The data center fight in Putnam County, Indiana
As of October 1, 2026, Putnam County, Indiana has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Nov 17, 2025; documented end date 2026-11-17).
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 on data centers, solar, wind, and SMRs in unincorporated areas, adopted 2-1 (Beck and Helmer for; Woodall opposed — his stated reasoning wasn't individually reported). ~100 residents packed the meeting after EnergyRe's revised application for a 150 MW solar farm near Cloverdale (cut from 200 MW / ~2,000 acres, with 500-ft setbacks added). Commissioner Beck framed the pause as a chance to rewrite the county's Unified Development Ordinance. Primarily a solar fight — no distinct data-center proposal has surfaced for Putnam County — with data centers, wind and SMRs bundled in preemptively. EnergyRe subsequently withdrew the solar filing
SourceNews
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 project on the table
Cloverdale Solar Farm (EnergyRe) — Withdrawn
Operator: EnergyRe · Size: 150 MW · Acres: 1,000
Revised proposal for a 150 MW solar farm (cut from an original ~200 MW / ~2,000 acres) in the Cloverdale area, with increased setbacks (500 ft). A Plan Commission hearing was scheduled for Jan 12, 2026 but the county's moratorium (adopted Nov 17, 2025) paused new approvals; EnergyRe later withdrew the application per the tracker's existing record. This is a solar project, not a data center — no separate data-center proposal in Putnam County was found in this research pass.
Next: Withdrawn — confirm it is dead in the record and watch for the same site resurfacing under a new name or LLC.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
- 2026-01-12 — Plan Commission hearing on EnergyRe's revised 150 MW Cloverdale solar application scheduled. · source
- 2025-11-17 — Putnam County Commissioners vote 2-1 (Beck, Helmer for; Woodall against) to adopt a 1-year moratorium on data centers, SMRs, solar, and wind in unincorporated Putnam County, expiring Nov 17, 2026. · source
- None — EnergyRe later withdrew its Putnam County solar farm application (per the tracker's existing MORATORIUMS_DF entry); exact withdrawal date not independently confirmed in this research pass. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-09-02.
Recent news
18 stories tracked since 2025-11-17 across 10 outlets. 11× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 7× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “Putnam County Commission confident in data center resolution; resident group “appreciative” of concerns addressed” (WCHS Network, 2026-09-30).
- Putnam County Commission confident in data center resolution; resident group “appreciative” of concerns addressed
- Putnam County approves moratorium on large-scale data center projects
- Putnam County to vote on data center moratorium
- Putnam County to vote on data center moratorium
- Google impresses with transparency, dedication to growing West Virginia’s workforce with planned data center in Putnam County
- Missing 16-year-old boy from Putnam County found safe in Florida
- Search ends for missing Putnam County teen last seen in May
- Search ends for missing Putnam County teen last seen in May
- Search ends for Putnam County teen reported as last seen in May
- Putnam County school bus and SUV involved in crash; police investigate
- Putnam County school bus and SUV involved in crash; police investigate
- California man arrested in Putnam County after police find 392 pounds of cocaine in his vehicle
+6 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 18 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
Putnam County Board of Commissioners — Zoning/UDO ordinances (including the SMR/data-center/solar/wind moratorium), rezoning and development applications in unincorporated Putnam County, county administrative and budget matters
Meets: Regular sessions historically held on a recurring schedule at the Putnam County Courthouse, Room 10 (1st floor); as of July 1, 2025 meetings are livestreamed. Exact recurring day/time was not confirmed on the county site as of this research pass — verify via the Commissioner Meeting Dates page below before publishing a specific day.
Where: Putnam County Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Square, Greencastle, IN 46135 (Commissioners' Room)
Public comment: Public comment is taken during regular Commissioners' meetings; the Nov 17, 2025 moratorium vote followed public hearing testimony, including from residents and an attorney representing opponents of the EnergyRe project.
andy.beck@co.putnam.in.us · 765-653-5513 · 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Beck | Commissioner, President | andy.beck@co.putnam.in.us | 765-522-3396 | Voted for the Nov 17, 2025 moratorium: said the county needed 'a deeper look at the county's Unified Development Ordinance' after the EnergyRe solar debate, and that current standards were 'at minimum levels.' |
| Tom Helmer | Commissioner, Vice President | tom.helmer@co.putnam.in.us | 765-720-4215 | Voted for the Nov 17, 2025 moratorium. |
| Rick Woodall | Commissioner | rick.woodall@co.putnam.in.us | 765-720-2967 | Cast the lone dissenting vote against the Nov 17, 2025 moratorium; his specific stated reasons were not reported in the sources found (Banner Graphic/GIANT FM coverage), so no direct quote is recorded here. |
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
- Boone County (34 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-15
- Vermillion County (35 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Indianapolis (Marion County) (38 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-12-31
- Howard County (69 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-18
- White County (75 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-20
- Cass County (81 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Grant County (86 mi) — Enactedexpires 2028-03-16
- Miami County (87 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
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.