Otoe County pauses data-center permits amid rising fears

At an Otoe County Board meeting, residents including Wynee Benedict pressed county officials over water, electricity costs, and environmental risks tied to data centers. In response, the board voted last month to suspend the permits needed for new data centers

On a night that started as a neighborhood meeting, Wynee Benedict didn’t talk in generalities. She ticked through a list—water, power, heat—and each question sounded immediate.

“Do we have enough water for them? Who pays for their power? What if they create a heat island?” Benedict asked in front of the Otoe County Board and a room of neighbors.

Her concerns were sparked earlier this year, when Otoe residents learned the county, south of Omaha and a little east of Lincoln, could become home to a new data center. Since then, discussion has spread beyond the board room. Some residents have called for a temporary ban on the industry.

That’s effectively what the county board did last month. Commissioner Chuck Cole said the board voted to suspend the permits needed for a new data center for up to a year. The pause is intended to give county officials more time to study how the development fits into the county’s future plans and to update its regulations accordingly.

The unease is not just local. Opposition to data centers is growing around the country. fueled by the scale of the buildings needed to power artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Local governments from California to Maine have adopted or are considering temporary bans. At least 14 states so far this year have weighed statewide moratoriums.

Nebraska counties are handling the question in different ways. In Madison County, requirements for data centers to get a special permit would allow added oversight and public input. In Gage County, the planning and zoning commission will hold a hearing on a data center moratorium later this month.

The pressure to act sooner may be intensifying statewide because of a change in state law. Jon Cannon. executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials. said the law forces counties to make a decision on certain development projects within a specific amount of time. Supporters framed the change as a way to prevent counties from needlessly delaying projects—but Cannon warned it could backfire. “I think that you’re likely to see a number of counties that say. ‘We need to get our regulations in order. ’ and … they may put moratoriums on a lot of things. not just data centers. ” he said.

At the Otoe meeting. that tension—between wanting time to study and worrying about what a pause communicates—showed up in the words of Jim Nemec. “We have said ‘no’ to a lot of things, almost a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe we need to say ‘yes’ to a few things,” Nemec said. He added that he understood the need for a temporary ban to study the issue, but worried about the message. “But I also worry about the intention or impression it gives. Are we sending out the impression that business is closed here?”.

The debate is also running ahead of hard data. From an environmental standpoint, residents and officials say it’s hard to pin down how much data centers are affecting Nebraska. There is no centralized information source for their location, ownership, and water usage.

That may be about to change. Lawmakers approved a bill this year aimed at increasing transparency. It requires data centers to annually report the names of their owners and developers. physical size. location. annual electricity demand. annual water usage. and any sales and use tax exemptions and incentives they receive. That information could be especially useful for places like Otoe County as they weigh what rules should replace the temporary pause.

For residents at the meeting. the immediate concern is that they may not have gotten a chance to understand what’s coming before the footprint of these projects is felt. Others at the meeting referenced reporting by the Flatwater Free Press and Grist about a proposal by Google to build a massive new Nebraska data center.

The proposal. which residents discussed in connection with a broader plan revealed in documents shared at a private utility meeting in January. did not identify a specific location. But Flatwater reported that a potential partner in the overall project—Omaha-based private energy developer Tenaska—had optioned large chunks of land in southeast Nebraska. including Otoe and Gage counties. That news sparked discussions in both counties.

One thread in those discussions was electricity demand—particularly the spikes that come during the hottest months. Flatwater’s reporting. as residents described it at the meeting. said the proposed data center could require more than triple the electricity the entire city of Lincoln uses during the hottest months of the year.

After the board voted to impose its up-to-a-year moratorium. Benedict said she felt the county had finally put regulations on the books before the issue became a reality. “We needed regulations on the books prior to a data center coming to this county,” she said. “We don’t want to have to play catch-up and regulate something that’s already here.”.

Now her attention. and that of her neighbors. is shifting from alarm to research—trying to understand how the promises and risks of data-center growth could land in a rural county where water availability. electricity costs. and land-use decisions aren’t abstractions. They’re the daily conditions shaping what life looks like next.

Otoe County Nebraska data centers moratorium permits electricity demand water usage transparency bill Tenaska Google environmental concerns