This week, Nashville’s Metro Council moved a bill forward that would create a temporary moratorium on new data center permits.
The idea gained momentum following public outcry over a data center project planned next to the Nashville Zoo. (The project may still move be able to forward if a building permit application is approved before the moratorium takes effect. The Nashville Zoo has filed a zoning appeal to overturn the existing permits.)
But this temporary moratorium isn’t an isolated response. It’s becoming a trend, says WPLN environmental reporter Caroline Eggers. Caroline found nearly a dozen cities and counties around the country that have passed moratoriums on data centers this week alone — including Seattle, the home of Amazon and Microsoft.
And it’s happening across Tennessee, too.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Coffee County and McMinnville both enacted moratoriums to delay data center construction just this week, and new moratorium proposals have popped up in Knox County, which includes Knoxville, and nearby Anderson County.
- McMinnville’s 18-month moratorium comes after the announcement of a 25-megawatt, 96,000-square-foot data center to support AI with Nvidia supercomputers. The company in charge of the project, Hixson, did not discuss the project with local officials or seek permit approvals before announcing it, according to Mayor Ryle Chastain. He hopes the moratorium will allow the city to study environmental impacts and set up regulations, especially to protect McMinnville’s hundreds of tree, shrub and flower nurseries.
- Local governments inCedar Hill, Washington County, Grundy County,Johnson City, Jonesborough andBristol have all set up moratoriums of one to two years.
- Hawkins County set up a permanent ban on data centers and cryptocurrency mining last year and now faces a lawsuit from a company planning to build a bitcoin mine there.
- In the Memphis area, residents near one of Elon Musk’s xAI Colossus facilities, now owned by SpaceX, filed a class action lawsuit over noise pollution.
- An interesting clash: As local municipalities move to ban data centers, the state has been moving in the opposite direction. Tennessee exempts sales taxes on infrastructure like computers for data centers, and now allows large data centers to produce their own “behind-the-meter” power or buy electricity from an “independent power producer” without needing approval from a state regulator.
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MORE TO KNOW
- After making policy changes and hiring more scientists, Tennessee is reducing its backlog of rape kits. The state’s backlog reached a fever pitch in 2014, when it had 9,000 untested kits. The state legislature allocated more funding to hire more forensic scientists, and Metro built its own crime lab with its own scientists to test those kits. State law requires forensic sex assault evidence to be sent for testing within 60 days. As of early 2025, the statewide average turnaround time for processing had come down to just under 15 weeks. [WPLN]
- Excitement was in the air at Geodis Park on Monday, as Japan’s World Cup team took the pitch for a soccer practice. Nashville is the base camp for Japan’s national team, the Samurai Blue, and the vibe at their open practice was giving home-team. Spectators came from as far away as Austin and New York to watch players like team captain Wataru Endo, the “second Messi” Takefusa Kubo — and maybe the biggest star, coach Hajime Moriyasu. It’s an uphill battle for any team to win the World Cup, but Japan has a reputation for upsetting big teams. Listen to the excitement in the stadium and get some insight into the World Cup prospects of Japan’s Samurai Blue.
- Kentucky wildlife officials are testing a new generation of herbicide-spraying drone technology to fight kudzu. Last year, crews treated 93 acres across eight sites, and this spring, they found large sections of formerly dense kudzu reduced to scattered patches. A drone can treat terrain that would be difficult or dangerous to reach on foot — reducing weeks of invasive species spraying to a couple of hours. Still, using drones to control invasive species isn’t yet a widespread practice. Jacob Stewart with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife said he’s unaware of any other states that have adopted herbicide-applying drones on a wide scale. And biologists stress that invasive species control is rarely a one-time fix. [WKYU]
FROM THIS IS NASHVILLE
Who is going to pay for healthcare in rural Tennessee? That’s where residents are more likely to rely on TennCare, the state’s version of Medicaid. Post-COVID policy changes have resulted in more people losing TennCare coverage. At the same time, fewer people are keeping insurance under the Affordable Care Act because of the expense. This episode is part of our seriescalled Healthcare Hollow, an in-depth look at the crisis of rural hospital closings.
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