Behind closed doors, developers are fast-tracking AI data centers into Mississippi’s majority-Black neighborhoods. Residents want to know the cost and whether the boom will bring generational wealth or generational harm
By Azia Cimone | BRAINchild Media
Over 70 concerned citizens settle into the openness of Warren Hall, a vibrant student life center on the campus of historically Black Tougaloo College. It’s the perfect space for a diverse, multigenerational group of community members to become a classroom as Mississippi For A Just World (MSJW) organizers guide them through the evening’s theology: “People Over Politics: Stop Data Centers Edition.”
Pops of orange and blue adorn each table with materials and notebooks containing a workbook reviewing community agreements, presentation slides, and a glossary of related terms: Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Data Center, Hyperscale. The folder also includes a data center fact sheet, a thorough local decision-making guide, interactive worksheets like “stop data centers” bingo, word search, and a crossword puzzle, and a POP pen.
Cassandra Bennett, who lives in Ward 2 close to the college, said that she signed up for the community-hosted training on July 16, 2026, because she wanted to learn more about data centers. “There was little to no information out there. I came here to learn whatever is being provided and take it back to my church.”
Evelyn Rankin lives in Clinton, Miss., where a data center was put near her home before the community was informed. Now she feels more in touch with what’s happening. “I have a lot of fear now ‘cause I think this is going to severely impact the community as a whole,” Rankin said. “Our environmental structure will change, seems like drastically, and I don’t know if we’re prepared for it.”
Bennett also agreed that the training was informational and was shocked to hear what was happening in Southaven, where residents have been plagued since February 2026 by constant noise and vibration pollution from methane gas turbines powering one of Elon Musk’s xAI data centers, Colossus 2, in Memphis, Tenn. “It hit home…I didn’t even know about that.”
Matt Casteel, founder of Wurmworks, speaks during Mississippi For A Just World’s People Over Politics: Stop Data Centers community training. Casteel shared concerns about Saxum Investment Company’s proposed 230-acre data center development near his neighborhood in north Jackson. Photo credit: Azia Cimone
She also brought up Matt Casteel, founder of Wurmworks, who described how the New Jersey-based developer, Saxum Investment Company, is working to develop 230 acres into a data center that would potentially be right in his backyard, just a few miles from Tougaloo, in a predominantly Black neighborhood. “That’s personal,” Bennett emphasized. “That’s how personal this is, and this is some need to know information at this point.”
Searching for Answers, Information Gap Emerges
Conversations about AI data centers have been happening in silos all across the state. Major industries and developers discuss how Mississippi is ripe for investment with endless opportunities across its expansive rural land tracts. State and local elected officials champion the promise of data centers, quickly adding millions of dollars of tax revenue and providing high-paying jobs to their constituents. Utilities discuss infrastructure needs and possibilities. Environmental advocates work to build awareness of concerns around air and noise pollution, water, and energy use. Technology Experts continue to research and educate communities on what’s coming next down the AI pipeline as they build on the foundation of an already rapidly growing industry.
Residents find themselves caught in the crossfire of closed-door meetings, non-disclosure agreements, and fast-tracked data center developments being built near their neighborhoods. Vulnerable communities are trying to make sense of it all while fearing for the livelihood of their families, viscerally concerned about the impact these decisions will have on future generations. To many, this is the same environmental injustice, just repackaged within a different industry at a different time.
Mississippi has become a target for large-scale AI data center development as technology companies seek available land, energy capacity, and infrastructure to support the industry’s rapid growth. Photo credit: Angie Julian via Canva.com
After attending public hearings and data center forums and speaking with AI experts, community leaders, economic development practitioners, elected officials, and residents, an information gap emerged, leaving residents with little agency over the outcomes in their own communities. Speculation, misinformation, fear, and polarized opinions based on self-interest are widespread, while an important question remains: How can Mississippi ensure that this AI boom creates economic development equitably to induce generational wealth—not generational harm—for Black and Brown communities?
Understanding Data Centers
So what is a data center? It is a physical room or facility that houses IT infrastructure for building, running, and delivering digital applications and services, including support for AI workloads. These facilities run continuously to convert electricity into reliable computing capacity for AI cloud and internet-based industries such as health care, education, logistics, and entertainment. Data centers also store and manage the information associated with those applications and services.
