Cumberland County officials implementing a two-year moratorium on large-scale data centers to evaluate the potential strain they place on local water and electrical infrastructure.
County Mayor Allen Foster said the decision stems from the significant utility requirements of these projects. Foster said the county currently faces a shortage of water and is already utilizing a high volume of electricity.
“It’s really intended to give everybody in the community time to study the impacts of these large-scale data centers and make sure that we’re protecting the community and the public,” Foster said.
Foster said the two-year pause allows the county to maintain the status quo while leaders determine how to handle such developments professionally. Foster said while the Tennessee Supreme Court does not grant the county the authority to issue a permanent ban, the commission does have the power to enact a moratorium.
Foster said during the next 24 months, the county hopes to further understand the effects of large-scale facilities on its constituents.
“Data centers require, generally speaking, the larger ones require a lot of water and a lot of electricity and those are things that are hard to come by,” Foster said.
Foster said the county has valued and taken into consideration the feedback they have received from their residents on this issue. Foster said he and his office have been receptive to some of the concerns raised.
“We had lots of public input last night, we’ve had public input at the committee meetings before this, lots and lots of people spoke last night,” Foster said. “It was a great meeting when we were discussing this and all the issues were brought out and the general consensus was definitely that a two-year moratorium would be the wise move.”
Foster said the county will form a committee to study the issue alongside state leaders, utility providers, and planners. Foster said the state is also looking into the matter and has indicated that infrastructure costs for larger data centers would be paid for by the companies themselves.
“The AI race and all that is very national security, all that, it’s extremely important with medical, all kinds of advances that we’re going to see,” Foster said. “So data centers are useful, needed, and important, we all use every single person uses them every day all the time. But we just have to make sure that when they’re built or if they are built that they’re done the right way.”
Foster said he encouraged public participation during recent meetings to ensure residents felt heard on the topic. Foster said the county will now begin holding meetings with various stakeholders to analyze potential impacts before considering any future regulations.
“I believe in the freedom of speech and so if you come to the county commission meeting, you will be given a time to speak and to say what you want to say,” Foster said. “I encouraged it. We had a lot of people that were very measured and very under control. There was no emotional outburst or anything like that. When people feel they’re heard, I think that helps.”
