The data center fight in Spartanburg County, South Carolina
As of October 1, 2026, Spartanburg County, South Carolina has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Jun 22, 2026; documented end date 2027-06-22).
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
1-year moratorium (extendable by council vote), no dissent on first reading. Pending ordinance doctrine invoked to halt applications immediately. Exempts previously approved Kohler Plant site project
SourceRoundup
read 2026-08-13
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Project Spero — In review
Operator: TigerDC / NorthMark Strategies · Owner: Valara Holdings · Size: 450 MW
$3B facility seeking 450 MW (Phase 1 up to 100 MW) at Tyger River Industrial Park-North. Residents filed lawsuit demanding public planning review (Jul 8); SC PSC held oral arguments Aug 5 over whether project needs state-level review — largest PSC turnout since 2018.
Next: An application is in the record. Ask the planning office for the next hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-05 — SC Public Service Commission held oral arguments over whether the project needs state-level review; largest PSC hearing turnout since 2018. · source
- 2026-07-08 — Residents filed lawsuit demanding public planning review of the project. · source
- 2026-01-27 — TigerDC / NorthMark Strategies / Valara Holdings announced $3B, 450 MW data center at Tyger River Industrial Park-North. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-19.
Recent news
31 stories tracked since 2026-06-16 across 11 outlets. 15× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. 14× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. Most recent: “Spartanburg County joins other South Carolina counties in data center moratoriums” (WYFF, 2026-09-23).
- Spartanburg County joins other South Carolina counties in data center moratoriums
- Spartanburg County Council passes data center moratorium with several amendments
- Spartanburg Co. Council approves data center moratorium
- Spartanburg County Council passes data center moratorium with several amendments
- Spartanburg County Council passes data center moratorium with several amendments
- Spartanburg County Council passes data center moratorium with several amendments
- Spartanburg County Council passes data center moratorium
- LIVE: Judge to consider halting Spartanburg data center construction Thursday
- Judge will decide later on request to halt Spartanburg data center construction
- Spartanburg County to hold special meeting on controversial data centers
- Spartanburg County’s Public Safety Committee to host second hearing on data centers
- SC Public Service Commission dismisses challenge to Spartanburg County data center project
+19 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 31 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
County Council — Zoning, land-use ordinances, and the county budget. A lawsuit (Southern Environmental Law Center) accuses the county of letting the $2.8B, 457 MW NorthMark/Valara data center on Pine Street bypass the Planning Commission by treating it as two 'minor' developments instead of one 'major' one, which would have required public review.
Meets: See the council's published meeting calendar; regular meetings are typically 5:15 p.m. in Council Chambers.
Where: Spartanburg County Administration Building, 366 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303
Public comment: See the council's published agenda/meeting calendar for the public-comment process.
864-596-2528 · website
Read from the official page on 2026-08-11. Meeting details change — confirm before you go.
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 South Carolina.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- South Carolina briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in South Carolina
- Laurens County (31 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- York County (39 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-04-13
- Chester County (44 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-21
- Newberry County (50 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-16
- Anderson County (51 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-20
- Greenwood County (54 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-21
- Fairfield County (60 mi) — Proposedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Kershaw County (87 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
All 14 tracked actions in South Carolina 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.