As residents of one Triangle community have organized in opposition to a plan for a large data storage facility in unincorporated Wake County for nearly half a year, the leaders of another Triangle-adjacent community are considering a yearlong ban on any new data center proposals.
Today, Chatham County’s Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing “to consider a temporary moratorium on the permitting of data centers, data processing facilities, cryptocurrency mining operations, and any other associated uses within the unincorporated areas of Chatham County,” according to the agenda description for the commissioners’ special session.
A vote is expected to immediately follow the hearing with an ordinance going into effect today if the moratorium is approved. It comes as the rise of artificial intelligence is accelerating demand for large data centers across the state, leaving local governments largely unprepared to manage their rapid, water- and energy-intensive expansion. That’s not to mention the close proximity of Chatham County’s eastern border to the proposed 190-acre Wake County data center site…