DATA CENTERS
Don't get stuck with their tab!
If you agree that Louisville must regulate data centers, especially hyper-scale data centers (HSDC),
learn more below and then visit our Calls to Action page.
Who Picks Up Whose Tab?
The Ky. legislature exempts data centers from sales taxes. To power one HSDC, LG&E is spending $3.1 billion to build two power plants and to keep an old one running longer. Despite LG&E's claims, we all will pay part of that $3.1 B plus profit even if that HSDC doesn't need less power than requested and stays here for the required 15 years. Example: Average residential customers in Columbus, OH, pay $27/month to subsidize the utility infrastructure to serve HSDCs.
Technology Changes Quickly
Power plants operate for 40-50 years. Data-storage tech is becoming more efficient. Building a new power plant and keeping an old one (overdue for retirement) for today makes no sense--unless your profit is guaranteed, as is LG&E-KU's. (The last time LG&E-KU had excess capacity, they used it to justify killing efficiency rebates.)
What's in It for Us?
The majority of the Kentucky legislature, seeking to prop up the coal industry, voted to give big tax breaks to the power-hungry data-center industry--though it creates relatively few jobs and can relocate easily if it gets a better deal elsewhere. Will they lobby for property-tax reductions next? Ask your elected officials not to sign non-disclosure agreements.
The Latest in Louisville
On 13 August 2026, the Metro Council adopted a 180-day moratorium on the approval of new build data centers in Louisville. LCAN is confident it wouldn't have happened without public pressure. If you called or sent email to one or more decision-makers, attended a hearing, etc., we THANK YOU!
Now, let's tackle our next goals for protecting Louisville from the threats of hyper-scale data centers.
Abbreviated Background:
Last year, 150 wooded acres off Camp Ground Rd. were scalped of trees on the assumption that a new power plant would be approved to supply a hyper-scale data center there. It's when we learned:
Metro Louisville's land-development codes don't cover hyper-scale data centers. They may be built on any site with industrial zoning!?!
Previous efforts by Metro Council members to impose a 180-day moratorium to allow time to draft rules on hyper-scale data centers (HSDC) couldn't muster enough votes to get it out of committee. Instead, the Council voted to ask the Greenberg administration to draft rules before 2026. It didn't -- until June 2026, when the proposed moratorium was resurrected.
Based on analysis of the Office of Planning's draft rules by Kentucky Resources Council (KRC) expert, Tom FitzGerald, we know it contains huge loopholes. A few elements could leave it tied up in court for a long while. As the public outcry grew, the city claimed to have listened to the record number of citizens weighing in and made some strengthening changes. LCAN views them as insignificant.
With the mayor and several council members standing for re-election in November, and no longer able to pretend everything was OK, the mayor proposed a 180-day moratorium and the Council passed it nearly unanimously on August 13th.
Where We Are Now
LCAN definitely supports a moratorium, but that time must be spent on fixing the lack of transparency and long list of loopholes in the mayor's latest draft rules. Better, he should start over, beginning with KRC's model ordinance, linked below.
Read KRC's Model Data Center Siting Ordinance and assessment of Metro's revised draft regulations.
LCAN thinks the draft rules are irreparably flawed, and that the city should scrap it and adopt the KRC model ordinance.
Meanwhile LG&E-KU is expanding the capacity of its Mill Creek generating station in southwest Louisville to meet the voracious needs of the above data center:
It's begun building a new gas-fired power plant. It's seeking approval from the Metro Louisville Air Pollution Control District to build a second, new gas-fired power plant. And it's proposing to operate an old coal-fired plant -- with minimal air-pollution equipment by modern standards -- four more years (until 2031) than earlier committed. LCAN believes some of the $3.1 Billion cost of these projects will be passed onto the rest of us LG&E-KU customers.
Please visit Calls to Action and lend your voice
LEARN MORE HERE: