Kentucky Family Rejects $26.4 Million Farmland Offer Tied to AI Data Center
Updated
Updated · syracuse.com · Aug 17
Kentucky Family Rejects $26.4 Million Farmland Offer Tied to AI Data Center
1 articles · Updated · syracuse.com · Aug 17
Summary
$26.4 million was not enough to persuade Delsia Bare and her mother Ida Huddleston to sell Kentucky farmland they say has been in their family for 200 years.
The pair reversed an initial agreement after learning the buyer planned to use the property for AI data centers, with Bare telling the Wall Street Journal: "Kick rocks and don't come back."
WSJ sources said the deal was believed to be linked to Meta, though the company said it had not decided whether to work in the area.
The refusal lands amid broader U.S. resistance to data centers over water use, power demand and possible health effects; Data Center Map lists nearly 5,000 nationwide, including 56 in Kentucky.
Why did a Kentucky family walk away from $26 million, and what does it reveal about the hidden costs of our AI obsession?
Could the growing nationwide backlash against hyperscale data centers eventually halt the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the country?