Data centers have been in the U.S. since the 1940s, and there are now over 2,000 across the country. Most of them are in Virginia and California, followed by Texas, New York, and Illinois. However, due to the current AI boom, technological advancements have drastically increased server demand. In turn, it requires data centers to be built across the country to meet demand, as AI has been woven into various aspects of everyday life for the past 10 years.
Hyperscale data centers house thousands of computer servers that power artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other digital services, while requiring significant amounts of electricity, water, and supporting infrastructure. Photo credit: CNV Studio via Canva.com
Although data centers come in various sizes, the current debate centers on the push to build extremely large facilities operated by companies such as xAI, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. These hyperscale data centers require significant amounts of electricity, water, and supporting infrastructure, including existing electrical grids and natural gas pipelines. Regardless of size, people have the right to know how data centers are designed, powered, and integrated into their communities.
Why Mississippi?
Tech leaders have set their sights on developing large-scale data centers in Mississippi since January 2026. “Mississippi is an attractive place for people who want to build data centers, especially the hyperscale ones,” said Dr. Nashlie Sephus, founder and CEO of The Beanpath and an active AI Scientist. “One, because those developers see Mississippi as a very prime piece of real estate because it’s underdeveloped in many respects.”
Mississippi also has a surplus of traditional energy. “There’s a lot of room left on our energy grid, more so than other states. We’re looking at the ratios of people to the energy grid,” Sephus explains. “Jackson itself has access to geothermal energy, being that we actually sit on the top of a volcano. So that’s an opportunity for a lot of creative, innovative things that data centers are looking for.”
The Jackson Volcano is an extinct volcano located nearly 2,900 feet beneath the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Miss. The uplifted terrain surrounding the volcano forms the Jackson Dome, a geologic structure containing dense rock formations, naturally occurring carbon dioxide used in oil production, and potential geothermal energy—features researchers say could make Mississippi attractive for future AI data center development. Photo credit: CRobertson via Canva.com
Gov. Tate Reeves published a press release on January 8, announcing that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has invested over $20B in Southaven, Miss., to retrofit the former Duke Energy plant with 27 methane gas turbines to power Colossus 2, Musk’s second data center in Memphis, Tenn. Gov. Reeves said this was the largest economic development in Mississippi’s history, touting that a project this size would transform the region and bring amazing opportunities to DeSoto County residents for generations to come. Plaintiffs have since sued xAI over the constant noise pollution, emotional distress, and loss of property value, representing over 10,000 affected neighbors.
This was the first red flag to Mississippi communities of how data centers plan to invest in the state, as leaders aggressively pursue data centers through tax incentives, fee-in-lieu agreements, and utility partnerships. There are now four large-scale data centers being built in the Jackson Metropolitan area, with a total of seven being developed statewide.
Five Weeks of Public Debate
Over five weeks, Jacksonians and concerned citizens across the metropolitan area have engaged in a Data Center Public Education Forum at Jackson State University on June 12; two city council public hearings on June 22 and July 6; a city council meeting on July 14; followed by a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) public hearing on the draft air construction permit proposed for Entergy’s Traceview Advanced Power Station, a gas-fired power plant in Madison County, later that same evening.
A flyer advertises the Data Centers: A Public Education Forum held at Jackson State University on June 12, 2026, one of several public events aimed at educating residents about proposed AI data center developments in Mississippi. Photo credit: Azia Cimone
Engineer, researcher, and public health professional Dr. Erin Shirley Orey volunteers at the Environmental Advocates of Mississippi, a grassroots nonprofit focused on empowering residents through advocacy and education to fight environmental harm, particularly in Hinds and Madison counties. The local nonprofit was established earlier this year as a response to the data center and proposed energy site in Ridgeland. “I just started getting involved in this work because I was seeing how community members just had no idea what was going on, were not aware of what’s coming, and had no input in what’s coming.” Orey admitted she was unfamiliar with data centers and what other states were dealing with across the country, so she started researching.
