When the Welcome Mat Moves: Data Centers Head for the Rural South

Data centers servicing the flourishing digital information processing industry are finding mixed welcomes as they search for business locations across the Rural South.

Job-hungry economic developers have rendered heartfelt receptions and laid out huge cakes for the entrepreneurs at public gatherings. City and county officials have okayed rezoning requests and issued proclamations heralding companies seeking large landholdings for such projects.

However, in metropolitan Atlanta, the South's population and commercial centerpiece, the greetings are wearing a little thin.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Dec. 7 that 'for much of the last three years, metro Atlanta has been one of the hottest markets in the country for new data. But as they proliferated, Atlanta and many surrounding counties have banned or paused development of new server farms, a sign they've worn out their welcome in some communities. Now, prospectors are looking far outside the metro area for land and local leaders open to data centers.'

For example, in the small town of Blakely, Georgia, elected officials and community enthusiasts rolled out the red carpet and paired a lavish welcome for the data center developer with a 200th birthday celebration for the Southwest Georgia town.

The party came complete with a cake whose substantial size symbolized the huge 2,000-acre tract east of town where is planned a campus full of buildings housing digital connections.

'The desire for new data centers to power artificial intelligence and other technology, meanwhile, has not waned.'

Representatives of the technology company had spoken earlier at the local Rotary Club (and attended a local prep football game); telling members that build-out of the campus housing the center should take between 7-10 years, with 3,000 construction workers employed over time. Full-time employment might reach hundreds of direct and indirect workers, they say.

The total investment by the company operating the data center could be in the 10 figure-plus range. That was good economic news to a place that recently lost a paper mill employing almost 600 workers. Other areas also lost paper mills. Data centers might fill the void.

The amount of investment promised in rural Georgia reminds of data center plans in the isolated hamlet of Satartia in extreme western Mississippi, hugging the banks of the Yazoo River. There, Exxon-Mobil is talking of spending — ahem — $30 billion, which would be the state's largest-ever corporate investment, according to reporting by Gulfport-based MississippiTelevision.com.

The news outlet added that the 'massive power plant and data center complex could dwarf even the Amazon data center project in Madison County … at $10-16 billion.'

'If approved, this would be a game-changing investment for the Mississippi Delta — transforming Yazoo County into a hub of energy and technology, and potential rewriting of the future of rural economic growth in the South,' the report said.

Before the data center rush began in earnest, word was that the leading utilities in this region were worried about producing enough electric power to fill the data centers' needs. That concern seems to have vanished as utility regulators have approved new power-producing generation capacity.

Environmentalists are filling worriers' void. In Georgia, a couple living on 30 wooded acres fears the loss of wildlife resources, including the viewing of black bears. Some have fretted over noise pollution, despite developers' claim all noise is contained within the huge structures. Loss of water resources is claimed, but the job-creators say a 'closed loop system' negates that argument.

The huge cash investments, the amount of tax revenues that will necessarily follow and above-average pay scales, particularly in job-needy areas, tend to diminish most concerns. Money talks.

Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.