Blake Hurst Courts $6.3 Billion Data Center Project as Missouri Opposition Tops 63%
Updated
Updated · Tom's Hardware · Aug 16
Blake Hurst Courts $6.3 Billion Data Center Project as Missouri Opposition Tops 63%
2 articles · Updated · Tom's Hardware · Aug 16
Summary
Blake Hurst, former head of the Missouri Farm Bureau, used a Wall Street Journal op-ed to invite data center developers to bid on his Atchison County farmland near the proposed White Cloud Acres campus.
Hurst argues the region needs the investment because nearby Nodaway County's population has fallen about 13% since 2010, and he says White Cloud Acres could bring 130 jobs and more than $1 billion in tax revenue over 35 years.
White Cloud Acres, valued by local reporting at $6.3 billion, was paused July 21 when Nodaway County commissioners imposed a moratorium of up to six months while negotiating a development agreement with Scale Microgrids.
Opposition has still intensified: a petition against the project drew more than 7,000 signatures, Maryville's mayor has opposed it, and national polling now shows 63% to 70% resistance to nearby data centers.
More than 500 U.S. jurisdictions have passed restrictions this month, yet Hurst says holdouts usually redirect projects rather than stop them, citing Kentucky landowners who rejected offers as high as $26 million and $35,000 an acre.