Demands, bans and moratoriums. Catch up on Kentucky data center news.

Lexington extended its temporary ban on data center construction. Mercer County rejected regulations that would allow hyperscale data centers. And a Carroll County ethics board is looking into dealings surrounding a proposed hyperscale data center. 

As local governments in Kentucky are weighing and making decisions on potential hyperscale data centers, some Kentuckians came to Frankfort to tell state lawmakers that they need to do more to regulate large data centers — not put that burden on local governments. 

Just a few months away from when state lawmakers meet again in Frankfort, catch up on the latest data center news in this round-up as reported by the Lantern and other news outlets from around Kentucky.

Kentuckians tell state lawmakers to act

More than 60 people from across the state, ranging from Pike County to Daviess County, came to a committee room earlier this month to lay out a number of concerns they have about hyperscale data center proposals and their potential impacts on electricity ratepayers, rural land and the state’s natural resources.  

The gathering was for a “listening session” on data centers organized by Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington, who is preparing legislation on data center regulations for when the GOP-controlled state legislature meets again next year. Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, the vice-chair of the Kentucky House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, is also preparing legislation on data centers. 

A few of those speakers told the state lawmakers at the meeting that local governments shouldn’t be expected to regulate data centers on their own. 

“Finally, stop expecting local officials without specialized technical, legal, environmental, or utility expertise to negotiate billion-dollar industrial development deals on equal footing with the wealthiest companies on Earth,” said Diane Floyd of Mercer County. 

Local government decisions

Meanwhile, local governments including Mercer County have been hearing public commentary and taking votes on whether to regulate hyperscale data centers or allow them at all. 

The Mercer County Fiscal Court through a unanimous voice vote in late September rejected proposed regulations that would have allowed the placement of hyperscale data centers next to a coal-fired power plant. Opponents of the regulations argued the land near the power plant was also relatively close to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, a historic site preserving structures of the Kentucky Shakers religious community.

In Kentucky’s second-largest city of Lexington, the city council voted to move forward with potential data center regulations and also a temporary ban, or moratorium, on data center construction in the city through October 2027, according to public radio station WEKU. 

In Carroll County, Kentucky Public Radio reported in late September that frustrated community members have filed local ethics complaints arguing that several city council members for the Carroll County seat of Carrollton should have abstained from votes to sign land deals with a prospective hyperscale data center because of conflicts of interest. 

Carroll County is home to two proposed large data centers, one of them by Poe Companies and PowerHouse Data Centers, which is also building a hyperscale data center in West Louisville. 

Other communities, including the Christian County seat of Hopkinsville, are moving forward with proposed data center regulations, or, in the case of the Scott County seat of Georgetown,  looking at an outright ban on hyperscale data centers.