Environmental group faces off with Spartanburg County during injunction argument

Attorneys representing Spartanburg County and data center developer Valara recently faced off in a Spartanburg courtroom against the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) over the classification of a 300-acre data center project. The central dispute revolves around whether Valara's 457-megawatt data center, valued at $2.8 billion, should be considered a 'major' or 'minor' land use development under the county's Unified Land Management Ordinance (ULMO).

The SELC, representing residents adjacent to the proposed facility, filed a lawsuit in July against Spartanburg County and Valara, a subsidiary of NorthMark Strategies. The environmental group contends that the county improperly split the data center and its power-generating complex into two permits to classify them as minor developments, thereby circumventing public input and the planning commission review required for major projects.

Spartanburg County attorneys argue that the ULMO explicitly states that data centers are not classified as major developments and that the county has consistently treated other large industrial projects, like the BMW manufacturing plant and an Amazon distribution center, as minor developments. The county and Valara also moved to dismiss the SELC's lawsuit, asserting that the residents failed to exhaust administrative remedies by not appealing the permit issuance. The SELC, in turn, filed a motion for an injunction to halt construction, citing potential irreparable harm to nearby residents and arguing that the full scope of the project was not adequately disclosed until a later power permit application. Judge J. Derham Cole Jr. heard oral arguments on all motions and is expected to issue orders.