Allendale County data center rumors grow as nearby counties slow projects

In Allendale County, talk of a data center has picked up as Newberry County Council unanimously rejected a land ordinance tied to Project Altair and approved a 12-month moratorium after residents warned about water supply, electric rates and continuous industrial noise.

Newberry leaders had already held a public hearing on Project Altair at the April 15, 2026 council meeting, and county officials said they notified the public of general project information before opening the hearing to preserve transparency. By the June 3 vote, council members had denied the ordinance that would have allowed a developer to buy land for the project.

Allendale’s own public record points to planning, not approval. On June 11, 2024, the Allendale County Planning Commission discussed the Ten Year Comprehensive Plan, including the economic development, transportation and priority investment chapters, and county meeting videos show public business continuing through 2025 and 2026.

The stakes in Allendale are real. Data USA says 99.5 percent of county residents are U.S. citizens, Federal Reserve Economic Data puts Allendale County’s 2024 GDP at 398,266, and a state library labor analysis says average wages rose 27 percent over five years. In a county with that economic profile, a large industrial project would affect land use, tax revenue and utility planning quickly if a formal proposal ever moved beyond talk.

Across South Carolina, the pace has accelerated. A July 2026 Cleanview tracker listed 12 operating data centers in the state with 581 MW of combined capacity, plus 11 planned projects that would add 698 MW. That expansion has helped trigger pushback in several counties, where residents have raised the same three issues now shaping the Newberry fight: power costs, water demand and the noise of a continuous industrial site.

Claims in conservative and tech circles that anti-data-center activism is being driven by China have also circulated, but the public evidence for that remains thin. For Allendale, the public paper trail still shows broad planning language, while Newberry’s vote shows how fast a data center rumor can turn into a land-use fight with direct consequences for neighbors, utilities and county finances.