JACKSON, Miss.—Jason Haley and Shannon Samsa drove three hours from Southaven, Mississippi, to Tuesday’s Jackson City Council meeting with a warning: Don’t make the same mistakes Southaven did with data center construction.
“Every city, every mayor, everybody thinks, ‘Hey, this is going to be different. We’re not going to do it the same. We’re going to protect y’all,’” Haley said. “That’s not what happens once y’all sign to let these data centers come in. They’re going to do whatever they want… skirt every law, use every loophole they can possibly do.”
There are no data centers yet in Jackson proper. But the council met Tuesday to consider a six-month moratorium on data center construction in the capital city. The moratorium, if passed, would give the City time to study the issue and draft regulations for AI companies that want to host data centers in Jackson.
Haley and Samsa told council members about their experiences living near an energy plant operated by artificial intelligence giant xAI, which uses unpermitted gas turbines to power data centers in bordering Memphis, Tennessee. The NAACP is currently suing xAI over unpermitted turbines at the plant.
To further the point, Haley played an audio recording of what his day-to-day life in Southaven sounds like now, with the data center nearby.
The proposed moratorium in Jackson comes amid an explosion of data center development across the Magnolia State, driven by generous tax incentives codified into state law. Since 2024, data center operators have announced investments in Mississippi totaling over $50 billion; at least seven projects are currently underway in half a dozen counties.
These projects are concentrated in the Greater Jackson area, where Amazon is building two data center campuses in Madison County and a smaller site in Clinton, Mississippi. Last summer, AVAIO Digital Partners announced plans to construct a $6 billion data center in Rankin County as well.
Jackson City Council President Brian Grizzell said the purpose of the moratorium is to give city leadership time to pass regulations before any construction is approved.
“Our neighbors seem to have put the cart before the horse, and they’re coming back trying to (pass regulations) after their developments have already started,” Grizzell said at the meeting Tuesday. “I don’t want that to be said of this council, of this administration.”
While there are no data centers under development in Jackson, cheap, vacant land and proximity to active projects could make the city an attractive location for future sites.
“Our neighbors already have developments that are happening, and they’re coming back after the fact to put these frameworks in place,” Grizzell said, referring to a recent ordinance in the City of Ridgeland imposing restrictions on new data center development. “I just think (a) six-month cooling period will give us time to put our heads together (and) figure this out.”
Legal Confusion
There are questions about whether the council’s moratorium would have been invalidated. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, citing a confidential legal memo from City Attorney Drew Martin, said the council was advised that the moratorium may constitute a zoning change. As a result, the ordinance would require a 15-day notice for a public hearing, as required by Mississippi law. The May 19 public discussion of the ordinance was announced on May 5, one day short of the required notice period.
Assistant City Attorney Sandra Moncure offered further explanation, but council members continued to debate if the ordinance was truly a zoning issue or not, alleging that the legal information given to the city was unclear.
“Legal’s position has changed a few times, so I don’t know what’s what,” Grizzell said.
Council members in favor of passing the proposed moratorium on data centers at the May 19 meeting argued that the ordinance was an issue of policy, rather than a zoning decision.
“We’re not trying to take a zoning action, we’re making a policy. There’s a difference,” Ward 2 Jackson City Councilwoman Tina Clay said. “…We can do the zoning in 30 days from now, but we can create a policy tonight.”
While Council members debated the legality of voting on the ordinance, Foote suggested that they amend the ordinance on the spot to make it clear that is general policy rather than a zoning restriction.
“I think the Southaven example is probably the worst data center in the entire country, and they really jumped a gun on that,” Ward 7 Jackson City Councilman Kevin Parkinson said. “I also know… data centers can be an opportunity for us (but) I think there are some projects that no matter how much revenue they bring in, it’s not worth it.”
Ward 6 Jackson Councilwoman Lashia Brown-Thomas asked that the data center ordinance be tabled until they have a clear view on its legality.
Brown-Thomas’ motion passed 4-2.
‘Finite Window of Opportunity’
Before the legal debate began, council members listened to public testimony on the proposed data center moratorium.
Attorney Robert Ireland, speaking on behalf of an unnamed client interested in building a data center in Jackson, spoke out against the moratorium at the May 19 meeting.
Ireland promised his client would be willing to meet the City’s needs, but stressed his belief that the time window for data center investment is closing—and Jackson is at risk of missing it, should the moratorium on data center construction be passed.
“There’s a finite window of opportunity while the major data center users are still making decisions about where they’re located,” Ireland said. “These big investment decisions are being made right now, and many, many millions of dollars have already been committed.”
Ireland asked the city to pass regulations for data centers without the proposed moratorium, which would give the City a six-month research period to develop its data center regulations.
“Just since the moratorium ordinance was introduced, Ridgeland has passed several pages of data center standards (and) Clinton is considering data center standards, so I would have asked that the city pass those standards without a moratorium,” Ireland said. “The city’s got time. No one’s about to put a shovel in the ground to start one of these projects.”
Residents Not Convinced
Jackson residents in attendance to speak out in favor of the proposed moratorium at the May 19 meeting were not swayed by Ireland’s plea.
Jackson resident and doctor of public health Erin Shirley Orey spoke in favor of the moratorium.
“I want to be clear at the outset: This is not an opposition to economic development or advancing technology,” Orey said. “It is a concern that developments are not happening on terms that protect the people who live here.”
Orey believes that the exemptions given to data centers in a 2024 legislative package—including Senate Bill 2001—make Jackson’s proposed moratorium necessary.
“Those regulatory steps that were removed were not bureaucratic red tape, they were community protection mechanisms, such as environmental impact reviews, public comment periods, (and) utility rate oversight, which were designed to catch problems before they become crises,” Orey said.
Designed to persuade Amazon to expand its data center footprint into Mississippi, the legislation granted sweeping tax breaks to companies bringing data centers to the state. It also eased certain permitting requirements for utility providers powering the facilities while allowing their negotiated rates to remain confidential.
“The state of Mississippi moved in two days to give million dollar corporations expedited permits,” Orey said. “Jackson residents deserve at least 183 days to get this right.”
Yolanda Daniels, representing Environmental Advocates of Mississippi, also spoke in favor of the moratorium on data center construction in Jackson at the May 19 meeting.
“This pause is not a rejection of economic development,” Daniels said. “It is the responsible step to ensure that growth does not come at the expense of public health, environmental quality, civil rights, or long-term fiscal stability.”
Daniels and Orey both recounted the potential costs of a data center in Jackson—discussing potential water pollution and depletion, air pollution, noise pollution, electrical bill increases for working class families, related civil rights concerns and the long-term fiscal stability of the community.
Modern data centers can be highly resource-intensive, consuming vast amounts of electricity and water and inflating utility bills for nearby households. In recent years, some neighboring communities have also sounded the alarm about hazardous emissions from the facilities.
“What we’re seeing from communities across the country are increased energy bills, water contamination and depletion, noise pollution, and billions in public tax breaks and subsidies to multi trillion dollar tech companies,” Orey said.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of data centers and read past stories here.
