A group of residents sued a data center developer and the Spartanburg County government Monday, alleging necessary public input and transparency measures were sidestepped while seeking permission to build.
The same organization of Upstate residents has also asked South Carolina’s utility regulators to evaluate whether the developer’s plan to power the data center with about 450 megawatts of its own natural gas meets state legal requirements.
Residents and local governments across South Carolina and the country have pushed back against rapid data center development, often citing concerns that the infrastructure needed to power AI and other digital services could use too much water, raise power bills or lead to noise pollution in rural communities…