Lee County residents ask for a data center moratorium
News ClipWFAE·Sanford, Lee County, NC·3/17/2026
Residents of Lee County, North Carolina are pushing for a moratorium on data centers and fracking after a developer expressed interest in building a data center in the area. The county commissioners voted to draft language for a potential moratorium to review at an upcoming workshop, despite concerns from the commission chair about the relevance of climate change beliefs.
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Gov: Lee County Board of Commissioners
A data center developer is considering a site near Sanford in Lee County, North Carolina, and might even pursue fracking to fuel the facility — a first for the state.
On Monday night, a crowd of concerned citizens packed Sanford's McSwain Center to push for a data center moratorium. Brooks Rainey of the Southern Environmental Law Center told the Lee County Board of Commissioners that a moratorium would give the county time to update local ordinances and zoning to regulate data centers.
Commission Chair Kirk Smith did not question Rainey on the moratorium proposal, but instead asked about her personal beliefs on climate change. Rainey said she did not think her personal beliefs were relevant to the discussion.
The commission voted 6-1 to draft language on a data center and fracking moratorium to review during its April 6th workshop. Chair Smith was the lone dissenting vote.