Packed into a committee room in Frankfort Thursday, dozens of Kentuckians from every corner of the state gathered to tell lawmakers their concerns about — or in one case, support of — developers hoping to set up massive data centers in their communities.
“I'm here to let you know that Kentuckians are watching,” Angela Briggs from Barren County. “I can't remember the last time that an issue brought so many different people together, and they're all watching. They're old and young of every race and background, and they're all watching how you handle this issue.”
The issues brought to the fore ranged from frustration at how their public officials have dealt with developers, concerns about the effects of pollution on their health and the environment, and anger at tax breaks and the subsequent inaction of the lawmakers to put their own guardrails around data centers.
“For nearly 10 months, ordinary people in Mercer County have had to become researchers, investigators, zoning experts, and utility watchdogs because the systems meant to protect us weren't ready,” said Diane Floyd from Mercer County. “Kentucky was ready to recruit this industry by offering huge tax incentives. Kentucky isn't ready to meaningfully protect communities.”
Floyd, one of the many leaders in Mercer County fighting a data center development there, said it should not be considered a local issue and demanded legislative action.
“Stop expecting local officials without specialized technical, legal, environmental, or utility expertise to negotiate billion-dollar industrial development deals on equal footing with the wealthiest companies on earth,” Floyd said.
Proposals for hyperscale data centers have poured into Kentucky since last year with increasing frequency. Kentucky passed a new law to give significant state tax breaks to lure the development of data centers. At first, the tax breaks applied only to Jefferson County, but lawmakers expanded them across the state in 2025.
While some believe data center projects will bring major tax revenue for schools and local governments, they have been met with community members’ fears of water, air and noise pollution, jacked-up electric utility bills and lowered property values.
Despite the deluge of data center proposals and accompanying bipartisan pushback, the Republican-controlled General Assembly failed to pass protections. One bill passed the state House, but did not gain traction in the Senate.
Since then, some lawmakers have doubled down, saying local communities should maintain full control over data center development. Others have expressed concerns over the tax breaks and called for significant protections.
Only one speaker Thursday stood up in support of data centers and in opposition to state-level legislation. Martin Rivers, a retired engineer from Fayette County, said he knew he was likely to stand alone at the Thursday meeting, he believes data centers should be treated like infrastructure, like dams, and need to build out rapidly to allow for artificial intelligence growth.
"I cannot believe that there is not existing legislation that cover businesses like this,” Rivers said. “Give it to the experts, to people that are employed 365 days a year rather than part-time legislators who don't get to come and do stuff very often.”
Eleven lawmakers attended the listening session — all Democrats, except for GOP Rep. Vanessa Grossl of Georgetown. Rep. Adam Moore, a Democrat from Lexington, was co-sponsor on the legislation proposed this year to offer data center protections and organized the meeting.
“I think we need to have actual legislation passed, and honestly, that legislation can largely mirror what the government has put out there in an executive order,” Moore said. “I would oppose any new hyperscale data center developments until we have done that.”
Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order he said would require data centers to cooperate with their communities and not raise power bills. However, advocates say it's unclear how it can be enforced without legislation to back it up.
Moore said he wished more of his Republican colleagues had attended the session, but said he is confident there are members of the GOP supermajority who also want safeguards in place.
“There's people in leadership positions who are willing to work and get things done. How far they will come along to where the people of Kentucky are — not even asking — demanding that they come along?” Moore said. “That I don't know, but there is clearly an appetite amongst leadership on the House side of real ratepayer protection.”
Shawnte West said she purchased a house two years ago just two miles from the 150-acre hyperscale data center planned for Campground Road in west Louisville.
“That's why I said I felt really dumb because just two years ago I had no idea that there was a hyperscale data center being placed where I was purchasing a home,” West said.
She questioned why data centers should be given large tax breaks — which the left-leaning Center for Economic Development estimated will cost Kentucky more than $1 billion in tax revenue — when many Kentuckians are struggling with healthcare costs and food insecurity.
“The state is having to take on millions more dollars to administer the SNAP program, and we're at risk of losing the SNAP program,” West said. “Yet we will give billions of dollars to developers while we can't even feed Kentuckians.”
Many speakers also noted extreme concerns about the unfettered growth of artificial intelligence, the surveillance systems they power and lack of federal oversight of AI.
“They want us to sacrifice our way of life so they can train AI to replace human workers and collect our data,” said Christie Compton from Breckinridge County. “They want to destroy our communities for profit, and they just expect us to sit back and take it. Well, I say our land is worth more than their data, and we, the people of this commonwealth, have the right to vote no on data centers.”
Many called for the ability to vote directly on data center developments, rather than relying on local officials to sign binding deals for them. Polling shows data centers to be increasingly unpopular across the country. A March Gallup poll found that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of an AI data center in their area.
“I would love for local communities to have a vote, an actual vote, before one of these gets dropped in their neighborhood,” Lindsay Gray from Jefferson County. “These aren't radical demands; they're common sense protections.”
Laura Beth Austin, who is fighting two hyperscale data center developments in Carroll County, said after the meeting that it meant a lot to stand in a room with many other activists who are doing the same work in their communities.
She told lawmakers that citizens like her shouldn’t have to become “investigators” to understand the deals her local government is making. She said she hopes Kentucky will act quickly to ensure Kentuckians’ energy, water and health needs are not impacted by the new resource-intensive developments.
“This is our opportunity to establish the rules before Kentucky spends the next decade trying to repair consequences that could have been prevented,” Austin said. “Progress should serve the people. The people should never be expected to serve progress.”
