The data center fight in Benton County, Arkansas
As of September 27, 2026, Benton County, Arkansas has a data center moratorium in force (action taken August 10, 2026; documented end date 2027-02-10).
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
Six-month moratorium. Developer NSI6 LLC / Trent Overhue challenged it in court Sep 2; ~100 people filled courtroom. Developer selected county specifically because it had no planning and zoning. County attorney argued moratorium valid because Overhue's project not yet started and land not yet owned (closing Sep 9). Judge considering temporary restraining order.
SourceNews
read 2026-09-06
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
- Benton Twp. approves environmentally conscious data center ordinance
- Judge extends restraining order in Benton County, Mo., data center case
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 2 headlines archived.
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 Arkansas.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Arkansas briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Arkansas
- Madison County (38 mi) — Enactedexpires 2029-08-31
- Carroll County (40 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-17
- Harrison (64 mi) — Rescindedterm not documented
- Russellville (97 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-31
- Independence County (155 mi) — Enactedexpires 2031-08-11
- Pulaski County (156 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Little Rock (156 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Union County (232 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-09
All 9 tracked actions in Arkansas are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · 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.