Data Centers: Weekly Briefing // August 3 - 7, 2026

📋 This Week's Decisions

✔️Just Passed

State Legislation

• Texas: Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause on new data center approvals through the state's grid interconnection process, directing regulators to audit all planned projects before any further ones move forward. ERCOT is reviewing about 474 gigawatts of proposed demand, more than five times the state's record peak load, with roughly 90% of it from data centers.
• Virginia: The State Corporation Commission ordered Dominion Energy to develop a tariff shifting more transmission infrastructure costs onto data centers and other large-load customers rather than all ratepayers. Dominion had sought to recover $1.5 billion through the underlying rate case; the new cost split lowers the average customer's monthly increase to roughly $0.94, down from an initially requested $2.90.

Moratoriums Approved

• Albany, GA: City commissioners unanimously voted to halt new data center development for 12 months, directing planners to draft future regulations with outside consultant support; the pause can be extended six more months if needed.
• Smithville, TN: The Board of Aldermen gave final approval to an 18-month moratorium on data centers and cryptocurrency mining, despite no such projects currently being proposed within city limits.
• Tonawanda, NY: The town approved a one-year moratorium mirroring the state's pause, blocking permits for any project with peak demand of 20 megawatts or more. The move follows sustained opposition to a stalled proposal on the former Tonawanda Coke site, the only application the town has received.
• Prince George's County, MD: The county extended its moratorium on new hyperscale data center permits after sustained opposition to a proposed 820-megawatt campus in Landover, with officials now exploring stronger siting standards and public engagement requirements.

Regulations Passed

• Bedford Township, PA: Supervisors unanimously passed a 20-page data center ordinance covering setbacks, lighting, noise limits, environmental impacts and electricity use, meant to set rules before any facility proposes locating in the township. No company is currently in talks with the township.

Projects Approved

• Effingham County, GA: The Industrial Development Authority approved a tax abatement package for OpenAI's proposed 1,440-acre, $20 billion Project Camellia campus near Rincon, giving the company a 50% property tax break for 15 years in exchange for an estimated $32 million for local schools. Commissioners are now planning a dedicated public forum, tentatively Aug. 22 or 29, and weighing a temporary moratorium after a tense meeting requiring metal detectors and extra security.
• Westlake, TX: The Planning and Zoning Commission endorsed initial site plans for PowerHouse Data Centers' proposed 300-megawatt Circle T campus on nearly 88 acres, with the developer funding a 350-megawatt substation at no cost to residents. Neighboring Keller residents packed a meeting days earlier over the project's proximity to their homes, but Keller officials say they have no jurisdiction since the site sits entirely within Westlake.

Projects Denied/Withdrawn

• Palm Beach County, FL: Commissioners voted 5-1 in July to reject the $2 billion Project Tango AI data center near Loxahatchee, after water-demand estimates varied wildly between the developer's 5,000-gallon daily figure and county staff's 100,000-gallon projection. The denial is without prejudice, and a separate temporary halt on new large-scale applications heads to a public hearing and first vote Aug. 27.

