This past week, the Okaloosa County Commissioners held a regular meeting where the topic of data centers was a prime issue (see the link below). Following a rather contentious expression of opinions by members of the public, the Commissioners voted to not support a 12-month moratorium on possible considerations of a data center, possibly located at the Shoal River Industrial Park. Though no data center has actually been proposed, "the county instead reverts to the direction the board gave at its previous meeting: staff is to return in 60 days with an outline of proposed data center regulations."
It was quite evident from the public opinions that most are opposed to any data center and desired an outright ban in our county. Many cited the excess demands on water and power resources commonly associated with datacenters. This would include the expenditures of additional fuel sources to generate the electricity (Of note, while our area has largely transitioned away from coal and oil plants towards hydrogen, natural gas, solar, and nuclear, other parts of the country still relying on fossil-fueled power would experience increased pollution).
Bottomline: This debate is not over for Okaloosa. The public needs to stay engaged in order to have any meaningful impact on the decisions to made in the future.