Kentucky residents confront officials over two massive data centers planned less than 10 miles apart

Residents in Carroll County, Kentucky, pushed back in a unique way against local officials over two proposed hyperscale data centers planned less than 10 miles apart, giving them a taste of what it's like to live next to a data center. 

Here's what to know

Travis Breese, an investigative reporter for WHAS11, posted a clip from the meeting on his TikTok, with the caption: "Carroll County residents are fighting two planned hyperscale data centers within 10 miles of each other." In the video, someone is speaking at the podium when a loud buzzing noise is played by another resident in the room. 

The noise then stops, and you can hear a man in the audience say, "It's annoying, isn't it. 24/7, 365." The speaker continues for a moment before the noise starts again. That's when things start to get tense. 

Scott Nab, Fiscal Court Magistrate, stops the meeting and says, "You guys have made your point, ok." A woman in the audience says, "But we have to live with this now." Nab responds dismissively, saying, "Oh, you have to live with it?" Another person yells out, "Yes, we do! You didn't care what we thought when you went and did this behind our back." That's when an officer steps in and tries to calm everyone down. 

More background

From there, the video shifts to a residence near a 5-megawatt data center already up and running in Florence, Kentucky, to show the loud hum residents have been complaining about. 

One commenter wrote, "We need FULL DISCLOSURE! Who's getting paid? By who?" Another wrote, "Keep fighting. Put loudspeakers outside their homes." A third added, "Property values will plummet if one of those centers are built near you." 

County officials pushed back by suggesting the data centers fall within an existing industrial context. In the footage, the reporter asks, "800 megawatts and 1,000 acres, that doesn't scare you?" Nab responds, "Again, it's an industrial complex. We have other industries in here that have similar amounts of land that are being used for industrial purposes."

What's being done?

Rather than keeping their objections private, residents are using the public meeting to force those concerns into the open.

Outside the meeting, community organizer Laura Beth Austin says, "We're gonna be making them listen to it so they can kinda get a dose of what they're asking us to endure." The comment suggests an effort to make the potential impact impossible to dismiss.

Another commenter wrote, "They don't want to hear that sound for 5 minutes, but they want us to endure that sound 24/7." 

Where can I learn more?

Carroll County isn't the only place grappling with the scale and speed of proposed data center projects. These stories follow residents pushing back on noise, approvals, and other fast-moving development decisions.

• Residents near Louisville also made officials listen to the constant data center hum at a public meeting.

• In Yellowstone County, residents packed a heated county meeting over a proposed data center moratorium.

• In Missouri, backlash sparked moratoriums and recall petitions as residents organized through 10-hour meetings.

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