Data centers and wetlands: where Tennessee's District 9 candidates stand on the environment
Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor sponsored and passed legislation loosening environmental and electricity regulations affecting data centers, including allowing facilities to use privately generated power. His congressional opponent, state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, supports a statewide data center moratorium and stronger environmental protections, including clean-energy requirements.
The article examines the environmental records of Tennessee congressional candidates Brent Taylor and Justin J. Pearson, focusing on their positions on wetlands and data centers. Taylor sponsored legislation that removed many wetland protections and reporting requirements, and he later backed a law allowing data centers to use behind-the-meter power from private generators without purchasing electricity through utilities. The law could enable facilities such as xAI's Colossus 1 data center in Memphis to rely on on-site gas generation.
Pearson opposed Taylor's data center and wetland legislation and supports a statewide moratorium on large data centers, as well as a possible moratorium in Memphis. He said additional protections for land, public health and workers may need to come from the federal government, while also advocating for requirements that large data centers obtain half their power from non-fossil sources. The report also discusses a proposed data center near Chattanooga that would combine gas and biomass plants for on-site electricity.