Moratorium for Data Centers
PETITION FOR A MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT IN
McCORMICK COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
To: The County Council of McCormick, SC
From: Residents, Property Owners, and Concerned Citizens of McCormick County
Petition Purpose: We the undersigned residents and stakeholders of McCormick County formally petition the McCormick County Council to immediately enact a temporary , 12-month moratorium on the acceptance, review, processing, and approval of all new land-use permits, rezoning requests, special exceptions, and site plans related to the construction or expansion of data centers and data center campuses within the county.
Reasons for this request: A temporary pause is urgently required to protect our community's infrastructure, natural resources, and quality of life for the following reasons:
- Grid Reliability and Utility Strain: Data centers consume vast amounts of electrical power. A moratorium will help ensure that our local energy infrastructure is not overwhelmed, preventing potential rate hikes or reliability issues for residential customers.
- Water Resource Protection: Massive industrial cooling systems used by data centers can contaminate local water tables and aquifers, putting our shared water resources at risk.
- Zoning and Quality of Life: Current county ordinances do not adequately address the unique 24/7 industrial fan noise, heavy electronic footprint, and visual impacts of large-scale data center facilities near residential or agricultural zones.
- Precedent for Smart Growth: Other South Carolina counties (including Newberry, Spartanburg, and York) have successfully paused data center approvals to draft strict, protective development standards. McCormick County must do the same to protect its rural character.
Our Explicit Demand: We demand that the McCormick County Council introduce and pass an emergency ordinance implementing a 12-month moratorium on data centers and development. This pause must remain in effect until the County Council, Planning Commission and independent experts thoroughly study the long-term environmental, economic, and infrastructure impacts, and update the McCormick County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) with specific, stringent regulations for these facilities.