Iowa data centers: what the public record shows.

These notes name selected records, say which kinds of public evidence were checked and show what remains missing. They do not add anything to the published counts.

• Economic development incentives — Partly checked
  • IEDA board minutes and award database not yet reviewed directly; the March 2024 IEDA board action on the Cedar Rapids / Google local property tax exemption was seen only in search results.
  • No Department of Revenue register of registered data center businesses is published, so certified recipients could not be enumerated.

  Selected records

  • City of Cedar Rapids news release: Data Center Project Update (Google / Heaviside, LLC) · City of Cedar Rapids
  • Data Center Sales and Use Tax Incentives · Iowa Department of Revenue
• Utility commission and large-load records — Partly checked
  • IUC Electronic Filing System (efs.iowa.gov) is a single-page application; docket TF-2025-0047 and TF-2025-0007 filings and orders were not read.
  • MidAmerican Energy large-load contracts are treated as confidential in IUC filings according to search results; no MidAmerican data center docket was located.
  • No Iowa RTO or utility interconnection queue record naming a data center was retrieved.

  Selected records

  • Iowa Utilities Commission Electronic Filing System, docket TF-2025-0047 · Iowa Utilities Commission
  • Utility Tariffs Filed with the IUC · Iowa Utilities Commission
• Environmental and construction permits — Checked
  • The DNR construction permit search serves permit rows only through interactive per-city queries, so generator construction permits for Google, Meta, QTS, Apple and colocation sites were not retrieved.
  • Water withdrawal, wastewater and stormwater construction general permit notices were not searched at all.
  • The Iowa EASY Air public inquiry portal was not yet reviewed directly.

  Selected records

  • Iowa DNR Title V Operating Permit 24-TV-005, Willow Creek / Ginger East Data Centers · Iowa Department of Natural Resources
  • Iowa DNR Title V Operating Permit 24-TV-004, Osmium Data Center · Iowa Department of Natural Resources
  • Iowa DNR Title V Operating Permit 26-TV-003, Ginger West Data Center – 11100 Booneville Rd · Iowa Department of Natural Resources
• Local planning, assessor and map records — Partly checked
  • City of West Des Moines could not be retrieved during review, so no West Des Moines site plan, rezoning or development-agreement record was read.
  • Council Bluffs uses a NovusAGENDA postback search, so Resolution 25-224 and the Google and CyrusOne records were not read.
  • No county assessor or GIS parcel record was opened for any Iowa research lead, so every research lead lacks a parcel identifier.
  • The Hancock County zoning case file and Planning & Zoning Commission minutes for the MCNI rezoning were not located.

  Selected records

  • City of Altoona Council Meeting Minutes, Monday, October 6, 2025 · City of Altoona
  • Linn County News Flash: Linn County Responds to Google’s Decision to Bypass County Protections · Linn County, Iowa
  • City of Council Bluffs NovusAGENDA public meeting portal · City of Council Bluffs
• Tax abatements and development agreements — Partly checked
  • The executed QTS and Google development agreements themselves, and the December 2025 amended QTS agreement, were not retrieved.
  • The City of Council Bluffs urban renewal page could not be retrieved during review, and no Iowa annual urban renewal report was opened.
  • No Chapter 427B or data center property tax exemption filing was retrieved for any research lead.

  Selected records

  • City of Cedar Rapids news release: City of Cedar Rapids, Alliant Energy, and QTS Collaborate on New Data Center Campus in Cedar Rapids · City of Cedar Rapids
  • Urban Renewal and Urban Revitalization, City of Council Bluffs · City of Council Bluffs
• Operator disclosures — Partly checked
  • Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Oracle, QTS, Tract, Edged, CyrusOne, LightEdge and Aureon location pages were not yet reviewed directly.
  • No operator sustainability or investor material other than Alliant Energy's slides was read.

  Selected records

  • Google Data Centers – Iowa location page · Google
• Open datasets and directories — Checked
  • Smaller Iowa colocation and edge leads in the extract (Aureon 616, Cologix DSM1 and DSM2, Ark Data Centers Marion, InfoBunker, ITS Monticello, TierPoint Newton, US Signal IA01, Bluebird Quad Cities, Fidium, South Front Networks, Oppidan Des Moines, LightEdge Ames, Edged Ankeny, PathOne Hull) were read in the extract but not worked up into research leads.
  • No directory listing (Data Center Map, Baxtel, datacenters.com) was opened.

  Selected records

  • Compute Atlas state extract for Iowa (59 records) · Compute Atlas
• Closures, withdrawals and former names — Partly checked
  • No county or city record of the Hancock County denial was retrieved; only news reporting.
  • Archived pages, renames and acquisitions of Iowa colocation operators (for example Involta to Ark Data Centers) were not researched.
  • Search results referenced a Linn County 18-month moratorium on new large-scale data center rezonings effective 2026-07-01; the ordinance was not yet reviewed directly.

  Selected records

  • Radio Iowa: Northern Iowa county panel becomes latest to reject call for data center · Radio Iowa
• News and other discovery — Partly checked
  • Most news leads surfaced in search results (Business Record, The Gazette, Corridor Business, Iowa Public Radio, Inside Climate News) were not yet reviewed directly.

  Selected records

  • Business Record: Site plan approved for Microsoft’s third building at Osmium data center · Business Record
  • 3 News Now: Council Bluffs ‘Project Lola’ data center reduced in size, still planned near Iowa Western · 3 News Now (KMTV)