https://progressiveindiana.net
On this week’s Concerned Clergy Radio Show, Rev. Tony Alexander and Concerned Clergy President Rev. Dr. David W. Greene Sr. welcomed Denise Abdul-Rahman and Jordan Geiger of Black Sunlight Sustainability to discuss the environmental and economic stakes of AI data center development in Indianapolis’s Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood — including the City-County Council’s recent approval of the Metrobloks project at 25th and Sherman — as well as rising utility costs, the IURC’s statewide listening tour, and the upcoming free EV charger education event hosted by Concerned Clergy and Black Sunlight on April 7. The conversation drew a direct line between environmental racism, the erosion of democratic accountability at every level of government, and the urgent need for community education and civic engagement.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:00:00 — Opening / Announcements / Prayer
- Rev. Alexander leads the opening prayer and introduces tonight’s guests from Black Sunlight Sustainability: Denise Abdul-Rahman and Jordan Geiger.
- Tonight’s topics: AI data centers in Martindale-Brightwood, rising utility bills, solar and EV alternatives.
00:02:08 — Introducing Black Sunlight Sustainability
- Denise Abdul-Rahman describes Black Sunlight as a statewide organization focused on connecting communities to resources for self-determination, clean energy, and resistance to environmental harm.
- Abdul-Rahman cites Dr. Robert Bullard’s foundational work on environmental justice: race — not income level — determines where environmental injustice is located in America.
- She describes how greenhouse gas emissions connect to intensifying weather events in Indiana — stronger tornadoes, extreme heat, damaging cold — as well as the emerging threat posed by AI data centers, which use excessive water, generate noise, and often rely on diesel generators.
- Martindale-Brightwood, already overburdened by industrial pollution, is described as a textbook case of environmental racism.
00:07:05 — Rev. Greene Joins: Brightwood, Democracy, and the Price of Engagement
- Rev. Greene expresses solidarity with Brightwood residents and frustration that they engaged the democratic process exactly as instructed — and were still overruled.
- He draws a parallel to the construction of I-65 and I-70 through Black Indianapolis neighborhoods, raising the question of whether the Metrobloks placement was intentional.
- Rev. Alexander notes that a “Rethink I-65/I-70” initiative is now exploring reconnecting those communities — at enormous cost.
- Rev. Greene connects the Metrobloks vote to a pattern of democratic erosion: from the appointed IPS board (with David Harris, a charter school advocate, named president) to federal voter suppression efforts — calling it an attack on democracy at every level.
00:09:15 — What Happens Now? Community Options After the Council Vote
- Denise Abdul-Rahman says the fight is not over: the public comment period was limited to 15 minutes with restricted speakers, and the community can still press the full City-County Council.
- She notes there are unresolved questions about the integrity of the process itself.
- Rev. Greene encourages residents to also engage Metrobloks directly to negotiate community benefits — but insists any real community agreement must be built with the community, not handed down to it.
- Rev. Alexander reads a statement from Councilor Gibson (posted during the live broadcast) claiming a $2.5 million commitment to Martindale-Brightwood, with an estimated $20 million in additional investment — noting it was the first he had heard of any such commitment throughout the entire process.
- Rev. Greene responds that the $20 million figure appears to reference a tax abatement — which does not benefit the community — and that a park in front of Metrobloks that nobody uses is not a community investment.
00:13:02 — Jordan Geiger on Data Center Research and Black Sunlight’s Work
- Jordan Geiger identifies himself as Assistant Director of Special Projects and Outreach at Black Sunlight Sustainability.
- His recent focus has been researching data center development projects across Indiana and their community impacts.
- Geiger’s audio deteriorated during this segment; Rev. Alexander noted they were losing him and tabled the conversation to return to later.
00:14:07 — IURC Listening Tour: Real Relief or Check-the-Box?
- Rev. Alexander outlines the IURC’s statewide listening tour schedule: Goshen/Elkhart, Columbus, Fort Wayne, Evansville; Noblesville City Hall on April 9; Indianapolis Ivy Tech Conference Center on April 20; plus Gary and Terre Haute. Residents are encouraged to search “IURC listening tour” for details.
- Abdul-Rahman says she wants to be optimistic: House Bill 1002 was already passed to address affordability, and the IURC is receiving input from the state’s five investor-owned utilities alongside a federal energy growth task force; attendees are reportedly being asked to bring actual utility bills.
- She notes that a coalition secured $117 million in federal funding to deploy solar across Indiana — but that contract was terminated by the federal government before it could produce results.
