Mississippi River mayors recently came together to help river communities evaluate data center proposals, as the facilities continue to rapidly expand across the basin.
There are already more than 3,000 active data centers throughout the United States, including in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. As the need for artificial intelligence and data storage grows, more cities and counties are being approached by companies interested in building data centers in their communities. About three-quarters of the data centers currently planned are in the South or Midwest, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.
“We are now dealing with data centers and what that looks like,” said Melisa Logan, mayor of Blytheville, Arkansas, at a press conference on Oct. 21 in Natchez, Mississippi. “Construction of data centers in the United States has now reached a record $4.4 billion per month.”
Logan is also co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a group of more than 100 river communities that span from Minnesota down to Louisiana. So far, more than 75% of MRCTI member cities have already been approached to host some form of AI infrastructure, Logan said. Many have asked the organization for guidance on how to protect community resources, such as water and utility service.
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