💬 Catch Up on Discussions

• Boulder City, NV: The dispute over a data center on federal land outside the city has moved into federal court and Congress, with opponents warning the project could set a template for AI development on public land across the West. The city attorney filed for a halt on July 24, and the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club petitioned the Interior Board of Land Appeals to pause construction three days later.
• New York: Officials detailed next steps under the state's hyperscale moratorium, with Gov. Kathy Hochul floating a "decommissioning bond" so communities aren't left with abandoned sites and citing the long-vacant Bethlehem Steel property as a cautionary example. Genesee County's Legislature chair pushed back on the pause covering the $19.5 billion Stream U.S. Data Centers project, arguing it already has supporting infrastructure; Hochul said that doesn't make it "ready to go."
• Loudoun County, VA: Amazon filed a site plan for four data center buildings on George Washington University's former Ashburn campus, seeking by-right approval that would bypass planning commission review. A county supervisor called the move a profound loss for the community; it comes as the county's Board of Supervisors, having voted 6-1 in July to study a moratorium, prepares for a Sept. 15 vote.
• Colorado Springs, CO: City Council will decide the fate of the proposed Project Taurus data center after an appeal challenged the Planning Commission's 6-2 approval, which came after a 14-hour hearing where about 80% of speakers opposed the project. Council has 30 to 60 days to act, putting a likely vote in September.
• Little Rock, AR: An 18-month moratorium on large-scale data centers, including a proposed $1 billion Google facility, failed Tuesday when the city Board of Directors deadlocked 4-4, four votes short of passage; the city attorney had warned a moratorium could expose the city to a lawsuit from Google.
• Cheyenne, WY: A petition drive against Microsoft's data center annexation is closing in on the signatures needed to force a November referendum on the 3,460-acre annexation, with organizers at 2,100 of the roughly 3,000 signatures needed by the Aug. 7 deadline.
• Fayetteville, NC: A packed public forum turned into a wave of opposition to proposed data centers, with residents arguing the council's draft zoning safeguards leave out wastewater filtration and clean energy requirements; a formal public hearing on the zoning changes is set for Aug. 10. Neighboring Cumberland County, which passed its own six-month moratorium in June, is separately holding resident input sessions this month.
• Cumberland County, PA: Newly disclosed records show a data center developer spent nearly two years in private talks with Monroe Township officials before its 144-acre proposal became public in April, with the developer's attorney first reaching out to the township solicitor in September 2024. A June public presentation was pulled after yet another private meeting between the two.
• Hancock County, KY: The Kentucky Public Service Commission is weighing a special power contract for TeraWulf's proposed 482-megawatt data center at the former Century Aluminum smelter site, which the company plans to lease to Anthropic. The smelter's existing transmission infrastructure, left over from its 2022 closure, made the site especially attractive to developers.
• Escambia County, FL: Commissioners are continuing debate on an ordinance banning large-scale data centers in unincorporated areas, after residents said promised revisions to explicitly cover all AI data center projects haven't materialized; commissioners vote on the ordinance as written or amended at tonight's hearing.
• Gregg Township, PA: Opponents of a proposed data center are now also fighting PPL's plan for roughly nine miles of new 230,000-volt transmission lines through Lycoming and Union counties, which residents believe is tied to a nearby data center proposal, questioning who will ultimately pay for the infrastructure.
• Plymouth Township, PA: Developer Brian O'Neill released an economic impact study projecting $424 million in local tax revenue over 20 years for his proposed data center at 900 Conshohocken Road, ahead of an Aug. 6 zoning hearing board meeting.
• Yerington, NV: Dozens marched in protest of the proposed Monarch Data Center, a 505-acre, up-to-1-gigawatt project developer Copia Power says could bring $2.5 billion in county tax revenue, ahead of a Lyon County commissioner vote on the zoning change it needs to proceed.
• Dowagiac, MI residents filed suit against Alliance Cloud Services, alleging nearly two years of constant high-pitched noise from its data center; the city has since adopted a noise ordinance and issued fines the company disputes.
• Ohio state Rep. Jennifer Gross introduced House Bill 983, which would require a local citizen vote before new data centers could be built statewide, set environmental standards, end tax abatements and apply retroactively to the state's more than 150 existing facilities.
• Lincoln County, NE officials set a timeline for finalizing data center regulations, with a Planning Commission public hearing set for Aug. 11 and a final hearing targeted for Aug. 31.
• Yakima County, WA commissioners unanimously directed staff to draft a six-month data center moratorium after residents raised concerns over water scarcity, even though no applications currently exist.
• Maysville, GA: A City Council meeting was cut short after an update on the Northern Data/Rumble project, which recently cleared state land-disturbance approval, sparked shouting that forced an early adjournment.
• La Crosse, WI's City Plan Commission advanced an 18-month data center moratorium, with the Common Council set to vote on final approval Aug. 13.
• Cascade County, MT: Roughly 250 residents signed a petition asking commissioners to pause new hyperscale data center development until formal regulations are in place, tracing back to an abandoned 600-megawatt proposal near Great Falls.
• Oklahoma regulators are reviewing new utility tariffs for large electricity users to keep expanding data center demand from shifting infrastructure costs onto residential ratepayers.
• Paducah, KY's proposed $100 billion AI data center campus is caught in the middle of federal legislation that would ban AI data centers on federal land, since the DOE-owned site sits on former uranium enrichment property.
• Grimes County, TX officials will review a nearly 900-signature resident petition calling for stronger oversight of large infrastructure projects seeking public incentives, following concerns over SpaceX's planned Terafab facility.
• Allentown, PA is facing pressure over a proposed 75-megawatt data center as the developer pushes for a faster approval process and a neighboring nonprofit mounts a legal challenge; new notification and zoning rules adopted in response won't apply to this application since it predates them.
• Butte County, CA officials told residents no data center proposals have been submitted for unincorporated areas, while more than 130 attendees at an informational meeting urged the county to adopt stronger safeguards before any do.

📅 Upcoming Meetings

• Fayetteville, NC: City Council public hearing on data center zoning changes, Aug. 10.
• Cumberland County, NC: Community input session in Hope Mills, Aug. 11.
• Lincoln County, NE: Planning Commission public hearing, Aug. 11.
• La Crosse, WI: Common Council vote on final moratorium approval, Aug. 13.
• Effingham County, GA: Dedicated public forum on Project Camellia, tentatively Aug. 22 or 29.
• Palm Beach County, FL: Public hearing and first vote on the temporary application halt, Aug. 27.

👀 In case you missed it...

Read something interesting from this weekly briefing? You can read more about it below.

Data Centers: Daily Notes | August 6, 2026

Oklahoma is reviewing new utility tariffs for large electricity users; Bedford Township approved a comprehensive data center ordinance; Paducah could see its proposed $100 billion AI data center campus affected by federal legislation. READ MORE.

Strisker - Short-term rental and data center regulationsGenelaine Urbano

Data Centers: Daily Notes | August 5, 2026

Texas ordered a pause on new data center grid connection; Virginia regulators ordered Dominion Energy to shift more transmission infrastructure costs onto data centers; Little Rock; Cheyenne; Effingham County. READ MORE.

Strisker - Short-term rental and data center regulationsGenelaine Urbano

Data Centers: Daily Notes | August 4, 2026

Ohio state Rep. Jennifer Gross introduced legislation requiring local citizen votes before new data centers could be built; Lincoln County officials set a timeline for finalizing new data center regulations; Smithville enacted an 18-month moratorium on data centers. READ MORE.

Strisker - Short-term rental and data center regulationsGenelaine Urbano

Data Centers: Daily Notes | August 3, 2026

New York paused approval of large new data center projects over 50 megawatts; Boulder City dispute over a proposed data center on federal land has escalated into federal court and Congress; New Albany developer Eolian broke ground on a 1-gigawatt-hour battery storage project. READ MORE.

Strisker - Short-term rental and data center regulationsGenelaine Urbano

🌟 Most Clicked Link

Data center to proceed with land use disturbance following state approval

📱 Social Buzz

Episode Title: Chris Wood, TU President and CEO on Rescinding the Ruleless Rule and the Impact of Data Centers
Episode: Loop to Loop

Listen:https://13f00a8b-f975-423b-8fff-2c468bf1b670.libsyn.com/chris-wood-tu-president-and-ceo-on-rescinding-the-ruleless-rule-and-the-impact-of-data-centers

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