Chester residents protest data center development: ‘Where does it end’
It was a sweltering morning in Chester. The clock was barely past 10 a.m. but the heat index was already pushing toward 100 degrees.
The heat didn’t seem to deter a few Chester residents.
Saturday was billed as the AI Data Center National Day of Protest, with over 100 demonstrations planned across the U.S.
On a small strip of public sidewalk along JA Cochran Bypass in front of a Walmart Supercenter, a small group spent Saturday morning in protest against data center development.
Brittney Barnette, who’s lived in Chester for the last 10 years, organized the local demonstration.
“I want to be proactive before the fight really gets here,” Barnette said.
Barnette was joined in protest by her husband, Alec, her son Leo, 10, and her nephew A.J., 14.
The four exchanged signs reading “Protect our Community, No Data Centers,” and “Don’t Let Big Tech Billionaires Control Our Town.” They took frequent water breaks from a cooler placed under the shade of an adjacent line of bushes.
Curious passers-by pulling out of the Walmart rolled down their windows to get a closer look, offering a honk in solidarity.
Barnette’s involvement against data center development began when she started to attend Chester County Council meetings. The council approved the first reading of a six-month data center moratorium in June.
Seeing sparse community engagement around the issue, Barnette decided to get involved. She joined a local Facebook group and began sharing documents from meeting agendas and public records.
Barnette is studying to be an oncology nurse at the University of South Carolina, something she decided to pursue after successfully battling leukemia five years ago.
Her career fuels her activist journey.
“I’m advocating for my future patients,” she said. “I don’t want their health to decline because of air pollution, water pollution.”
Artificial intelligence data centers house the infrastructure needed to train and utilize AI and large-language models. Large data centers can use millions of gallons of water daily to cool these processors.
Data centers also cause noise and air pollution concerns. Data center heat pollution can increase temperatures in downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4 degrees, according to an Arizona State University study.
A few people joined Barnette and her family in protest. Gaye Jones, a retired nurse who’s lived in Chester for 33 years, was one of them.
In lieu of a sheet of posterboard, Jones opted for holding a red bin lid. “No Data Centers in CC” was scribbled onto the plastic.
“After construction, the noise is never-ending. The water concerns are never-ending. The power bill increase is never-ending,” Jones said. “Where does it end?”
Jones pointed to Valara Holdings’s $2.8 billion data center development in Spartanburg.
Residents filed a lawsuit against the developer and Spartanburg County government on July 6, claiming the county bypassed transparency measures and public input.
Jones said she doesn’t want Chester County residents to fall victim to deception.
“[Developers] are trying to come down south because they think we will be less resistant, that we will ask less questions and put up less of an argument,” she said.
A pending moratorium
With a population of just over 33,000, Chester is one of the least populated counties in the Charlotte metro region.
The county seat, also named Chester, has about 5,300 residents. It’s the largest town in the county.
Chester’s median household income barely eclipses $51,000, far below the national average. Almost 19% of residents fall below the poverty line.
Barnette said Chester’s rural culture and lower socioeconomic status place it within the sights of tech companies looking for massive amounts of land and little pushback.
“I feel like the big companies take advantage of rural counties,” she said.
No data centers have been constructed or planned in Chester, but county leaders said they’ve received inquiries from developers. Massive data center projects are also creeping closer in neighboring York and Union counties.
The county council cites a need for the moratorium to gather community input and expert testimony.
The moratorium will have its third reading and public hearing Monday. If enacted, the county will begin a series of community workshops in August to discuss environmental and economic impacts.
Barnette hopes these workshops, and the expert testimony the county said it will receive, are fruitful.
“I hope they take this time to seriously study,” she said.
