AI data center fights spread from counties to campaign trail
A grassroots backlash against AI data centers is spreading across South Carolina, where 13 counties have enacted development moratoriums and at least two more are considering them. The debate has entered the campaign trail, while lawsuits and environmental concerns target major projects in Colleton and Spartanburg counties.
Thirteen South Carolina counties have enacted moratoriums on data center development since January, including six in September, as residents and officials raise concerns about electricity costs, water use, environmental impacts and local oversight. At least two additional counties are considering similar pauses. The issue has become prominent in state and federal election campaigns, with Democratic candidates advocating stronger regulation or a statewide moratorium and Republican candidates emphasizing local control and requirements that developers pay for their own power and water needs.
In Colleton County, opposition has focused on a proposed $6 billion, 850-acre project from Eagle Rock Partners and Thomas and Hutton near the ACE Basin and Ashepoo River. A county moratorium delayed the original proposal, but the Colleton County Council voted Sept. 14 to lift the moratorium west of Interstate 95, advancing consideration of a new 1,200-acre site that could include 10 buildings and serve a major AI company.
In Spartanburg County, opponents are challenging the $3 billion Valara data center project, sponsored by NorthMark Strategies Group, because it would include a natural-gas power plant and could worsen air pollution near residential areas. The Southern Environmental Law Center has filed lawsuits challenging the Colleton and Spartanburg projects, making them focal points in the broader dispute over the lack of statewide data center rules.