Mooresville faces clash over Earnhardt data center plan

Mooresville residents push back against a proposed data center on Dale Earnhardt’s property, highlighting local fears amid a wider national push for data power.

Earnhardt family clashes over 30 billion data center on North Carolina land

Mooresville officials are weighing Teresa Earnhardt’s rezoning request to pave the way for a future data center campus on roughly 400 acres of the family land. Tract, the developer, has pitched the project as a neighborly asset that would bring hundreds of millions in local revenue and thousands of jobs during construction. Opponents raise concerns about the project’s water needs in a drought prone region and potential pressure on the electric grid. At a recent Board of Commissioners meeting, residents packed the room and carried red No Data Center lawn signs.

National context: The United States already hosts more than 5,400 data centers and is seeing a wave of new projects as tech companies race to build AI systems. McKinsey estimates global data center spending could reach about 7 trillion dollars in the next five years. Washington has shown support, with the White House praising the projects and President Trump signing an executive order to speed federal permitting. Local cases in Tucson and Oldham County illustrate a broader pattern of pushback that has slowed or paused projects. Data Center Watch notes that a large share of proposed centers face obstacles, underscoring rising political risk for the industry.

This case highlights a core tension between local autonomy and national tech ambitions. Data centers promise jobs and tax revenue but also threaten water resources and grid stability in small communities. The outcome will set a precedent for how rural towns balance growth with quality of life.

As AI and cloud needs grow, so does the pressure on towns to host critical infrastructure. The risk for developers goes beyond permitting delays; reputational costs can turn a project into a political battleground that reshapes how future proposals are evaluated by residents and officials alike.

Highlights

The outcome will test whether rural communities can control growth without stifling opportunity.