No data centers, crypto, batteries for two years

June 17, 2026 by Ben Pounds

Anderson County will have a moratorium on data centers, crypto mining facilities and large battery facilities for two years while officials figure out the best ways to regulate them.

The moratorium passed unanimously during the Monday Anderson County Commission meeting.

County Law director James Brooks and County Mayor Terry Frank told The Courier News they did not believe the county could permanently ban any of these types of facilities, but that the moratorium, giving time to look at regulatory options, is legal.

Commissioner Chad McNabb made the motion for the moratorium, and Commissioner Anthony Allen seconded.

The vote came after many citizens and commissioners shared concerns about issues at these types of facilities like noise, emergency response and water usage, among others.

“We just need to slow it down and look at it and make sure we have all the information to make sure we can make appropriate decisions and consult the experts,” McNabb said.

The county Planning Commission had earlier drafted a series of zoning code amendments to regulate these types of facilities in the unincorporated parts of the county.

They would have allowed them only in the county’s industrial zones and only after going through an approval process,

That process would address issues like water usage and emergency preparedness with different standards depending on the type of facility, along with considering water and noise complaints.

The resolutions, which did not pass, and the moratorium, which did, apply to the following types of facilities:

• Data centers, which the amendment defined as facilities “primarily for the storage, management, processing and transmission of digital data.”

• Cryptocurrency mining facilities, which involve crypto currency, a kind of online money that isn’t backed up by any government but rather by computer networks.

People can “mine” for cryptocurrency by helping specialized data centers, called “mines” process transactions in exchange for the relevant cryptocurrency.

• Battery storage facilities, which store power rather than use it.

Even though the Anderson County Regional Planning Commission came up with the original set of regulations, member Harold Edwards told Commission he was fine with the moratorium.

“I think we are all trying to do what’s in the best interests of the county,” he told the commission.

“I think that what you saw tonight was an overwhelming response from the community,” McNabb said. “They came out and had so many questions about this.”

He said that at present there are no applications pending for any of the facilities.

He said he wanted to look at other municipalities and get more expert testimony on how people have handled these issues in the past, to decide how Anderson County should handle them.

Commissioner Sabra Beauchamp was also among the commissioners at the meeting who said she had concerns specifically about power and water use, and noise from the facilities.

“When we’re getting rolling blackouts on Christmas day and people cooking dinner, how are we going to keep going with data centers?” she said.

She said that data centers are new and popular, coming to every state.

“Sometimes when things are popped at you, real quick, it doesn’t give you a lot of time to think about it,” she said.

“It’s just make a decision and go on. And I think for the citizens of Anderson County they deserve transparency.”