Chris Dobson is running for SRP Board President on the corporate-PAC-backed slate. His family owns 750 acres in Florence where EdgeCore wants to build a 720-megawatt data center campus. The deal depends entirely on SRP's Abel Substation. EdgeCore gave $10,000+ to the PAC backing Dobson's campaign.
The EdgeCore campus is sited directly adjacent to SRP's Abel Substation, which the project narrative describes as the anchor that makes the development viable.
The Florence site's proximity to the Abel Substation is the anchor. SRP's substation provides the backbone transmission infrastructure necessary to deliver hundreds of megawatts.
EdgeCore chose this location specifically to minimize the cost of connecting to SRP's grid. Without SRP building and maintaining that substation capacity, there is no 720-megawatt data center campus. And without the data center campus, 750 acres of Dobson family farmland stays farmland.
Chris Dobson is running for SRP Board President on the slate backed by Arizonans for Responsible Growth (AZFRG), the PAC funded by $183,000+ from SRP vendors, contractors, and data center interests.
If elected, Chris Dobson would vote on:
Capital expenditures for SRP infrastructure, including substations like Abel that make data center developments possible
Rate structures that determine how much data centers pay versus residential customers
Water policy for the million-plus customers SRP serves across the Valley
EdgeCore gave $10,000+ to the PAC that backs Chris Dobson for SRP president. Chris Dobson's family owns the land EdgeCore wants to build on. SRP's substation is the infrastructure that makes the deal work. If Dobson wins, he votes on the infrastructure spending that makes his family's land sale possible.
This isn't speculation. The land is owned by his family. The project is in the public record. The substation is built and operated by SRP. The candidate is running for president of SRP's board.
You can read the full project proposal in the Florence Planning and Zoning Commission records. You can look up AZFRG's donors at the Arizona Secretary of State. You can decide for yourself.
Data center developers and their contractors are the largest donors to the PAC supporting SRP board candidates, and SRP's infrastructure decisions are what make their projects pencil.
| What SRP Builds | Who Benefits | Who Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Abel Substation capacity | EdgeCore / Dobson Family Farms | SRP ratepayers |
| Transmission infrastructure | Data center developers | SRP ratepayers |
| Water delivery systems | Industrial users | SRP ratepayers |
Every infrastructure dollar SRP spends to enable data center growth increases the value of the land those data centers sit on. When the family selling that land is also running for the board that approves that spending, ratepayers deserve to know.
Source: AZFRG supporters page (azforrg.com) and Arizona Secretary of State campaign finance filings (committee ID 101777).