, 61.7% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 559,151 acres (1.4% of state total)

- Farms: 575

- Most common crop: Native grass (365,405 acres, 65.3% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 595,184 acres (1.5% of state total)

- Farms: 2,223

- Most common crop: Native grass (228,101 acres, 38.3% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 630,611 acres (1.5% of state total)

- Farms: 645

- Most common crop: Native grass (513,609 acres, 81.4% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 641,362 acres (1.6% of state total)

- Farms: 1,796

- Most common crop: Native grass (293,570 acres, 45.8% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 642,990 acres (1.6% of state total)

- Farms: 1,260

- Most common crop: Yellow corn (135,367 acres, 21.1% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 647,316 acres (1.6% of state total)

- Farms: 986

- Most common crop: Native grass (346,176 acres, 53.5% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 661,547 acres (1.6% of state total)

- Farms: 2,067

- Most common crop: Native grass (219,943 acres, 33.2% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 726,063 acres (1.8% of state total)

- Farms: 1,197

- Most common crop: Native grass (298,927 acres, 41.2% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 757,818 acres (1.9% of state total)

- Farms: 995

- Most common crop: Native grass (238,567 acres, 31.5% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 846,528 acres (2.1% of state total)

- Farms: 1,491

- Most common crop: Native grass (220,417 acres, 26.0% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 905,391 acres (2.2% of state total)

- Farms: 940

- Most common crop: Native grass (582,804 acres, 64.4% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 929,425 acres (2.3% of state total)

- Farms: 1,035

- Most common crop: Native grass (374,452 acres, 40.3% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 993,480 acres (2.4% of state total)

- Farms: 951

- Most common crop: Native grass (741,113 acres, 74.6% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 1,289,202 acres (3.2% of state total)

- Farms: 1,061

- Most common crop: Native grass (1,089,577 acres, 84.5% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 1,486,455 acres (3.6% of state total)

- Farms: 2,530

- Most common crop: Native grass (871,519 acres, 58.6% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 1,505,935 acres (3.7% of state total)

- Farms: 2,419

- Most common crop: Native grass (1,087,145 acres, 72.2% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 1,528,158 acres (3.7% of state total)

- Farms: 2,259

- Most common crop: Native grass (1,064,737 acres, 69.7% of county farmland)

- Farmland: 2,086,059 acres (5.1% of state total)

- Farms: 822

- Most common crop: Native grass (1,865,568 acres, 89.4% of county farmland)

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Listed in a report on Nebraska tax incentives were two applications made last year. The company listed as the applicant for the Lincoln projec…