Burke should pursue data centers

A hundred years ago, Burke County drowned part of its past to power its future.

As Lake James rose, families packed up. Land was swallowed. A community named Fonta Flora disappeared beneath the water, gone in the name of progress.

In the process, the Catawba River was harnessed, redirected, and industrialized in a way that felt, to many at the time, reckless and invasive.

They weren’t wrong. But what they could not fully see was what that sacrifice would produce.

The system of dams and hydroelectric plants along the Catawba from Lake James into South Carolina, built by James B. Duke, helped power an economic transformation that lifted the region. Textile mills flourished. Industry arrived. Electricity spread.

Over time, that controversial decision became the backbone of prosperity across the Carolinas.

Now, here we are again.

Only this time it is not water. It is data.

Artificial intelligence and modern data centers are here. Data centers are the hydroelectric dams of the 21st century.

They do not look romantic. They hum. They sprawl. They consume land and energy. And, yes, they raise legitimate concerns about noise, infrastructure, and environmental impact.

So did dams.

North Carolina is quickly becoming one of the nation’s leading hubs for data centers. Apple. Google. Amazon. Billions of dollars are already committed, and more are coming.

These are long-term, infrastructure-level investments that bring high-paying technical jobs, long-term construction activity, upgraded infrastructure, and most of all, long-term tax base.

They also bring relevance.

Burke County is not being asked to imagine this future. It is happening all around us: Google in Lenoir, Apple in Maiden, Meta (Facebook) in Forest City, Microsoft in Conover.

Burke’s economic development leaders confirm that data center representatives are actively exploring sites here. We have everything we need. Except will.

We have land, access to power and infrastructure, proximity to fiber, and a workforce ready to adapt and grow. We have the financial need to fill budget shortfalls.

Do we want to be part of what comes next? Or do we want to watch it happen while we debate what might have been?

One project has already surfaced publicly. DigiPower X has proposed a $200 million to $500 million data center in Hildebran, and local officials have begun adjusting zoning to make it possible.

Like James Duke’s hydroelectric projects, data center development will be controversial on the front end. Leaders will hear from environmentalists, ecologists, naturalists, and other concerned citizens who oppose these projects.

Some North Carolina communities have already acted on those concerns. Chatham County, Gates County, and the town of Canton have each adopted 12-month moratoriums on new data center construction.

Others have taken the opposite approach.

Richmond County, for example, has gone all in, using incentives to help secure a $10 billion Amazon data center investment near Rockingham.

Burke County and its municipalities cannot afford to block or stall development of AI and data centers. From some perspectives, our forward-thinking economic development has stalled. It is no longer described as cautious. It is described as stagnant.

Financial strain is frequently blamed. Our local governments don’t have enough money in their tight budgets to fully renovate, let alone modernize, infrastructure. Imagine the benefits of a data center that generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenues.

If Burke County wants to know what this looks like in real life, it does not need a consultant or a study. It needs a windshield. Just drive to Lenoir.

Nearly 20 years ago, that community took a bet on something most people did not understand. Google arrived in 2007. There were questions. There was skepticism. There were arguments about incentives and whether the payoff would ever match the promise.

Today, that facility is a multi-billion-dollar campus and the largest taxpayer in Caldwell County. It employs hundreds, not thousands, but they are high-paying, stable jobs.

More importantly, it replaced a collapsing industrial base with something durable. It anchored a tech corridor. It pulled in investment. It changed the trajectory of a community.

That did not happen by accident.

It happened because a community said yes.

Burke County should not quietly consider data center development. It should openly, publicly, and aggressively pursue it and secure a solid economic future.

The decisions from our elected and appointed decision-makers require courage, fortitude, and commitment to the long view. They need to transparently and thoroughly educate residents about the benefits and risks.

James Duke asked communities to surrender control of river, land, and landscape in exchange for a larger economic future. His hydro system delivered enormous regional value because it created foundational infrastructure that powered industry, population growth, water security, and later, lake economies.

Data centers are the thriving platforms of the next economy. The question is whether Burke County intends to participate in powering it or watch from the sidelines.