14AUG

Indiana counties turn pauses into bans

1 min read

10:48UTC

Marshall and Cass counties banned new data centres outright, with no end date, part of roughly 30 of Indiana's 92 counties now restricting a build-out they once merely paused.

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Key takeaway

Two Indiana counties replaced temporary pauses with permanent data-centre bans, removing the reopening date moratoria always kept.

Marshall and Cass counties in Indiana have banned new data centres outright rather than pausing them, part of roughly 30 of the state's 92 counties now restricting development. ¹ A moratorium sets a clock; a ban does not. That distinction marks the shift, because it removes the reopening date every earlier Indiana pause carried.

The move escalates a county-by-county trend the beat has counted for months. In June, Boone County became Indiana's twelfth to pass a one-year moratorium ; Marshall and Cass set no end date at all. Roughly a third of the state's counties now sit somewhere on the spectrum from pause to prohibition.

The bans do not touch the demand. Governor Mike Braun is still selling Indiana to hyperscalers, a state-level pitch that runs directly against the counties now shutting them out. That split, a governor recruiting the load while local boards refuse it, is the shape the Indiana fight has settled into.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Two more Indiana counties, Marshall and Cass, have gone further than most: instead of pausing new data centres for a year or two while they write rules, they have banned them outright, with no plan to revisit the decision. Around a third of Indiana's 92 counties now restrict data centres in some way. No governor or state law forced this decision. Each of Indiana's 92 counties is deciding on its own, so the state's data-centre map is becoming a patchwork of banned, paused and open areas rather than one statewide policy.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Marshall and Cass counties chose outright bans rather than the moratoria most of Indiana's other restricting counties adopted because a moratorium requires the county to eventually write zoning rules that let some future project through; a ban carries no such obligation and needs no follow-up ordinance, making it the structurally simpler tool for a county with no active project to actually manage.

Indiana's fragmented pattern, roughly a third of its 92 counties now restricting development with no state law or governor's action behind any of it, exists because Indiana zoning authority sits almost entirely at the county level. Unlike New York's single executive order, no one Indianapolis decision can freeze the state, so each county reaches its own answer at its own pace.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Developers face a state where roughly a third of counties are permanently closed rather than temporarily paused, narrowing the map for new Indiana campuses.

Sources:WFYI

Mentions:Marshall County, Indiana →Indianapolis →Boone County →Mike Braun →Cass County, Indiana →

First Reported In

Update #10 · New York freezes data centres by decree

WFYI· 15 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Indiana freezes its 12th county on AI

Marshall and Cass counties' outright bans escalate past Boone County's earlier one-year moratorium, Indiana's 12th such vote.

Occurred 15 Jun 2026

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This Event

Indiana counties turn pauses into bans

Indiana's data-centre backlash has hardened from temporary moratoria into permanent bans across a third of its counties.

Different Perspectives

Antel, Uruguay's state telecom

Antel will build a $70m AI data centre in Canelones, announced after an 11-12 August Council of Ministers meeting, with construction from Q1 2027 and roughly 250 direct jobs. Uruguay is putting a sovereign AI facility on the state balance sheet rather than courting a hyperscaler to build one.

Comtel

Comtel is building a Figline Valdarno data centre inside the H2-Era Green Valley complex, powered by an 84 MW solar plant and selling waste heat to on-site farming. Co-location with generation and a heat offtaker is the model regulators elsewhere are now writing into connection terms rather than negotiating case by case.

Greg Abbott, Texas Governor

Abbott directed PUCT and ERCOT on 3 August to audit every queued data centre's ownership, incentives and water use, saying projects that fail the state's survey should lose grid access. QTS's co-chief executives welcomed the review; Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called it too vague and wants a special legislative session instead.

Government of Gujarat

Gujarat notified a Data Centre Policy on 7 August offering capital, interest, tax and duty subsidies for projects sourcing at least 51% green power, targeting 7.5 GW against a 74 GW installed base. Where other jurisdictions priced or restricted grid access this month, Gujarat is paying developers to come instead.

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan Economics Committee

The committee gave preliminary approval on 5 August to a self-generation mandate for large power users, including data centres, with fines up to NT$750,000. It agreed the obligation in principle while leaving the megawatt threshold that defines its reach to later implementing regulation.

Australian Energy Market Commission

AEMC advised ministers on 5 August that data centres should surrender renewable certificates against actual consumption, prove new demand with new firm capacity, and register as market participants. The advice would turn passive customers into obligated participants inside the market's dispatch and settlement machinery, ahead of an access-standards determination due in late October.