Inside the Fight over Data Centers in North Carolina State Lines Special
In Asheville, Buncombe County (NC), Asheville City Council and local residents debated municipal data center siting, utility infrastructure load, water consumption, and zoning rules during the June 15, 2026 session.
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Inside the Fight over Data Centers in North Carolina State Lines Special
Asheville City Council · June 15, 2026
Timestamped Speaker & Testimony Ledger
3 verified timestamped clips extracted chronologically from the closed caption record. Select any clip to play that exact window in the master player or copy a canonical clip link.
- Clip 1 · 0:18 Asheville City Council Officials and Speakers Elected Official Opposed auto captions, uncheckedZoning Power & Grid Water
Officials and speakers in Asheville, NC address municipal data center zoning, grid capacity, and community impacts.
">> [music] >> Today we're going to have a fun conversation about data centers. Data centers are giant warehouses filled with thousands of computer servers. Every email, every stream, every photo you store, it all lives in a building like this. North Carolina already has several. Apple, Google, Meta, they've been here for years. But AI has triggered massive new demand and tech companies are proposing hyperscale data centers across"
- Clip 2 · 1:06 Resident public comment Resident Public Comment auto captions, unchecked
Community members and local officials in Asheville, NC weigh water supply, electricity rates, and neighborhood buffer rules.
"revenue, but they need enormous amounts of electricity and water. In the town of Apex, town leaders are weighing those trade offs right now. P I P Lorraine McEvoy lives in New Hill just outside of Apex close to the site of a proposed data center. I work for a health data technology company. So I'm very familiar with data centers. We use data centers every day. So not anti data center. However, anti hyperscale data center directly"
- Clip 3 · 1:39 Asheville City Council Member Elected Official Opposed auto captions, uncheckedMoratorium Zoning Water Power & Grid
Asheville City Council members deliberate on municipal siting standards, utility capacity, and the recorded ordinance action.
"near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. Four buildings designed to run around the clock powering AI and cloud services. No decision has been made, but the proposal has already drawn many neighbors to town hall. The number of people speaks volumes to the town council. We show up, we wear red, we try try pack out the house um, so that they can see, visibly, like people don't want this. Or, if it's going to have to be here, let's make sure it's something that we can all live with."
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