At the June 22 public hearing at city hall, Orey made a public comment encouraging the city council to take a step back and slow down. She told leaders to be proactive and conduct the necessary assessments to protect communities. Orey also lifted up that the Saxum development had quietly expanded from 190 to 230 acres, exemplifying the lack of transparency residents have spoken out about.
“One of the things I would like to ask any data center developer is, why so much secrecy?” Orey said during an interview with BRAINchild Media. “Why do they feel like that is an appropriate way to approach this when you come into our community?”
Dr. Erin Shirley Orey delivers public comments during a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality hearing on a proposed gas-fired power plant at Greater Pearlie Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., on July 14, 2026. Photo credit: Azia Cimone
She mentioned how close some of these data centers are to homes, and pondered the long-term cumulative effects of adding a data center and a gas power plant to an area that already has a landfill, all within half a mile of each other. “It’s just too much,” Orey sighed. At the MDEQ public hearing, she challenged the moderators: “What does it mean to live next to a gas plant? Would you live next to it?”
Kadin Love is the Gulf South manager for the Dogwood Alliance, an environmental justice nonprofit organization. He believes that Jackson is not ready for any data centers, saying they will exacerbate the city’s crumbling water infrastructure, putting even more pressure on families battling persistent poverty, lack of health care, food deserts and increased gun violence.
“Innovation is not liberation,” Love said. “We are often put in the position where we have to sacrifice our humanity, sacrifice our lives in order for a promise of something that often doesn’t happen. And so, if we’re moving forward, then we have to be able to invest in things that are Black. And when I say invest in things that are Black, I’m not talking about businesses, I’m talking about people.”
As an experienced organizer and strategist working closely with the Gloster community in Amite County, there’s much for Mississippi to learn from their decade-long community battles and scars with the Drax Biomass Bioenergy plant. The facility has faced multiple fines over air pollution violations, and residents have named the wood pellet plant responsible for their worsening air quality and widespread health problems in the majority-Black town of approximately 900 people.
“Initially, the majority of the community was not aware that there was a plant there that was causing issues, but they were seeing shifts in their health,” Love explained. Gloster residents began to notice an increase in lung issues, coughing spells, nosebleeds, headaches, and more dust on their properties. In 2021, MDEQ fined Drax $2.5M for overpolluting by three times the legal limit. Instead of justice being served on behalf of the community, Drax paid the fine and continued business as usual.
“When we’re talking about an industry that brings in billions of dollars, they set aside money every year to pay fines. Those fines go directly to the state and don’t go to the communities, so there’s no actual recourse,” Love said. “They’re not actually paying back for the harm they caused. We’re still currently in the midst of that fight of trying to get the community some justice, essentially, and also some accountability.”
Bishop Ronnie Crudup, Sr., the chair of the Downtown Jackson Partners and the Diocese Bishop for the Fellowship of International Churches, also attended the public hearings and the city council meeting on July 14. He believes a data center in Jackson will bolster economic development and help the Capital City compete with surrounding cities that are already reaping the benefits from the added tax revenue their data centers bring.
“They’re gonna become even more attractive while we become less attractive. We’re staying in place,” Crudup protested. “Those folks are progressing and moving forward. You get to the place where you can’t compete.”
When asked why he was pro-data center, Crudup made it clear that he is pro-economic development. “I want to see this city prosper, and it cannot prosper without strong economic development vehicles. Data centers are one of those vehicles that can even the playing field real, real quick.”
Moratorium Granted: What’s Next?
At the city council meeting on July 14, the session opened up with several public comments before voting on the moratorium. Casteel reminded everyone of the current zoning rules, saying that his neighbor, Saxum, is already in violation. Sabir Abdul-Haqq, MSJW’s director of public engagement, cited real-life examples of the negative effects of data centers in Oregon and Virginia, encouraging Jackson to pass the moratorium so the city can take time to develop responsibly.
Robert Ireland, the attorney representing Saxum’s interest in building a data center on the Forest Avenue Extension, shared a draft ordinance with the city council clerk, stating it addresses the community’s expressed needs. He also mentioned that Madison County will see $1.6B in ad valorem tax per year over the next 10 years, bringing in over $5B from their data center over the next 30 years.
