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Moratorium on Data Centers in Hamilton County TN

Primary ask: Hamilton County Commissioners vote YES on the one-year moratorium on July 15, 2026. Secondary ask: Commissioners amend the resolution so the Jailhouse Studios exemption cannot be used as a template for future "small footprint" carve-outs — e.g. a hard, audited square-footage/power cap with public reporting, not a self-certified limit and cap it hard enough that it can't be used as a precedent for the next "small" exemption. Standing ask (post-vote): during the pause, the Planning Department's TVA/EPB/water-provider consultations should be public record, not a closed-door study.

Campaign by

Buckoff

Cause

Labor

Website

But the moratorium already exempts one project — Jailhouse Studios, the conversion of the old downtown county jail into a data/production complex. And that exemption isn't neutral. Run by Urban Story Ventures, the Jailhouse Studios' infrastructure partner is The STEM Practice, an Oracle partner whose CEO, Bernie Alen, is a former executive director at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. STEM Practice's own public goal is 1,000 "sovereign AI" sites nationally, financed by Oracle carrying the capital cost of hardware in exchange for long-term recurring compute revenue.

In other words: the one project the county has already blessed is a foothold for the exact same industry the moratorium is supposed to pause — installed by a company literally run by a former Oracle executive, financed on a model built for decades-long lock-in. "Pause means pause" should mean pause, not "pause for everyone except the one deal we already signed."

Objectives

Moratorium on Data Centers in Hamilton County

Target

Hamilton County Commission

Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp proposed a one-year moratorium on new AI data centers in unincorporated Hamilton County, and the Commission votes July 15, 2026. The stated reason is sound: nobody yet knows what these facilities do to the power grid, water supply, and farmland, so the county wants a year to study it before approving more. But the moratorium already exempts one project — Jailhouse Studios, the conversion of the old downtown county jail into a data/production complex. And that exemption isn't neutral. Run by Urban Story Ventures, the Jailhouse Studios' infrastructure partner is The STEM Practice, an Oracle partner whose CEO, Bernie Alen, is a former executive director at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. STEM Practice's own public goal is 1,000 "sovereign AI" sites nationally, financed by Oracle carrying the capital cost of hardware in exchange for long-term recurring compute revenue. In other words: the one project the county has already blessed is a foothold for the exact same industry the moratorium is supposed to pause — installed by a company literally run by a former Oracle executive, financed on a model built for decades-long lock-in. "Pause means pause" should mean pause, not "pause for everyone except the one deal we already signed."

Ways to take a stand

easy

I pledge to contact my commissioner before july 15th to ask for at least a 5 year data center moratorium and community input listening sessions to inform future data center regulations.

Before July 15th I pledge to contact my commissioner to ask for community input listening sessions to inform future data center regulations. Here is a link to the letter to send: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-hamilton-county-commissioners-for-5-year-data-center-moratorium-public-input-opportunities/

medium

I pledge to share the info with to 3 people

I'm sharing this campaign so my neighbors understand why this vote matters beyond one old jail.

hard

I pledge to show up to the county commissioners meeting

Pledge to attend the July 15 Hamilton County Commission meeting in person or watch the livestream and share what happens. Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/@HamiltonCountyTN/streams