the air force is offering space

at three Alaska bases, to companies that want to build AI data centers.

The Air Force put out requests for proposals to lease space at the base near North Pole, at the Space Force station in the Interior, and at the joint base in Anchorage.

Up in Fairbanks, the borough Assembly's answer was to try and slow the whole thing down.

They're asking the state for a halt. No permitting, no leasing, no construction of commercial AI data centers on state or borough land, until Alaska writes actual standards for how much electricity and water these things get to use and what they do to the ground around them.

One resident said it about as plainly as it can be said. We need clear guidelines before tech conglomerates come knocking at our door.

Our own delegation doesn't agree with itself on this. The governor wants data centers as anchor customers for the Alaska gas line. One senator backs them on military land, because the bases get infrastructure out of the deal.

The other senator says flatly that the utilities serving Anchorage, the Valley and Fairbanks can't handle the power or the financial costs.

That's three positions on one question, and the question underneath all of it is who ends up paying for the electricity.