- She says Governor Pence eliminated energy efficiency programs and mandatory industrial investment standards created under Governor Daniels; she calls on Governor Braun to restore those programs and fund statewide solar deployment.
- In the near term, she expects the most likely outcomes from the listening tour to be modest: weatherization assistance for very low-income households and small residential green programs.
00:19:01 — Caller: Rev. Phillips
- Rev. Phillips argues that community members need to be educated and focused — using his own background in security work as an example of what trained attention looks like — and says people distracted by their cell phones aren’t paying attention to what’s happening around them.
- Rev. Alexander responds that utility meter reading is largely automated now, so cell phone distraction isn’t the reason utility bills are high.
00:21:46 — Caller: Guy
- Guy praises the citizens who showed up to fight data center approvals across the country, calling it democracy in action even when outcomes are discouraging.
- He argues solar should be the central focus going forward on energy policy — and warns that utility industry lobbyists will fight hard to prevent anything that threatens their revenue.
- He recounts a personal experience being inadvertently disconnected by the power company and finding it nearly impossible to get the error corrected — no local office, no one at the Monument Circle headquarters to take a complaint.
- He says the automation of customer service will only make that worse, and urges people to demand a human being on the other end of utility disputes.
00:26:10 — EV Charger Education Event — April 7
- Rev. Greene and Abdul-Rahman announce a free community education event co-hosted by Concerned Clergy and Black Sunlight Sustainability.
— Tuesday, April 7 | Doors: 5:30 p.m. | Program: 6:00 p.m.
— Julia Carson Center, 300 East Fall Creek Parkway, Indianapolis
— AES Indiana will be present; food provided
- Abdul-Rahman describes the coalition behind the event — the Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Electric Vehicle Infrastructure — which includes: Concerned Clergy, Black Lives Matter South Bend, NAACP Evansville, NAACP Terre Haute, Purpose of Life Ministry, Scott United Methodist Church, First Baptist Church North of Indianapolis, and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
- The coalition’s core demands: INDOT siting of EV chargers in underserved communities, public listening sessions on Indiana’s EV infrastructure funding, and equitable contracting and apprenticeship opportunities for Black-owned businesses.
- Abdul-Rahman notes Indiana was allocated up to $100 million for EV infrastructure; the Trump administration has reduced that to approximately $75 million, of which only $3.8 million has been received, with contractor selections still pending.
00:35:43 — Second Half: Democracy Under Attack, IPS, and Staying in the Fight
- Rev. Greene says the Metrobloks vote is itself a democratic failure — a councilor voting against his own constituency — and places it alongside the shift of IPS to a mayoral-appointed board as evidence that democracy is under attack at the neighborhood, local, state, and federal levels simultaneously.
- Rev. Alexander says he’s hearing from dejected people who want to give up, and urges them not to: even when a vote goes against the community, people need to understand that five council members can outvote thousands of residents — and that is exactly why voter education and turnout matter.
- Rev. Greene calls for people to be energized rather than exhausted by the number of fights: data centers, school boards, voting rights, utility costs — they are all connected.
00:41:16 — The Real Math: Jobs, Investment, and Who Benefits
- Rev. Greene, drawing on his background as a systems engineer who worked in data centers beginning in 1985, says the jobs argument for data centers is overstated: a modern data center likely employs one person overnight; in the 1990s it was two.
- Rev. Alexander says on every major energy and infrastructure construction project he is aware of in Indiana — solar, wind, data centers — the foremen and superintendents were out-of-state travelers, not Hoosiers.
- Rev. Greene says local contractor inclusion has to be negotiated upfront and intentionally; without it, companies simply bring their existing out-of-state crews because it is easier.
- Both note that the community of Martindale-Brightwood is not anti-economic development — what they are is pro-community agreement, and a real community agreement requires negotiation, not a unilateral offer.
- Rev. Greene warns that if Metrobloks drives up energy demand and AES raises rates, everyone in the region pays — it is not a Brightwood problem, it is an Indianapolis problem.
00:48:55 — Closing: Call to Action
- Rev. Alexander calls for a coalition of councilors, senators, community leaders, and homeowners associations to sit at the same table and hear directly from developers.
- Reminder: EV charger education event, Tuesday April 7, Julia Carson Center, 6 p.m.; doors at 5:30.
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CONTACT BLACK SUNLIGHT SUSTAINABILITY
Email: contact@blacksunlight.org
Phone: 855-275-7786
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