Fact check: NC state Rep. Tricia Cotham, challenger Ken McCool on data centers
North Carolina House candidates Tricia Cotham and Ken McCool both support stronger state and local regulation of data centers. Cotham backs requiring facilities to cover their costs and allowing moratoriums and limits on water use, noise and land use, while McCool supports a temporary building moratorium and says he helped defeat a data center rezoning proposal in Matthews.
North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham and Democratic challenger Ken McCool told the Charlotte Observer that the state should do more to regulate data centers. Cotham said facilities should pay their own infrastructure costs rather than shift expenses to homeowners, and she supported community input, moratoriums and restrictions involving water use, noise and land use.
McCool, a former Matthews town commissioner, said he supports a moratorium on new data center construction until residents and elected officials better understand the facilities' effects. He also said he led efforts to defeat the rezoning associated with a large proposed data center in Matthews, citing concerns about community impacts and the environment.