(Radio Iowa) – Eight Iowa counties now have data center moratoriums in place. Linn County’s Board of Supervisors is the latest to enact one, for unincorporated areas of the county, and it will last for 18 months. Jenny Kellison, of Fairfax is among those who called on county officials to press pause.
“It is an opportunity to determine whether the rapid expansion of data centers and the infrastructure they require, including massive power plants…truly align with the future Linn County residents want,” Kellison said. Michael Sadler of Center Point says the world is not going back to life before the internet and a moratorium is silly and unwarranted.
“If it is the case that you’re completely opposed to data centers, turn off your computer, your cell phone, your laptop, your iPad and any other electronic device you use every day,” Sadler said. The moratorium passed last Wednesday on a two-to-one vote. Linn County Board of Supervisors Chair Kirstin Running-Marquardt says the companies developing data centers need to respond to concerns about how much water and electricity would be used.
“The people of Linn County do deserve transparency and we aren’t getting that from the current players,” she said. Supervisor Sami Scheetz voted against the moratorium, arguing a Linn County ordinance adopted in February provided the proper guardrails. “The local government in Iowa with the strongest protections for residents on data centers will be closed for business which will push projects towards places with the weakest regulations,” he said.
Scheetz says developers will choose to put data centers within the city limits of small towns in Linn County. The City of Salix in northwest Iowa recently annexed nearly a thousand acres of farmland in northwest Iowa, where MidAmerican Energy is exploring development of a data center — while Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury Counties have recently adopted data center moratoriums. Clarke, Dubuque, Johnson and Madison Counties also have temporary moratoriums on development of data centers in place.
