An economic-development incentive agreement for the data-center project requires a public hearing and formal approval by the Richmond County Board of Commissioners before it takes effect.

The company must make at least $1 billion in cumulative capital investment and create at least 50 full-time jobs by December 31, 2030; otherwise, it must repay all incentive grant payments received.

If active data-center operations or construction cease for more than one continuous year on or before December 31, 2030, the company must repay the prior year's grant payments, and the County may suspend future grants. Grants may resume if operations restart before 2051.

The County may withhold incentive grant payments while the company is delinquent on project property taxes or is not current on required annual property listings.

The company must submit grant-payment requests by April 1 after paying the applicable property taxes; if it misses the deadline and does not submit within 30 days after County notice, it waives that year's grant for the affected building.

A new major stationary source with potential emissions of 250 tons per year or more of a regulated pollutant must obtain a Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit before beginning construction, demonstrate that emissions will not cause or contribute to National Ambient Air Quality Standards violations, and meet applicable best-available-control requirements.

The draft Amazon permit limits the proposed emergency-generator facility to synthetic-minor emission levels of 249.9 tons per year each for nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, requiring operations and emissions to remain below the major-source threshold.

Emergency generators may generally operate only for emergencies, maintenance, testing, and up to 50 hours per year for non-emergency purposes; the draft Amazon permit also imposes monitoring, recordkeeping, reporting, and fuel-use requirements tied to its emission limits.

The draft Duke Energy permit limits operation of its 57 non-emergency generators to 364 days or less and imposes fuel-consumption, emissions-monitoring, recordkeeping, reporting, and performance-testing requirements.

A portable or transportable generator cannot remain at one location for more than 12 consecutive months, and an engine placed at one location for 12 months or longer becomes a stationary engine subject to stationary-source permitting requirements.

Richmond County will provide annual cash grants for each data-center building for 20 years, equal to 50% of the County real-property taxes and 65% of the County personal-property taxes actually paid for that building. The grant formula and 20-year term

The incentive agreement permits grant eligibility for property owned by the company, its affiliates, other permitted entities, or landlords and lessors of property leased to the company or its affiliates.

The County must provide cooperation to preserve and maintain the incentive grants, including expeditious review and approval of building and other permits, dedicated resources for project implementation, and timely assessment and invoicing of project taxes. The County's cooperation obligations

The agreement broadly counts capital expenditures supporting the project toward investment requirements, including construction, site clearing and grading, fiber, water, wastewater, stormwater, gas pipelines, electrical transmission and distribution lines, and other supporting infrastructure.

The County may recapture grants if the company has not made at least $1 billion in cumulative capital investment and created at least 50 full-time jobs by December 31, 2030; otherwise, the agreement does not impose additional repayment obligations beyond the specified recapture provisions.

Force-majeure events—including changes in law or regulations, power or utility failures, insufficient or unavailable utilities, and other events outside the parties' control—extend performance deadlines and can extend the period during which grants may be claimed.

The company may assign the agreement to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, reorganization, sale of substantially all assets, or similar transaction, allowing the project and its incentives to continue through specified ownership changes.

The agreement incorporates confidentiality protections from a 2024 nondisclosure agreement, and the parties agree not to challenge the agreement's validity or defects in related proceedings.

Richmond County awarded the Energy Way Industrial Complex sewer improvements to S&L Contracting for $4,494,001.40, covering a force main, pump station, and gravity sewer line; the award is contingent on approval by the North Carolina Division of Water Infrastructure and use of specified project funds. The sewer project and award

The proposed incentive agreement provides that the company may terminate it for any reason or no reason by written notice, limiting the company's continuing exposure if it elects not to proceed.