Community members pack the Jackson City Council chambers ahead of a vote on a 183-day moratorium on AI data center-related decisions on July 14, 2026. The council approved the measure 5–2, creating additional time for research and public engagement. Photo credit: Azia Cimone
Soon after the public comments, the council passed a 183-day moratorium on data center-related decisions with a 5-2 vote. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote and Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley, who is the Council’s newly elected president, opposed the moratorium.
Tension began to fade away in the city hall as community members relaxed slightly at this new window of opportunity. That same day, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an Executive Order establishing the nation’s first moratorium on new hyperscale data centers and setting the strongest standards for data center development as a blueprint for the rest of the nation.
The moratorium has created what Jacksonians haven’t had for several months: time. What should communities, elected officials and industry leaders do now?
Crudup believes there should be transparency and regulations for all industries coming to the state, even though he doesn’t agree with the extended moratorium. Jackson has to remember its own assets, self-interest, and community standards, while understanding that these industries are coming to the city because Jackson has something they want.
“You negotiate that up front, don’t leave it to happenstance, good luck or prayer,” Crudup insisted, adding that there’s no need to burn bridges or be uncivil to one another, despite having differing opinions.
“It’s communication. You talk to people. Now, you can’t malign folks from the very beginning and expect to get everything you want from them. It’s how you approach the circumstance. Whoever’s on the opposite side of me in this, that is their opinion. I could be wrong in my opinion. They could be wrong in their opinion.”
Love says there should be a ban on data centers in Jackson altogether due to its vulnerable position, but understands it should be a community decision. Now is the time to ask the hard questions about power, energy, water, and pollution to create boundaries that all industries must respect if they want to do business in Jackson.
“What are the specifics around these data centers that they’re trying to put in our community? Where are they coming from? Which entity is doing it?” Love continued, stating that the Capital City should learn from Gloster because history shows how hard it is to stop a major industry once they’re established in a community.
For Orey, this moratorium is an opportunity to put together the right team consisting of advocates, organizers, scientists, lawyers, realtors, elected officials and residents to learn from other similarly sized municipalities and even other countries on how to do this in a way that benefits communities.
Orey would also like to see the added tax revenue directly invested into Jackson to fortify the city’s water and energy infrastructure, fully fund public schools, and beautify its communities, along with intentional community engagement and regular updates from these tech industries. “I just think that they should be more engaging throughout the process. Throughout the entire process, not just at the end.
Sephus believes that this moratorium gives Jackson an opportunity to position itself as the standard for how a predominantly Black city works together to make sure their communities are not exploited, but equitably invested in.
“One thing that I’ve seen from my research is that the elected officials put together a task force and they can also acquire certain service level agreements,” Sephus said. “This happens anytime anybody builds something of that magnitude in your community. This is the time to ramp up the research team, ramp up the plans, allocate the budgets. This is the time to do some scouting. I hope that another 180 days from now, we’re not just back at the same place.”
At the end of a packed community training session, Candace Abdul-Tawwab, the executive director of MSJW, reflected on what moved her to advocate against data centers in the first place.
“I am a Black Southern woman, and I am a descendant of the most oppressed people in this country,” Abdul-Tawwab stated confidently. “I have a unique lens to identify oppression and brutality and terror. I’ve been watching data centers and AI for a while, and in January, I remember saying, ‘I know this is coming to our state. Why wouldn’t it come to our state? We need to get prepared.’” Abdul-Tawwab believes that this moratorium is not a time for rest. It’s time for deeper organizing in Jackson ward by ward to keep pressure on legislators and city council members.
Abdul-Tawwab and Love both acknowledge that technology is going to continue to advance, and that they are not anti-progress. “I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t use my phone, act like I don’t use the internet,” Love clarified. “I also understand and am well acquainted with the Black blood that it took for us to have these things. This is a country built on blood. We don’t have to continue to build on blood. We can build on a stronger foundation.”
However, once all of the necessary questions have been asked, information has been researched, and public engagement has been intentional with transparency, at the end of the day, if the community decides against developing data centers in their respective communities, industries and elected officials must respect it.
“Success to me looks like we have people in [office] that really believe in cooperative governance,” Abdul-Tawwab said. “Success looks like they bend to the will of the people. If the people do not want data centers, then we don’t get data centers. The end.”
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