By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com

A capacity crowd filled Lee County’s McSwain Center Monday as experts and residents alike told the Board of Commissioners about the dangers of a rumored data center project that would be powered by natural gas drilling and has become a community flashpoint in recent months.

Ultimately, the board voted to have county staff draw up language for a new moratorium on fracking in Lee County that the board will take up at a future meeting. Six of the commissioners cast yes votes by a show of hands. Kirk Smith, the board’s Republican chairman, did not raise his hand, and county officials later clarified the vote was recorded 6-1.

A company named Deep River Data is at the heart of the controversy. An article in late 2025 from Inside Climate News reported that Deep River Data wanted to access natural gas from Butler Well No. 3, a test well drilled in the late 90s near the Cumnock community, and use it to power an artificial intelligence operation nearby. The story provided emails in which company officials inquired to the state on an informal basis about the project, and also detailed connections the company has to cryptocurrency mining. But state or local officials have reported consistently since that there had been no permit requests of any kind associated with such a project.

Nevertheless, a long line of Lee County residents began speaking before the Board of Commissioners and the Sanford City Council asking for a moratorium against data centers and fracking. Chatham County enacted such a moratorium in February.

Monday’s meeting – which had easily the highest attendance at a commissioners’ meeting in the last five years – included presentations from both Brooks Rainey, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, and Jimmy Randolph, CEO of the Sanford Area Growth Alliance. Rainey’s presentation focused on some of the environmental challenges data centers in general propose to communities, while Randolph argued that data centers can provide significant economic benefits – but probably not this one.

SAGA is a public-private partnership which serves as the county’s economic development arm. Randolph said SAGA hadn’t heard a word from Deep River Data about the rumored project until last week. He said his discussion with the company led him to the conclusion that it “would not fit into the category of projects that I have been describing tonight that might be a good fit for a modern sustainable data projects.”

“The details described to me during the call I received represented a very small-scale project that would be engaged in activities that I don’t think would be activities of a modern sustainable data center that I’ve described to you,” Randolph said.

Rainey’s remarks focused on the position that the county has the legal option to enact a moratorium. County staff had been working under an interpretation of state law that counties have no authority to regulate drilling for natural gas or through fracking.

But Rainey cited a broad granting of authority to local authorities to do so.

“It’s a safe thing to do,” she said.

The board also heard from a long list of citizens, who unanimously opposed green-lighting such a plan, and urged them to enact a moratorium.

Some expressed fears that data center operations could strain local resources and infrastructure, potentially leading to higher utility costs or shortages for existing residents. There were also apprehensions about noise, increased traffic, and the potential for the center to alter the character of the community. Critics questioned whether the economic benefits would be distributed equitably, or if they would primarily benefit outside interests, with the costs falling on the backs of families that have made Lee County their home for generations.

Randy Nixon is a Cumnock resident who has already spoken several times before about the issue. He reiterated his stance on Monday, often speaking directly to Smith.

“I, like many others, have been coming here and asking for this since Thanksgiving of last year. I told you all months ago that if you didn’t prioritize our children, this would get ugly. Now you see,” he said. “I am a registered Republican, like many here tonight, and I used to think that meant something, something virtuous by standing up for what’s right with conservative values meant to protect working class families and their children. Republicans once fought for the abolition of slavery. Now, when I tell people I’m a Republican, it’s embarrassing. Mr. Smith, your ego clouds your judgment. You hurt not only yourself, but the security of this county.”

Smith got his own barbs in, but not against Nixon. Following Rainey’s presentation, he peppered her with a series of questions about her opinion on the cause of global warning, what caused the end of the Ice Age, and what started the warming of the Roman period 2,000 years ago.

Rainey said she didn’t see how her opinion on those matters related to the issue and replied “I don’t even understand what you are talking about, with all due respect.”

“Well,” Smith pushed on. “We are talking about the climate, and I am asking for your perspectives on the history of climate change and what its causes were, and you’re not able to answer my questions. What is the number one pollutant in the atmosphere today?”

Earlier in the meeting, Smith had read a prepared statement calling the online news website The Sandhills News “activists masquerading as journalists” and accusing it of being “fake news.”

Nixon referenced both that and his treatment of Rainey in his comments, which drew heavy applause from the crowd.

“You call many of us ‘Sandhills Conspiracy Theorists’, but there’s no bigger conspiracy theorist here than you. You claim we’re all here because of a Chinese Communist Party-funded psyop. Those are your words. After what I’ve seen here these past few months, and again tonight, I can’t help but think that maybe you’re funded by China because you seem dead set on making sure life expectancies go down and child cancer goes up. I certainly don’t think you’re qualified to sit in that chair of leadership tonight. You’ve talked about dinosaurs and Romans. I’m praying to the rest of you, save us from this madness.”

The commissioners are expected to get a look at a first draft of a moratorium at a meeting on April 6.