In the rolling pastures south of Granbury, a low mechanical hum has become a constant backdrop to daily life. Neighbors say the noise and vibrations from a Marathon Digital bitcoin mine next to the Wolf Hollow power plant have disturbed sleep, spooked livestock and chipped away at property values for years. After lawsuits, a narrowly failed ballot measure and repeated appeals to county leaders, the fight over that hum is back in the spotlight.
Local documentary puts the dispute in view
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week released a short documentary, "Fighting Goliath," that follows families who tried to incorporate a town called Mitchell Bend so they could set local noise rules near the mine, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The film weaves together footage from public meetings, resident interviews and court filings to highlight why landowners argue that county and state rules give them few tools to rein in a sprawling industrial site. For those neighbors, the push to change the rules turned into both a civic project and a courtroom battle.
Neighbors sue, alleging private nuisance
More than two dozen residents, represented by Earthjustice, filed a state lawsuit in October 2024 claiming the operation generates "low-frequency noise and vibrations" that have harmed health and driven down property values, according to Earthjustice. The petition identifies the Granbury site at 2001 Mitchell Bend Highway and asks for a permanent injunction to halt what plaintiffs describe as unreasonable noise and vibrations. Those allegations have been a key reason neighbors pushed to create a city that could adopt its own noise standards.
New federal complaint widens the fight
Last Friday, a separate group of nine Hood County property owners filed a federal complaint that alleges private nuisance, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seeks more than $1 million in damages, according to reporting on the filing. Blockspace reports that the plaintiffs include families living only a few tenths of a mile from the pods and that the complaint says the facility's fans and vibrations penetrate homes and disrupt sleep. The new case joins earlier lawsuits and a stack of Hood County citations tied to the same operation.
Ballot-box setback
Residents carried the fight to the ballot box in November 2025, but the incorporation proposal failed by a slim margin, with local returns showing 76 votes against and 50 in favor, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Supporters argued that forming a new city was a last-resort way to enact local noise controls because Texas counties generally lack the authority to impose city-style noise ordinances. The close result and its aftermath, including a federal lawsuit from the company that sought to block the vote, left the community split and the core conflict unresolved.
Why county rules often fall short
Hood County commissioners have turned down calls for a moratorium on new data-center projects and do not have the same permitting tools that cities use, a county review and outside reporting found, according to KERA. At the same time, regulators and courts are weighing new power-plant permits tied to the site, a tangle of land-use, energy and environmental rules that residents say leaves them with limited options. That regulatory gap helps explain why neighbors have tried litigation, a ballot initiative and public pressure all at once.
Legal implications
The dispute now runs along several legal tracks, including a state nuisance suit backed by Earthjustice, county citations and recent federal complaints that have been consolidated and moved through the Northern District of Texas docket, according to reporting that follows the filings. Judges have so far declined to block incorporation votes outright while leaving room for challenges after elections, a posture that makes years of litigation likely even if the community finds a political compromise. Whatever the outcome, the case raises larger questions about when and how rural communities can push back against industrial-scale data centers as these fights unfold in courtrooms and hearing rooms.
Neighbors and the company respond
Residents have told reporters they are losing sleep, seeing livestock agitated and watching property values slide. "We're tired of billion dollar companies coming in and ruining our lives," one pro-incorporation resident said in reporting by The Texas Tribune. Marathon counters that it has spent money on quieter cooling technology, built a sound wall and that independent studies show the site operates within legal limits. Those dueling narratives, lived experience on one side and technical measurements on the other, are likely to sit at the center of upcoming hearings and appeals.
What to watch next
The new documentary and the latest federal complaint have put Granbury back in the broader debate over how data-center expansion collides with rural life. Reporters and environmental groups are continuing to track contested permits for nearby power plants and state-level arguments over whether counties should gain more authority or tougher standards, according to coverage by Inside Climate News. For now, neighbors say they will keep pressing their case in court and at public meetings, and the hum that started it all is still droning in the background.
