>Why would the state, the county, and the military even consider letting an inexperienced developer with zero past successful datacenter projects undertake such a vast project?

Because the exact details are likely structured from their vantage point of all the decision makers it's structured as a heads I win tails you lose proposition.

This is common in state and municipal permitting and just about everything else that the government has discretion for. I would even go so far to say that this is normal for anything that isn't so cookie cutter it gets the rubber stamp.

If you're an upstart or your project is just so outrageous that can't get what you want via a "here's what I'm gonna do, here's why it complies with your bullshit, send me permits or a court date" frontal assault you make concessions. You (pay a PI to) figure out who the approvers are and stuff about them. You use the "right" civil engineering firm for all the surveying bullshit, the carbon offset BS projects in your proposal are in the "right" towns and places that benefit the "right" people and causes. If the head of some relevant department is a bird geek then you make one of your offsets a wetland restoration abutting and in partnership with some Audubon Society site. And on and on and on. Maybe if they've really got you over a barrel you front load it so that all these niceties get done up front and the stuff that you actually want to do gets done second.

Slimy as it is, none of this is illegal. It's just how the sausage is made in a high regulatory environment. You have to make all the right decisions on the proposal side so that the people on the government side making their decisions have all the reason to approve you. It's an overpriced appeal to emotion of sorts.

So anyway, you structure it like this and as far as they care worst case the endeavor goes tits up and leave a Parks and Rec style pit for them to use other people's money to clean up and it's still a win because it legitimizes the need for further extractive concessions paid up front from the next dreamer who thinks they're gonna pull off some project like yours. Or they know who they want to finish out your project if/when it fails.