PLATTSMOUTH, Neb (KMTV) — Cass County commissioners voted for a 12-month pause on new data centers as residents packed the boardroom to weigh in on the issue.
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Lisa Hild is one of dozens of neighbors who attended the meeting hoping to slow the pace of proposed data centers. She says her family farm sits across the road from land optioned by Tenaska as a possible data center site.
"It would change our entire quality of life," she said.
A retired teacher, Hild and her husband are concerned about the environmental impact.
"When they said, 'We can offer you an upwards of $70,000 an acre,' it's like, you can't offer us a million dollars to sell our land," she said.
Jayden Speed started a coalition called Cass County Data Center Watch.
"There's a lot of worry about water usage, there's worry about electricity usage," he said.
Eric Klein testified as a neutral party on the issue. He says he owns a small business that contracts with data centers and thinks the added tax revenue could lower property tax rates for everyone else in the county.
"Obviously, it generates the tax revenue, but I've seen a lot of donations to specifically like, the schools and specific organizations for community betterment," he said.
Cass County resident Mike Dale told commissioners he favors the data centers, suggesting a long moratorium could mean the county gets left behind.
"Look at the uptick of the communities (with data centers) from the inflow of dollars. It's helped them immensely," Dale said.
Speed called the year-long pause "positive."
"But we have a lot more work to do in terms of figuring out the exact specifics. In terms of having more conversations as a community," he said.
"Everybody's for progress, everybody's for technology. It just doesn't seem like rural Cass County is the place to build a data center right now," Hild said.
Klein added, "It is money coming in. It's hard to be an opponent, but I also want to be considerate of my neighbors."
The commissioners also voted to postpone a resolution regulating data centers.
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