The data center opposition group Wake Up JeffCo and four property owners filed a lawsuit in St. Louis County Thursday against the City of Festus and data center developer CRG.
The suit aims to reverse two decisions by the city: one to rezone the area set aside for a potential AI data center project, the other to enter into a contract that sets requirements for the developer.
The lawsuit comes two days after all four incumbent city council candidates in Festus were ousted, according to final unofficial election results.
Mary Fakes is one of the plaintiffs who lives about 300 yards from the proposed development. She said the project has disrupted her life.
"When this began, we automatically knew we could not, in good conscience, turn this house over to my daughter to live in an area that potentially could have hazard to her health," Fakes said. "I am very hopeful through this litigation today, that someday, in the near future, my daughter will be able to take over our homestead."
Fakes said she is particularly concerned about the amount of water needed to cool hyperscale data centers like the proposed Festus project. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate these hyperscale facilities will consume between 60 and 124 billion liters of water by 2028.
Researchers at the University of California Riverside and Caltech estimate that AI data centers could cost upwards of $10 billion in public water infrastructure nationwide as AI demand grows.
The plaintiffs argue city officials knowingly withheld information about the potential development that was within the public interest. The suit alleges that the city had unlawful private meetings with developers and attempted to evade requirements of the Missouri Sunshine Law, which aims to ensure government transparency
Steve Jeffery is the attorney representing the Festus residents and plaintiffs in a similar suit in Montgomery County. He said he believes city officials were intentionally meeting in smaller groups to avoid making data center discussions a matter of public record.
"Apparently, the city believed that if they met instead in small groups, of like two or three at a time, that they wouldn't have to comply with any of those Sunshine Law requirements," Jeffery said.
In correspondence posted publicly on the City of Festus' website, officials acknowledged efforts to keep conversations about the project under wraps.
Some officials' names were redacted before the documents were released publicly.
"For the proposed annexation, since it's volunteer, we don't have to have a public hearing, correct?" an official said in an Oct. 1 text. "I don't think that's going to draw much interest but I could be wrong. Because driving highway speed doesn't give a (person) a lot of time to read the sign, they may think it's a construction sign."
Lori Merriman is the founder of Wake Up JeffCo and lives near the proposed data center site. She said the lawsuit validates months of pushback against the city.
"We have all these people showing up in droves, but the council will not listen to you," Merriman said. "We want the city council to be transparent with us and actually care about what we say."
Residents recently decried the $6 billion proposed data center project at a heated public meeting where city council approved a framework of requirements for data center developer CRG.
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