Anderson County has approved a six-month moratorium on new data center applications, joining other South Carolina counties that have hit pause on the industry amid worries about strained power grids, drained water supplies, and zoning rules that were never built for facilities this size. The freeze halts new applications while county officials work up regulations aimed at addressing the impacts data centers can have on neighboring properties and infrastructure.
According to WYFF, Anderson County Council determined that the county currently has insufficient zoning regulations to manage the scale and impact of data centers, and that inadequately regulated development could strain local infrastructure, the power grid, and the county's water supply. The moratorium is meant to buy time for a comprehensive study of data center development before more projects move forward. Per the station's report, the pause could be extended, though any extension cannot go beyond December 31, 2027.
A Statewide Legislative Gap Fuels Local Action
Anderson County's ordinance directly cites two stalled statewide bills, House Bill H.5286 and House Bill H.5526, both of which would have created a statewide moratorium on data center applications or permits but never made it past committee, the station notes. County officials say they hope South Carolina lawmakers will pass legislation regulating data centers in the next legislative session, and councilmembers said they expect H.5286 and H.5526 to likely be reintroduced next year.
Those bills, formally known as H.5286 and H.5526, were introduced in 2026. H.5286 sought to block state and municipal agencies from approving site plans or tax deals for facilities with covered electrical equipment managing at least one megawatt, according to the South Carolina Legislature. The proposed freeze would have run through January 1, 2028. Both measures stalled in committee, leaving the regulatory vacuum that county councils across the state are now scrambling to fill on their own.
Anderson Joins a Crowded Field of Counties Pressing Pause
Anderson is far from alone. WYFF reports that Greenwood County, Newberry County, Chester County, and York County have all implemented their own moratoriums on data center applications this year, each responding to similar concerns about grid strain, water use, and outdated zoning. York County Council's version, covered previously by Hoodline, gave final approval to a nine-month pause in unincorporated areas to study utility rates, noise, groundwater, and environmental impacts, while exempting vested developments like the multi-building QTS campus.
Newberry County Council unanimously enacted a 12-month moratorium in July, shortly after rejecting a land-sale agreement for a proposed facility known as Project Altair, according to the Post and Courier. Orangeburg County Council advanced the first reading of a similar freeze that same month, amid reported concerns about the environment, community health, affordability, resources, infrastructure, land use, and quality of life. Colleton County had already approved a moratorium on July 6, and WYFF also names Chester County.
Upstate Neighbors Have Already Felt the Friction
The rush toward moratoria has been shaped in part by real-world conflicts already playing out in the Upstate. In Spartanburg County, developer Valara Holdings faced public outcry after submitting an application for air permits on March 4 to add 11 natural gas turbines generating over 400 megawatts of power at a $2.8 billion data center site, followed by a June 25 public hearing and comments through July 31, using an estimated 459,000 gallons of water per day. Hoodline previously reported on how that project, which is transforming a former Kohler manufacturing plant, has left Pine Street neighbors on edge over noise and environmental impacts.
The political stakes have risen too. U.S. Representative Nancy Mace called for a one-year statewide moratorium on new data center construction in May during her gubernatorial campaign, arguing that rapid data center expansion risks driving up electricity bills for South Carolina families, as reported by the Washington Examiner. Mace argued South Carolina should not act as Big Tech's personal power grid without strict utility cost protections.
Why the Grid Math Doesn't Add Up for Some Counties
The scale of what's driving these pauses is significant. Concerns about electricity demand feature prominently in the debate over data center development.
Load forecasts and concerns about future electricity growth help explain why counties are moving so aggressively. Those concerns are fueling fears of higher residential utility rates and heavier groundwater consumption in communities that had little say in how these facilities were sited.
Conservation groups have started stepping in to help. One rationale for temporary freezes is to give governments time to draft environmental and infrastructure protections. Whether the General Assembly ultimately enacts statewide guardrails, and whether these local pauses can withstand legal challenges under state vested rights laws, remain open questions as county after county opts to act on its own.
