Data Center opponents call for a two-year delay

By Dennis Marshall

Protect Posey County and Citizens Action Coalition used a Saturday, June 27, meeting at Zion-Lippe Church to call for a two-year moratorium on data center development.

Organizers said the county needs time to study possible effects on electric rates, farmland, water use, noise, roads and nearby property before any zoning or development decision is made.

The request comes as public transmission-planning records show a proposed 600-megawatt new customer along the Posey-Gibson line, and at least one local landowner says his family received lease documents tied to what he was told was an AI facility. No developer has publicly identified itself, and no formal county application has been confirmed.

Ryan Stratman of Citizens Action Coalition said the event was coordinated with Protect Posey County and estimated attendance at 175 to 200 people. Bryce Gustafson, also with the coalition, spoke during the meeting and answered questions from residents.

The gathering followed earlier public concern about a possible project near Boberg and Hoenert roads, where residents have said landowners were approached about selling or leasing property.

Stratman said the proposed moratorium would give local officials time to gather information on data center impacts and consider rules before any formal proposal comes forward.

The clearest public record discussed at the meeting was Project Raider, a Midcontinent Independent System Operator transmission-planning item tied to the Posey-Gibson line. The records show a proposed 345-kilovolt substation connected to a 600-megawatt load addition in Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Co./CenterPoint Energy Indiana South territory.

The filing does not identify the customer or describe the facility as a data center, but organizers said the size and location match what they have heard from landowners in the area.

Al Schmitz, whose family farm lies on Copperline Road between Caborn and Stierley roads, said his family was contacted about 11 months ago about leasing ground near Stierley, Downen and Boberg roads. The property includes land that had been his father and grandfather’s homeplace.

“They contacted us about 11 months ago and wanted to put a lease on the farm,” Schmitz said.

He said the offer changed more than once after the family did not respond, and that he later learned the land interest was connected to an AI facility. Schmitz said the contact came through a Louisville-area company that told him it was trying to lease about 1,200 acres total.

A screenshot Schmitz shared showed a CBRE employee on an email chain titled “Revised LOIs.” He said the underlying letters of intent and lease documents included nondisclosure provisions.

Schmitz said he also received a call from CenterPoint about the transmission line that crosses the family’s field. He said the line, which runs nearly a mile across the property, made the land attractive for possible development.

For Schmitz, the issue is the possible permanent removal of productive farmland his family has held for generations.

“I farmed all my life, and I enjoy farming,” Schmitz said. “Farmers just don’t like to waste farm ground.”

He said the family discussed whether three homes on the property would have to be included in any deal. The decision weighed on him for weeks.

“For three weeks I didn’t sleep,” Schmitz said. “When we finally told them no, I said, OK, that gave me peace again. I said, yep, this is the right thing to do.”

Schmitz said he supports either a one- or two-year moratorium or treating data centers as a separate zoning use with their own requirements, public hearings and larger setbacks from neighboring property lines.

“I hope it doesn’t go through,” he said. “But if it does, they actually set the warehouses, the buildings back … just for the noise and for the heat and everything.”

Stratman said organizers are drawing from utility records, landowner accounts, national polling and studies from other communities. He cited a recent Gallup poll showing national opposition to AI data centers in people’s local areas.

Speakers also discussed research on heat effects near data centers, though that research focuses on land-surface temperature rather than a direct forecast for any local project.

Several key questions remain unresolved.

No public document discussed at the meeting identified Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft or any other company as being behind the possible project. Stratman said Amazon was mentioned to at least one landowner by a real estate company, but that remains based on private conversations rather than a public filing.

Rumors that North Posey High School could close if the project does not move forward also circulated. Schmitz said he heard the claim from multiple people but did not know its origin. Stratman described it as speculation.

Schmitz said he has spoken directly with county commissioners and told them what his family was offered and where the land is located.

“I can show you the lease,” he said. “I can show you exactly where they attempted to lease.”

No formal county application has been confirmed. That leaves the issue in a gap between private land discussions and the public approval process, with residents asking officials to act before a developer appears before the county.

For now, the project remains unnamed. The utility record shows a major new electric load. Landowners say property has been sought. Opponents want a moratorium. What remains unknown is who is behind the possible project, whether the land discussions will become a formal filing, what rules would apply and how county officials will respond.