Steuben County enacts six-month data center construction moratorium

The Steuben County Board of Commissioners in Angola, Indiana, officially enacted a six-month moratorium on data center construction on Tuesday. This decision follows an August recommendation from the Steuben County Plan Commission, aiming to temporarily halt new developments while local officials draft a permanent zoning ordinance.

The pause is intended to allow the county to establish clear regulations governing where data center facilities can be built. This planning is deemed urgent as utility companies are actively discussing routing high-transmission electric lines through Steuben County, raising concerns about grid management.

While county officials stated they are not entirely opposed to future technology businesses, they stressed that the massive scale of data center projects necessitates robust regulations to ensure proper oversight and planning.