Hill County rescinds data center moratorium

The Hill County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to rescind its data center construction moratorium following a lawsuit filed by data center developer RCM Hill. RCM Hill had sued the county, claiming the moratorium halted a multi-million dollar project they had been working on for over a year and asserting that county officials had publicly acknowledged the moratorium's illegality.

Commissioners stated that the moratorium had failed to achieve its intended goals and instead created a significant legal liability for the county and its taxpayers. Concurrently, the commissioners approved a new data center development review checklist. This checklist mandates developers to be transparent about the potential impacts of their projects, including projections for water use, power demand, construction traffic, noise, and air emissions. Additionally, developers will be required to announce projects to the public by posting signs and alerting the news media. The first version of this checklist was reportedly brought to the commissioners by local residents and subsequently amended based on their advice.