The data center fight in Grant County, Indiana
As of October 1, 2026, Grant County, Indiana has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Mar 16, 2026; documented end date 2028-03-16).
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
Ordinance 4-2026: 24-month moratorium on improvement-location permits for data centers in unincorporated Grant County, unanimous (3-0), or until the Area Plan Commission's data center zoning amendments are adopted, whichever comes first. Does not bind Marion, Gas City or other incorporated towns. An APC subcommittee finished its first review of a draft ordinance in Aug 2026
SourceOfficial
read 2026-09-02
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The projects on the table
Project Riverjump (Marion) — Withdrawn
Code-named hyperscale data center proposed for the west side of the City of Marion, the county seat. Because Marion is incorporated, the county's 24-month moratorium (Ordinance 4-2026) never applied to it. Rumors of a data center west of Marion near Central Indiana Ethanol circulated from January 2026; Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. said then that no ordinance or vote was scheduled. In late August 2026, citing public feedback in person and online, Morrell said he would not pursue or support data center development in Marion under his administration. The developer and end user were never publicly identified; no application appears in the public record.
Next: Withdrawn — confirm it is dead in the record and watch for the same site resurfacing under a new name or LLC.
Latest in the record
- 2026-09-02 — Chronicle-Tribune columnist Laura Mack credited public outcry for the project's end and quoted the mayor's statement that 'the message I have received from our citizens regarding data center development has been clear.' · source
- 2026-08-27 — Chronicle-Tribune reported the City of Marion is no longer moving forward with Project Riverjump, a hyperscale data center planned for the city's west side; Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. said that based on citizen feedback he 'will not be pursuing or supporting data center development in the City of Marion under my administration.' · source
- 2026-02-23 — Marion resident Molly Earley launched a change.org petition, 'Ban new data centers on farmland and in towns', addressed to the Grant County commissioners and the Area Plan Commission; it passed 2,000 signatures by September 2026. · source
- 2026-01-20 — Chronicle-Tribune reported rumors of data center construction west of Marion near Central Indiana Ethanol, traced to a satirical Facebook post; Mayor Ronald Morrell said there was 'currently no ordinance or vote scheduled related to a data center' and Councilman Mike Cline declined to comment on rumors. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-09-02.
Recore Digital AI data center inquiry — Rumored
Operator: Recore Digital
An inquiry, not an application. Recore Digital approached the Grant County Area Plan Commission in July 2026 about converting an existing cryptocurrency mining operation in the county into what it describes as a 'quiet, permanent AI Data Center'. The county's 24-month moratorium (Ordinance 4-2026) bars improvement-location permits for data centers in unincorporated areas until March 2028 or until the APC's data center ordinance is adopted, so the live question is what that ordinance will require; a seven-member subcommittee (four APC members, three residents) finished its first review of the draft in August 2026. Site, size, power and water figures have not been published. Coordinates are the county centroid.
Next: Rumored only. Confirm with the planning office and file a records request to pin down what is real.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-08 — The APC's data center subcommittee met to complete its initial review of the draft data center ordinance; the Chronicle-Tribune described the county as 'one step closer to finalizing a data center ordinance'. · source
- 2026-07-25 — Chronicle-Tribune opinion column (Tom Marine) described the inquiry as a proposal to convert an existing cryptocurrency mining operation and argued the first applicant should not write the county's rulebook. · source
- 2026-07-11 — Chronicle-Tribune reported that Recore Digital wants to bring a 'quiet, permanent AI Data Center' to Grant County and had approached the Area Plan Commission; the APC's data center subcommittee is seven volunteers — four commission members and three from the public. · source
- 2026-03-16 — Board of Commissioners adopted Ordinance 4-2026, a 24-month moratorium on data center improvement-location permits in unincorporated Grant County, 3-0, after county attorney Martin Harker read it aloud. · source
- 2025-12-01 — Grant County Area Plan Commission began outlining a data center ordinance — annual energy and water reporting, client-category disclosure, infrastructure offsets, and rules for standby diesel generators and cooling noise were among the items discussed (minutes on the county's APC minutes server; secondary account at citizenportal.ai). · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-09-02.
Recent news
23 stories tracked since 2025-10-10 across 2 outlets. 18× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 2× Neighbors say the new load is pushing up their power bills. Most recent: “Data centers on trial at Marion town hall” (Chronicle-Tribune, 2026-09-19).
- Data centers on trial at Marion town hall
- Rep. Gabe Vasquez Backs Data Center Moratorium in Grant County, Champions Two Bills to Protect New Mexicans from Data Center Costs
- What Grant County’s Data-Center Debate Reveals About the Physical Cost of the AI Cloud
- Mack Up Your Mind: We should care about more than just data centers | Opinion
- Marion Awards $75,000 to Strengthen Opioid Recovery
- Alliance Health Centers extend partnership to Grant County
- Ribbon cutting celebration for Matthews Greenspace
- Gas City's Little Free Libraries
- Mayor walks away from proposed data center project
- Meet Marion writer Wyatt Brown
- Data center subcommittee wraps up initial draft review
- Data center subcommittee wraps up initial draft review
+11 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 23 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
Grant County Board of Commissioners — County ordinances for unincorporated Grant County, including the 24-month data center moratorium (Ordinance 4-2026) and the zoning amendments the Area Plan Commission recommends to end it. The Area Plan Commission (first Monday, 7 p.m., same chambers; (765) 668-4765, areaplan@grantcounty.in.gov) drafts the data center ordinance and holds the advertised public hearing on it. The seven-member County Council (countycouncil@grantcounty.in.gov, (765) 668-8871) controls the budget and any tax abatement.
Meets: 1st and 3rd Monday, 10:00 a.m. (following Tuesday when Monday is a holiday)
Where: Council Chambers, Grant County Complex, 401 S. Adams Street, Marion, IN 46953
Public comment: Every regular session ends with a public-comments item and the minutes record speakers by name and town. Meetings stream on Webex (see the county page for the access code) and past sessions are on the Grant County Government YouTube channel. Special meetings are posted on the county building doors 48 hours ahead.
commissioners@grantcounty.net · (765) 668-4776 · website
Read from the official page on 2026-09-02. Meeting details change — confirm before you go.
Who votes on it
| Name | Role | Phone | Recorded stance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Oliver | County Commissioner, District 1 | coliver@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-4776 | not recorded |
| Chuck Poling | County Commissioner, District 2 | cpoling@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-4776 | Voted for the 24-month moratorium (Mar 2 and Mar 16, 2026 minutes) |
| Ron Stewart | County Commissioner, District 3 | rstewart@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-4776 | Moved the 24-month moratorium and Ordinance 4-2026 (Mar 2 and Mar 16, 2026 minutes) |
| Mike Scott | County Council, District 1 | mscott@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Frank Hix | County Council, District 2 | fhix@live.com | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Mark Leming | County Council, District 3 | mleming@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Jim McWhirt | County Council, At Large | jmcwhirt@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Greg Kitts | County Council, At Large | gkitts@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Aaron Caudell | County Council, At Large | acaudell@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
| Greg Brankle | County Council, At Large | gbrankle@grantcounty.in.gov | (765) 668-8871 | not recorded |
From the locality's own roster page; "not recorded" means no public statement is on file, not neutrality.
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 Indiana.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Indiana briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Indiana
- Howard County (25 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-18
- Miami County (27 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Cass County (40 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Fulton County (50 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-03-02
- Boone County (53 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-15
- Indianapolis (Marion County) (58 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-12-31
- White County (65 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-20
- Fayette County (65 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-18
All 23 tracked actions in Indiana 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.