The data center fight in Baldwin County, Alabama
As of October 25, 2026, Baldwin County, Alabama has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Oct 2026).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
County commission approved a 180-day moratorium on rezoning requests, new data centers and renewable energy projects in areas under county zoning, imposed upon passage (1819 News, published Oct 7, 2026; the article gives no separate vote date, so the day is not recorded). Exempts single-family permits on existing lots needing no zoning change and previously approved projects. Vote count and resolution text not read; effective date unconfirmed, so no end date is recorded.
SourceNews
read 2026-10-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Alabama.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Alabama briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Alabama
- Prichard (21 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-04
- Foley (33 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-03-08
- Lowndes County (110 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-25
- Westover (185 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-18
- Fairfield (187 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Harpersville (187 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-03
- Homewood (188 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-22
- Birmingham (191 mi) — Expiredterm ran to 2026-09-03
All 16 tracked actions in Alabama are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.