Aside from this area, other rural counties have passed moratoriums or are in the process of debating one. Coffee County, which sits adjacent to Warren, passed a data center ban at the same as McMinnville, while Knox County will vote on the issue on the same day as Warren County makes its decision. Even Nashville, the capital of the State of Tennessee, has passed a moratorium bill on its first reading with only a lone dissenter among the 40-member Metropolitan Council.
“I think that they’re aiming these at … these smaller places in Tennessee because our land is so cheap, our laws are so lenient, the income isn’t taxed like it is anywhere else, and generally they’re just not going to get a lot of pushback, because a lot of people don’t know what’s going on, and they don’t know anything about this,” Kai Sage, a resident of McMinnville told the publication. “Luckily, a lot of people around here were informed, so as soon as we alerted people about this, people quickly reacted.”
These bans are not permanent, though. Instead, they’re designed to give local governments time to assess how it would go about these developments, helping prevent potential disasters that data center projects can bring to the local community. “A moratorium is not a permanent ban. It is a responsible time-out,” McMinnville City Administration Nolan Ming posted on social media. “It gives us time to study the issues carefully, update our zoning and land use regulations, and make sure any future decisions are based on solid information, not rushed approvals.”
Texas county passes data center ban for rural areas for a year, move comes in wake of AI data centers moving to remote areas to skirt regulations
AI data center bans are rapidly multiplying across the US
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/multiple-small-tennessee-counties-pass-temporary-data-center-bans-nashville-also-passed-near-unanimous-moratorium-on-first-reading#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.