Warnock wants moratorium on data centers as debate rages in Columbus

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock is weighing in on the controversy surrounding the construction of new data centers in Georgia. Senator Warnock suggested Monday any future plans for new data centers in the peach state should come to an immediate halt while issues cited by the public can be properly addressed.

“I’m calling for a moratorium on data center construction. There needs to be guarantees around utility bills, pollution, and transparency before these facilities can be built. Big corporations are running roughshod over small communities, building massive facilities with no input from the people who live there. In many cases, it’s driving up the cost of utilities. It’s causing pollution. And it’s often being done in secret. It has to stop,” the Senator said on multiple social posts August 31, 2026.

Senator Warnock’s statements are in stark contrast to President Trump’s remarks also published Monday on his social media account. “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” the President said in part.

The rhetoric from elected officials comes on the heels of a raging debate in Muscogee County over “Project Ruby”, a $5 billion dollar project proposal for a hyperscale data center in the rural Upatoi neighborhood of Columbus. Residents from a cross section of the city have come out against the project staging rallies, forming groups and routinely showing up at council and other town hall meetings in opposition to the proposed data center.

A group of landowners in Upatoi filed a lawsuit against the mayor and council after the city approved a technology overlay district ordinance for the proposed data center site in June according to the Ledger-Enquirer. The technology overlay district ordinance created rules and guidelines for data centers but does not greenlight building the $5 billion dollar data center. The city council and the planning advisory commission would have to take several steps to include addressing zoning issues before any data center project could move forward. The Ledger reported attorneys representing the city called the lawsuit “premature” and will request a dismissal at an upcoming hearing scheduled for September 9, 2026, in Columbus.