‘Nothing legally we can do,’ commissioner says of data center under construction

The Webster County Commission released a statement saying it is exploring a possible moratorium on future data center development projects in the county, but the presiding commissioner told Springfield Business Journal there’s nothing the elected officials can do about one already being built.

The official statement, released on the Webster County Facebook page, says the body is researching the legality of future moratoriums, but it makes no mention of a possible moratorium on a development currently underway by developer Lumon Solutions LLC outside the city limits of Marshfield.

Many county residents requested a moratorium on the present development at a May 11 public meeting. Resident Kevin Runyon, representing a consortium of neighbors of the data center site, presented the commission with a moratorium drafted by the group’s attorney and said it awaited only their signature.

The commissioners’ social media statement addresses possible future data center developments instead of the Lumon Solutions project.

“The commission is exploring the possibility of retaining outside litigation counsel to research the legality of adopting a moratorium on future data center development projects in the unincorporated areas of Webster County,” the commission’s statement said.

Springfield Business Journal reached out to Presiding Commissioner Paul Ipock for clarification.

“There’s nothing legally we can do,” Ipock said of the project that’s currently underway.

He said suggestions of ordinances supplied by members of the public are ultimately nonstarters for legal reasons.

“They’ve given two or three different statutes to go off of, and we’ve had two different attorneys look at them,” he said. “You can pass them, but if you do, you’ll get sued, and if you get sued, you’re going to lose.”

That is especially true for a development that is as far along as the Lumon Solutions data center.

“Once one starts, there’s no stopping it legally,” Ipock said.

The official statement from the commission said the legal basis for a future moratorium could be based on the commission’s possible authority to control noise pollution under a section of state law. The announcement cited Section 49.950(3), which it says deals with nuisance abatement; however, there is no such section in the Revised Statutes of Missouri. Nuisance abatement for Class 3 counties is covered under 49.650(3) in Title VI of the Missouri code, which covers county, township and political subdivision government.The statement updates constituents on actions taken by the commission.

“The commission has contacted a number of federal and state regulatory agencies to ensure procedures are being followed and to educate themselves further about the potential impacts stemming from the current project on Rifle Range Road,” it said. “Representatives of federal elected officials have also been contacted for assistance.”

Ipock said the commission has had conversations with multiple agencies, including the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Department of Conservation and others.

“We’re trying to find something to stand on; it’s just not there,” he said.

Ipock said because of Webster County’s status as a Class 3 county under Missouri statutes, companies do not need county-level approval to develop.

“The bad thing about third-class counties without planning and zoning [boards] is they don’t have to tell us nothing – they just build it,” he said. “If they get a permit from the electric company, that’s all they need.”

He added they also have to follow state regulations.

The research the commission is completing now would help them with any future data center developments, according to Ipock, though he said he is dubious that a large-scale data center would eye Webster County as a site.

“I don’t know if we would have the electrical or the water,” he said. “We couldn’t handle that out there.”

He added that the Lumon Solutions officials were smart when they made their decision.

“I’d say he had a diagram of a grid,” Ipock said, referring to partner Trent Overhue. “The substation he put that next to was running at 30% capacity.”

He added that the substation to be used has 16 megawatts of unused power right now, and the center under development plans to use no more than 10 MW.

Still, he said, large-scale data centers are planned elsewhere in Missouri, including a 400-acre site by European AI company Nebius that broke ground this month in Independence and two large-scale facilities in Montgomery County. Missourinet reporting shows that Amazon and another company are planning two data centers on 1,700 acres near the Interstate 70/Highway 19 interchange there.

“You hear horror stories of the big ones,” Ipock said. “That’s something I would not want to see.”