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Jasper County Council is considering a one-year moratorium on data center development within the county.
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The proposed moratorium comes as many South Carolina counties have passed or proposed their own data center moratoriums over community concerns about water and electricity consumption in recent months. Neighboring Beaufort County is debating its own moratorium and regulations on data centers.
Jasper County’s proposed moratorium
Jasper County Council unanimously passed the data center moratorium on first reading at a meeting on Tuesday, Sep. 8. To be implemented, the moratorium must pass three readings. There are no data centers proposed in Jasper County at this time, Council Chairman Joey Rowell said.
The moratorium would pause the acceptance of, review of, or action on any applications for development of “Data Centers, Data Processing Facilities, Cryptocurrency Mining Operations or any Other Uses Associated With Data Processing Facilities,” according to the . If passed, the moratorium would give Jasper County staff time to ensure the county can control where and how large data centers can be in the county, Director of Planning & Building Services Lisa Wagner said at the meeting.
The moratorium would also allow the county to make sure data centers won’t have adverse effects on residents and “no significant” demands placed on the water supply, electric grid or emergency services, Wagner said. The ordinance would only apply to unincorporated areas of Jasper County outside of town limits.
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Moratoriums in other counties
Jasper County is now one of 20 S.C. counties to approve or propose moratoriums or regulations on data centers. Neighboring Colleton County implemented a six-month moratorium in July after a data center was proposed near Walterboro, and Beaufort County is debating a nine-month moratorium of its own. Here’s what other counties are doing:
Adopted moratoriums
- Greenwood County: 1 year
- Newberry County: 1 year
- York County: 9 months
- Chesterfield County: 6 months
- Colleton County: 6 months
- Chester County: 6 months
Proposed moratoriums
- Fairfield County: 1 year
- Laurens County: 1 year
- Kershaw County: 1 year
- McCormick County: 9 months
- Beaufort County: 9 months
- Orangeburg County. 6 months
- Clarendon County: 6 months
- Sumter County: 6 months
Proposed regulations
- Oconee County
- Horry County
- Edgefield County
Where are data centers being built?
Data centers are planned for Effingham County in Georgia and at the Savannah River Site in Barnwell County. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, will build the data center in Effingham. The company has nicknamed it “Project Camellia,” and estimates it needs 3.2 gigawatts of power to operate, which Georgia Power will supply in phases between 2028 and 2032.
Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley Counties all have data centers in operation. Berkeley County’s data center is operated by Google, and the company recently built two more in Dorchester County.
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