A plan to build an artificial intelligence data center in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi, is drawing fierce opposition from area residents—the latest community to object to such a project around the Magnolia State.
The proposed $6 billion complex, dubbed the Big Woods Technology Park, will encompass 800 acres of private property near Bassfield, Mississippi, approximately 300 of which will be leveled to accommodate the data center and supporting facilities, the project website states. The project comes from Eagle Rock Partners, a private real estate development firm headquartered in North Carolina.
During an Oct. 5 board of supervisors meeting, residents shared a litany of concerns about the proposed data center, from its potential public health impacts to the lack of opportunities for public input. They also delivered a petition with 950 physical signatures calling for a temporary pause on data center construction in the county.
“(With) something of this magnitude, we feel like we should have had a voice,” Samantha Pruitt, a Bassfield resident, told board members on Monday. “No matter the outcome here today, we will not stop pushing back and bringing the spotlight to (Jefferson Davis County) until we have stopped this.”
The proposed campus near Bassfield comes amid a wave of data center development around Mississippi, with seven projects underway across multiple counties. As tech companies race to build the infrastructure powering their AI and cloud computing services, communities have sounded the alarm over air and noise pollution, inflated utility bills, increased traffic, and depleted natural resources, among other challenges. In Southaven, Mississippi, residents are actively suing data center giant xAI, alleging that its operations are diminishing their quality of life.
At Monday’s board meeting, Jefferson Davis County officials sought to address some of those concerns, highlighting plans from Eagle Rock Partners to preserve local resources and avoid passing on costs to residents. The proposed data center campus will produce its own power using on-site gas generators, eliminating the need to connect to the grid or build new energy infrastructure to support operations, officials explained. It will also implement a closed-loop cooling system to keep its servers from overheating, drawing an estimated 20,000 gallons of water per day from the Catahoula Formation Aquifer.
“They’ll fill their tanks over time, drawing no more water than that out of the ground,” County Engineer Les Dungan said, noting that the site’s projected water usage is similar to that of a school or hotel. “Once those tanks are full, they’ll use that to recirculate and cool the equipment.”
Meeting participants also touted the project’s expected economic benefits: At full buildout, the data center campus will support about 200 full-time jobs while generating roughly $70 million in annual tax revenue for Jefferson Davis County, according to projections from Eagle Rock Partners. That could be transformative for a county where the average household income is less than $40,000 per year, one speaker explained.
“I cannot possibly overstate for you how rare it is to see a $6 billion project anywhere, much less in rural Jeff Davis County,” said Todd Jackson, the executive vice president at the Area Development Partnership, a nonprofit organization supporting economic development around Hattiesburg, Mississippi. “Let’s not waste that opportunity.”
During their allotted speaking time, area residents stressed that the proposed data center’s public health and environmental risks far outweigh its economic benefits. Several called for adopting stricter noise and air pollution ordinances before any such project can move forward, noting that approving data centers without these safeguards has proved catastrophic for other communities.
“AI data centers come with big promises of money and guarantees of our safety,” said Miah Crosby, a South Mississippi resident. “(But) we have already documented proof from areas that they’ve invaded before that they do destroy the environment, the physical health of the people, and leave financial ruin in their wake.”
“Companies will pay anything … to get their foot in the door,” added Sonya Graves, a former Jefferson Davis County resident. “I want to ask you all, how much money will it take to buy back our peace of mind, our pure water, and our air?”
Asked whether they would take steps to prevent the project from advancing, county officials said they have little authority to intervene because the proposed complex is located on private property. Jefferson Davis County lacks its own zoning regulations, giving property owners more flexibility over land use and development.
In a statement to the Mississippi Free Press, Eagle Rock Partners emphasized its commitment to developing the data center campus “with appropriate safeguards.”
“Big Woods Technology Park remains in the early stages of development,” the company wrote in an Oct. 6 email. “As planning advances, we will continue the engineering and environmental work required for applicable approvals, engage with qualified experts and government agencies, and explore local recruitment and workforce-development opportunities.”
Eagle Rock says the next steps in the development process include advancing the campus design and “pursuing applicable permits and approvals.” Construction of the site could begin as early as next year and last between five and seven years, according to the project website.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of data centers and read past stories here.
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