Data Centers Gold Rush: Mississippi's Readiness

Whether Mississippi, Georgia or Northern Virginia is the national pacesetter in obtaining development promises from data center companies, as all three states claim, each is glowing, if not with electricity, certainly with pre-construction announcements.

In the rural landscape of a Georgia corner with which I am familiar, the pledge by a development company seems solid on plans to build a data center on about 2,000 acres just east of Blakely, a town slammed last year by the loss of 555 jobs at closure of a Georgia-Pacific paper mill. Some dirt has been turned on the data center property in question, but most citizens are eager to see some additional earth-moving machinery engage in a more serious brand of work site preparation. In other words, get'r done.

Another Georgia town, Hampton, populated with 9,200 people 30 miles from Atlanta, was a sleepy 1800's place except on race days at the nearby Atlanta Motor Speedway. Then, a Target distribution center and three — count 'em — data centers arrived. Suffice to say that sleep is harder to come by these days but the city's coffers are so stuffed with tax revenues that residents' taxes might someday be forgotten.

The Georgia Legislature has become uncomfortable with the sales tax breaks it has offered data center developers, and may in fact repeal some during this year's session, according to news reports. The turnabout comes because many lawmakers don't believe tax incentives are needed nowadays to attract developers.

As with any new enterprise, there is some citizen-fretting over the flourishing industry. If interested, watch for the next public hearing scheduled in your area by developers to answer questions about plans. Most "anti" data center types worry over surging demands on the power grid and high groundwater usage; although a closed loop cooling system should negate those issues.

A recent report in The Clarion Ledger on Mississippi data center activity showed that six are planned here. All but one of the investments are in the billions (with a 'b'), including a $20 billion development in DeSoto County; $10 billion in Lauderdale and Madison counties; $6 billion in Rankin County; $3 billion in Warren County; and a $750 million facility in Clinton in Hinds County.

I'd like to hear the other 81 persons heading up county economic development outside of DeSoto County explain how it seems to win most of the large economic development projects that come to the state. Only a few other Mississippi counties are able to challenge DeSoto, just south of Memphis.

One area that has substantially matched DeSoto County is the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A recent news report from Biloxi's WLOX-TV noted that state economic development chief executive Bill Cork wants Coast leaders to ramp up their new business efforts. Cork said, "There's a tsunami of new activity coming. And we've got to be prepared to win it ... the focus now is on capitalizing on existing momentum while competing for new opportunities."

The state's southern border has for years been successful in its job-seeking efforts. But Cork noted that he and Gov. Tate Reeves are focused on elevating the quality of jobs coming to the region. "When you have those jobs in your region, you can solve a lot of the other problems that come to the community," WLOX quoted Cork.

Most observers who keep tabs on which regions of the state have the strongest economies know that superb public education systems are the key to success. That's always been a hallmark of the achievements in DeSoto County and particularly along the Coast, which possesses the state's best public schools.

Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.