Concerned landowners: South Carolina, Georgia 'Ground Zero' for data centers

South Carolina and Georgia are emerging as prime locations for new data centers due to abundant land and water resources. This trend has sparked significant concern among residents and environmental groups, who are raising alarms about potential pollution, excessive water consumption, and the risk of increased electricity rates for local residents. A specific 800-plus-acre data center project is proposed in rural Colleton County, near Walterboro, South Carolina. This proposal has intensified fears among environmentalists and citizens that more large-scale data center developments are on the horizon for the region. Stro Morrison III, a forester and landowner from Hampton County, organized a community meeting on March 10, highlighting that the availability of land, water, and future energy infrastructure, like a proposed natural gas pipeline and power plant, are making the Carolinas "ground zero" for data centers. In response to these concerns and broader energy demands, the Central Electric Power Cooperative, a Columbia-based generation and transmission cooperative, announced a new rate structure for data centers and other major power users. This new rate, formalized by a unanimous vote from its board on March 18, aims to protect the 2 million South Carolinians served by Central and its 19 member cooperatives, including Palmetto Electric Cooperative, from subsidizing the energy costs of large corporations. Central CEO Rob Hochstetler stated that the policy maximizes benefits from data centers while minimizing risks and costs to existing members by requiring long-term commitments for grid investments.