Spartanburg County Faces Community Pushback Over $3 Billion Data Center Proposal

Spartanburg County Faces Community Pushback Over $3 Billion Data Center Proposal January 13, 2026 A major data center development in South Carolina has become the latest flashpoint in the growing national debate over the local impacts of digital infrastructure expansion. The controversy underscores the increasing challenges hyperscale and wholesale operators face when siting massive facilities in regions unaccustomed to their scale, even as demand for computing power from AI and cloud services drives a construction boom into new markets. The proposal, codenamed "Project Spero," involves the construction of a data center campus with an estimated investment of $3 billion in Spartanburg County, located in the northwestern part of the state. The project has encountered significant delays and organized local opposition since a proposal for tax incentives passed its first reading at a County Council meeting in November 2025. A critical second reading, initially scheduled for December, was postponed at the developer's request. Local news outlet WSPA reported that the council is set to delay the matter further, casting doubt on whether the proposal will be addressed at its next scheduled meeting on January 26, 2026. Public resistance has crystallized around an online petition titled "Stop Data Centers Coming to Upstate, SC," which had garnered over 1,200 signatures as of this report. The petition expresses broad concerns about the potential environmental and community effects of multiple data center projects reportedly under consideration for Spartanburg and neighboring Cherokee County. It specifically cites worries over excessive energy and water consumption, air pollution, and a lack of transparent public process. The petition calls for a temporary moratorium on all such projects "until adequate regulations can be enacted to fully protect our communities, our environment, and our health." While South Carolina is not a traditional data center hub, it has recently attracted several high-profile investments. Last year, a separate $2.8 billion data center was proposed for the area outside Spartanburg by investment firm NorthMark Strategies. In a significant move last October, the U.S. Department of Energy advertised an opportunity for a data center campus at the Savannah River Site. Furthermore, Google committed a $9 billion investment in the state the same month to expand its campus in Berkeley County and build new ones in Dorchester County. The opposition in Spartanburg reflects a broader industry trend where community concerns over resource use, land value, and quality of life are becoming critical factors in site selection. The outcome of Project Spero will be closely watched as a test case for whether and how large-scale digital infrastructure can be integrated into communities beyond established data center corridors, potentially influencing regulatory approaches and developer-community engagement strategies nationwide. Source: datacenterdynamics