Laurens County Council has advanced to a potential Sept. 14 3rd and final reading, and a Public Hearing, its 1-year moratorium on accepting permits for Data Centers.
Two people spoke in opposition, or concern, of Data Centers, and a local attorney brought a potential loophole to the council’s attention. Council Member Arthur Lee Philson Jr. said people interested in opposing Data Centers also need to take their concerns to the Cities of Laurens and Clinton.
He said the County would have no jurisdiction over a Data Center proposed for the Hunter Industrial Park, for instance.
He said the county also has solar farms that can cause noise and the County is working on a Data-Centers-are-allowed-here ordinance amendment to its Land-Use Plan, that would direct these facilities into parts of the county away from neighborhoods where they possibly could disrupt the quality of life.
Data Centers have a power ally in the President of the United States:
“I saw Texas the other day, sort of against it. I think it’s a mistake, and I’m not taking positions here. I just think it’s a mistake (to delay data centers’ development). There are other communities that want it, and when a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come to the community. I think they are tremendously important for the economics. It could be bigger than oil. Data centers could be bigger than oil. There are a lot of communities that want them.” — President Donald J Trump, Aug. 7, on Punchbowl News
But, there are concerns that have been expressed in communities throughout the Nation.
Speaking to the Aug. 10 meeting of the Laurens County Council, Hickory Tavern resident John Parnell commended the council for being pro-active in adopting an ordinance “imposing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, review, approval, and issuance of development permits for data centers within Laurens County.” The measure is sponsored by Council Vice-Chairman Matthew Brownlee.
Parnell said that while Data Center developers have the technology to develop mega-centers, there are too many uncertainties related to their effects on quality of life (water-use, power grid, noise etc). He suggested a trip to Moncks Corner, in the SC Lowcountry, where the state’s largest Data Center is located, to personally judge the noise levels.
Nick Babb said a moratorium ordinance should be more than a “feel good” measure, citing people in Spartanburg County affected by a Data Center already under construction - “they can’t even sell their homes” - and a Georgia couple having their property taken by eminent domain (Georgia Power to add a power grid for a Date Center).
Michanna Tate, a local attorney who is the Democratic nominee for SC House District 14, said the County’s moratorium has a “loophole” that Greenwood and Newberry counties’ moratoriums do not — that an exemption would be a Data Center constructed by a government agency.
“I don’t want them to use it as a loophole to come here (Laurens County), and not there (neighboring counties),” said Tate, who specializes in real estate litigation.
County Attorney Wes Meetze said the ordinance section is a nod to the Supremacy Clause, that a local/county government cannot impose its will on federal, state, and city governments. He said striking that section would make the County subject to its own ordinances (possibly restricting where a Data Center owned by Laurens County, if one ever was proposed or found to be necessary, could be located).
The Moratorium’s 2nd reading passed on a 5-0 vote (council members Brown Patterson and Shirley Clark were absent). The County is advertising a Public Hearing on this ordinance for Monday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m. in the council chambers of the Historic Courthouse in downtown Laurens.
