Fans that are part of a cooling system are seen on the roof of a data center April 27, 2026, in Hillsboro, Oregon. | Jenny Kane, AP
Published on June 16, 2026 at 2:32 pm
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The St. Johns County Commission agreed unanimously Tuesday to join neighboring counties and hold a discussion at a future meeting about blocking all data center developments for one year.
As she did last month, County Commissioner Ann Taylor urged her fellow commissioners to act before any development proposals for the facilities that power companies like Microsoft and OpenAI are submitted to the county.
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“By doing nothing, St. Johns County has a massive target on our back,” she said during a County Commission meeting Tuesday. “If our neighboring counties shut their doors to AI data centers, we become the path of least resistance, and we are turning ourselves into sitting ducks to the exact projects our neighbors were smart enough to reject.”
She expressed concern about the water and electricity used by data centers, especially as rural areas in states like Texas, the Carolinas and Michigan have been targeted for development. Projects have also been proposed in Florida, including one in Polk County.
St. Johns County’s move comes as Clay County holds similar discussions, and Nassau County passed its own yearlong moratorium earlier this month. Similar measures have passed in Wakulla, Walton and Pasco counties.
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In Nassau, the county will host a series of public workshops about data centers while the moratorium is in place. The goal is to hear from experts about how the construction of data centers could affect the local environment, as well as water and power grids.
Data center dialogues
County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst did not support Taylor’s moratorium proposal last month. This month he said, “It doesn’t offend me one bit.”
Whitehurst remained skeptical that St. Johns County would even be a target for a data center to begin with, and he questioned the facts surrounding their opposition.
Whitehurst pointed to claims made by Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary — who is an investor in a data center project in Utah — that Chinese officials are behind American anti-data center sentiment.
A recent Gallup poll found that seven of 10 Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their area, and environmental journalist Erin Brockovich recently launched a crowdsourced map of data centers across the country.
The notion that foreign governments are influencing Americans’ frustration about data centers has gained traction among tech companies and in Washington, D.C., but reporting on the matter, including a report from NPR, questions the limited evidence of how widespread that influence really is.
As for St. Johns County, Whitehurst said he wants to make sure local officials are making clear-headed decisions, not just placating the public.
“If you think passing a moratorium for the next year helps just in the court of public opinion, maybe it makes some people feel good, I can support that,” Whitehurst said. “I just want to make sure whatever we do with data centers … it’s based in fact, not in fear.”
County Attorney Rich Komando did acknowledge that state laws could tie the county’s hands on blocking data centers, but he said he would have to look into the matter further.
A date was not yet confirmed for the moratorium’s first hearing, but the county administrator’s office confirmed that it is working on a presentation about the effects of data centers.
