Jeffery Tyler Syck

June 15, 2026  5:30 am

 A server room in a data center. (Photo by Getty Images)

Despite the well meaning intentions of these politicians, there is absolutely no reason to believe that data centers offer any hope for the rural economy. For one thing, a variety of studies have shown that whatever their virtues may be, data centers do not employe all that many people. So the idea they will provide high paying jobs for citizens to replace coal or a shuttered factory is simple fiction. While it is true that they provide construction jobs, these jobs are by their nature short lived and not permanent.

So what are the advantages of data centers? Well, they take up huge amounts of space. Thus data centers help to remove pesky farmland, natural springs, and trees. More than this, they gobble up huge amounts of electricity and cause perhaps permanent damage to local water supplies. Resources that are currently cheap and easy to come by in Kentucky.

In all seriousness, given that data centers destroy the natural world (Kentucky’s greatest resource) and provide almost no economic advantage, why the sudden push to construct them all over our lovely commonwealth? For some local leaders, it’s a simple mistake. They mean well but they do not know what they are doing. However, underneath the naivety of local officials lay an undoubtedly more sinister motive: corporate greed.

Kentucky Power sees data centers as an easy way to make a profit. By driving up electric costs, data centers are obviously a tremendous gain for large power companies. Any negative costs are passed onto consumers and the company gets away with making a killing. Surely a win/win as far as any corporation is concerned. It is for this reason that Kentucky Power and other electric companies across the nation have started to lobby so persistently for the construction of data centers. Tech companies obviously find a nice place to store their data, usually tucked away in some part of the state where neither they nor their employees have to deal with the negative consequences.

In many respects, this old song and dance is not new to Kentuckians. We are tragically used to being abused by companies for their own benefit whether in the form of deforestation or company towns. However, just because this is a common part of our history does not mean we should stand for it. In fact, quite the opposite. Kentuckians should insist that data centers only be built when they benefit the broader community and hold elected officials who put corporate interest above the common good harshly accountable.

The men and women who founded the Commonwealth of Kentucky proved time and again an innate ability to stand up for themselves that we would well to emulate. We must make sure the 21st century economy Kentucky builds works for all citizens, not just large corporations.