In Citrus County, Florida, more than 200 residents packed a nine-hour hearing to block a data center so secretive its own developer couldn't name the client. The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend denial. That's just one of eight stories unfolding across America right now.
🏘️ **COMMUNITY** — The Citrus County Planning & Development Commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of Deltona Corp's application to rezone 1,356 acres for a mystery data center of up to 500 MW in the community of Holder. Every speaker at the nine-hour June 22 hearing opposed the project. Deltona's attorney admitted NDAs prevented naming the end user. The County Commission votes July 14.
💧 **WATER** — Virginia is experiencing its worst drought since 2002, yet state officials confirmed data centers face no special water restrictions — the same rules apply as for any other customer. A Google data center already permitted will be authorized to draw 8 million gallons per day when it opens in 2028. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has declared a statewide drought advisory.
⚖️ **LEGAL** — The New York Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act, a one-year moratorium on new DEC permits for data centers drawing 20 MW or more. If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York becomes the first state in the nation to impose a statewide data center construction freeze. Hochul has until December to decide.
🏛️ **POLICY** — Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed an $18B state budget including a 3-year moratorium on new data center sales tax exemptions (July 1, 2026–June 30, 2029), saving $38M per year. Governors in Illinois and Ohio took similar action. Lawmakers in 28 states have introduced bills in 2026 to scale back data center subsidies.
⚡ **POWER** — Duke Energy asked North Carolina regulators for an 18% residential rate hike to fund data center grid upgrades — despite reporting $1B in extra Q1 2026 revenue from data center customers. The NC AG forced a reduction to 11.6%. Consumer advocates want a separate pricing tier for large industrial customers.
🏗️ **NEW BUILD** — Oracle, OpenAI, Blackstone, and Walbridge broke ground on "The Barn," a $56B Stargate AI campus in Saline Township, Michigan, near Ann Arbor. Governor Whitmer attended. Three 550,000 sq.ft buildings, 1 GW of compute power, with Oracle committing $40B in AI infrastructure on top of $16B in construction.
💰 **INVESTMENT** — Chevron and Microsoft announced Project Kilby on June 22: a 20-year power purchase agreement for a dedicated 2.67 GW natural gas generation facility in West Texas to supply a Microsoft AI data center. First power in 2028. The deal generates $10B+ in state/local taxes and supports ~2,000 regional jobs.
🏘️ **COMMUNITY** — In Bessemer, Alabama, "Project Marvel" — a mystery 4.5M sq.ft hyperscale data center — won city council rezoning approval despite community opposition.
