The Starke County Plan Commission voted last week to approve a one-year moratorium on any data centers of more 5,000 square feet at a time when data center projects are flooding into the Region. Amazon, for instance, is scouting out sites in the seven-country Northwest Indiana region for 2.4 GW of data center capacity that could be spread out over more than one location.
Amazon just built a $11 billion data center in New Carlisle to train artificial intelligence models. Other projects are being pursued in LaPorte, Michigan City, Hobart, Hammond and Merrillville.
White, Putnam and Marshall counties have put similar moratoriums into place.
Starke County's moratorium would still allow hospitals or other businesses to build supplementary data centers under 5,000 square feet. Plan commission members said the intent was to block large data center developments that typically exceed 100,000 square feet and not hamstring existing businesses in town.
Dozens of residents voiced opposition to data center development at a Plan Commission meeting last week at Knox High School. They raised a variety of concerns, including about water use, environmental impact and effect on electricity bills.
"Health care is more costly than ever. None of us can afford to get really sick right now," resident Sophia Parker said. "In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk's AI company has built a data center whose energy demands have outgrown the region's energy capabilities. We've heard from everyone else saying that our infrastructure does not have the capacity to support a data center. And as a result, gas turbines are emitting nitrogen oxides to the point where residents cannot breathe. Their community is being used as a sacrifice for others to get rich. We cannot allow that to happen to us."
Mark Milo said hundreds of residents oppose data centers because of concerns about water use, noise and light. He called for an outright ban on data centers.
"It is not going to benefit us in any way. A 20- to 50-year average of tax abatement. How does that benefit our community?" he said. "20 or 30 jobs, 50 jobs. I think we would be better served to be the escape for other communities that put in data centers. Our town of Knox just invested in a subdivision that needs homes built in it. There's other land that's suitable for homes to be built. People of means will want to escape where these data centers are. We can be the refuge for that. We would benefit from the number of people that we have growing in our community."
Tammy Trader said data centers did not fit with the rural characters of the community.
"City folks call us rednecks and hillbillies. But those same people depend on us for food. They attend our farmers markets and fairs. They buy homes here to escape the noise and pollution of the city and suburbs," she said. "So why would you consider allowing this? Who is it benefiting? The farmers that need the river and the water for irrigation? The wildlife that live and feed off the vegetation and nest in the trees? The homeowners that are going to pay more in taxes for property that's going to be worth less?"
Economic development officials tout the investment, construction jobs and increases in assessed valuation data centers bring, saying they can generate significant amounts of tax revenue while using few government services and also help diversify the economy.
No one spoke in favor of data centers in Starke County during the two-hour meeting. Bob Doris asked if they could be located somewhere else, in a less rural environment.
"If you drive up to Lake Michigan and go up to the beaches, there are signs around explaining how lake water level has risen in the last few years. Lake Michigan is eroding the beaches strongly. Why can't they put them on the lake?" he said. "There are shuttered steel mills departments and other factories anywhere you drive from Whiting to Michigan City. You could put in data centers there."
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