Mercer County, Kentucky, adopted a data-center moratorium on February 19, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.
The record reads: "The Mercer County Commission voted 3-2 on March 3, 2026 to enact a one-year moratorium on data center applications, halting all activity relating to data center projects in the county. Commissioner Jamee Folk made the motion after an hour… (datacentertracker.org)."
Details
| Action | Class | Status | Date | MW threshold | Scope | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moratorium | restriction | enacted | February 19, 2026 | county-wide | datacentertracker.org |
Jurisdiction type: county. County: Mercer County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.
Elsewhere in Mercer County
Kentucky context
Kentucky has 25 documented local actions across 25 jurisdictions in this snapshot. There is no statewide restriction, incentive rollback, or large-load tariff on record for Kentucky in this snapshot.
A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.