Hubbard calls for moratorium on rural data center construction in NC-05

Chuck Hubbard’s call for a national moratorium on data center construction in rural America landed squarely in Guilford County’s biggest growth debate: whether the Triad should chase the tax base and jobs that data centers promise, or slow down before water, power and land-use costs deepen. For Greensboro, the question is not abstract. The city’s reservoirs are already under drought pressure, and one planned campus could start at 20 megawatts and eventually exceed 300 megawatts.

Greensboro City Council members signaled their own unease about the wave of proposals spreading across North Carolina. Crystal Black said Southeast Greensboro already carries more than its share of industrial burden. “We hold the highways. We hold pollution, we hold landfills,” Black said. Tammi Thurm also pressed staff to alert the council earlier to future data center proposals, giving the city more time to study the impacts before projects reach an agenda.

The policy fight in Raleigh is not moving toward a ban, but it is moving toward tighter control. A bill advancing through the North Carolina General Assembly would add restrictions on electricity and water use, noise pollution and land-use planning. It would also require large data centers that use at least 100 megawatts in a month to rely on closed-loop cooling systems. Supporters say those limits could blunt the worst impacts; critics say the state still has not answered the core question of how much strain the industry will place on communities.

The money at stake is large. The North Carolina Department of Commerce estimates data centers now receive about $50 million a year in state sales and use tax exemptions. If every proposed project gets built, that figure could climb to about $450 million a year. The break was enacted in 2006 and expanded in 2015, and Gov. Josh Stein has urged lawmakers to modify or repeal it, warning about higher power bills and lost revenue.

In Guilford County, the local numbers are just as concrete. Greensboro’s water system depends on Lake Townsend, Lake Brandt and Lake Higgins, which together hold about eight billion gallons when full. Greensboro Water Resources has been under Stage 2 mandatory water restrictions since March 31, 2026, during an extreme drought. At the same time, ImpactData and Raeden have already announced a planned 20MW AI-capable campus at Gateway Research Park, with Phase I expected in the second quarter of 2026 and possible expansion beyond 300MW. Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston called the new facility a “major win” for residents and the region.

North Carolina is hardly alone. Lawmakers in at least 14 states were considering bans or moratoriums on data centers as of June 2, 2026, and several North Carolina communities, including Chatham County, Gates County, Canton, Apex and Boone, have already adopted pauses. Apex’s town council unanimously approved a 12-month moratorium on data centers, data processing facilities and cryptocurrency mining operations on April 14, 2026. In the Triad, the fight now sits at the intersection of growth, drought and the long-term cost of powering the next wave of digital infrastructure.