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Technology

St. Louis residents sue to halt proposed TerraWatt data center

A community lawsuit filed on Friday opposes a million-square-foot facility, raising environmental and noise concerns.

The short version

  • Community plaintiffs in St. Louis have filed a lawsuit to stop developer TerraWatt from building a one-million-square-foot data center in a former warehouse.
  • Opponents argue the project lacks necessary environmental and low-frequency noise studies and will consume excessive resources.
  • The developer defends the project, promising a closed water system and significant local school investments, while framing domestic data centers as critical for security.

Key facts

  • TerraWatt CEO David Daneshforooz plans to convert one million square feet of underutilized warehouse space in St. Louis into a data center.[CBS News]
  • Saint Louis University biologist Kasey Fowler-Finn and other community plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block the project.[CBS News]
  • Plaintiffs are demanding environmental impact assessments and low-frequency sound studies, expressing concerns over noise, water, and electricity usage.[CBS News]
  • TerraWatt has promised that the facility will utilize a closed water system, pay for its own power, and invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the local school system.[CBS News]
  • A Gallup poll found that over 70% of Americans oppose having data centers built in their local areas.[CBS News]

What remains uncertain

  • It is not yet known how the court will rule on the filed lawsuit or if the project will face further regulatory delays.[CBS News]

Sources