NEHAWKA, Neb. (KMTV) — The village of Nehawka, Nebraska, has voted to indefinitely ban data centers, becoming the first municipality in the state to do so. The ban officially goes into effect in 2 weeks.
The community of under 200 people joins a growing number of localities in Nebraska and across the Midwest pushing back against data center development, but Nehawka's outright ban sets it apart .
"We keep a pretty low profile except for on baseball game nights then it's packed but otherwise we're pretty quiet," said Chad Krueger, chairman of the board of trustees of Nehawka.
Nebraska has seen a split response to data center growth. The state pulled incentives for data centers, and some counties, including Cass County, have issued moratoriums to allow more time for regulation. Nehawka, however, has banned them outright.
One concern driving opposition is the sheer size of data centers — specifically hyperscale projects that can span thousands of acres.
"Their optioning is more acres than our village is," Krueger said.
Jayden Speed, who started the Cass County Data Center Watch Coalition lives in Nehawka. He said residents are less focused on large-scale development and more interested in simpler local needs.
"Yeah, that's probably the only development that anyone wants is for the bar to come back," Speed said after the local bar and grill closed down.
Datacenterbans.com is a website that looks to track nationwide blocks on data centers.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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