What were they thinking?

Computerworld reports that the state of Tennessee is finally migrating its primary datacenter to a new location ^[1].  Why?  Well, it seems that there were a few minor problems with the location…

• It was built on an unstable landfill and is currently sinking
• It is right next to an active railroad
• It is next to a river and within the floodplain
• It is directly downstream from a dam that the Army Corps of Engineers says is one of the 5 most at risk of failure in the nation

It’s great they are moving and I hope they do it fast.  But I’m sorry, I just have to ask:  what were they thinking?   I know it is 20 years old, but the NEBS guidelines ^[2] for telecom facilities date from the 70s, its not as if nobody had thought about this sort of thing.  Politicians must have come up with this idea, it’s the only explanation I can come up with.