Clinton residents voiced mixed reactions Monday night to a proposed data center that city officials recently announced, with some welcoming expected revenue and others raising concerns about limited details and high energy demand, attendees and officials said.
The facility is planned for a building on Industrial Road Drive, just north of Interstate 20 and west of downtown Clinton. City officials said the property was a Milwaukee Tool facility from 2021 to 2023 and had been a wiring plant that closed in 2009. The new owner has not been publicly disclosed; WLBT reported on March 4 that Amazon would own the data center, according to records it obtained.
Mayor Will Purdie told the Board of Aldermen he expected to release more details “in the next few weeks.” Purdie said the facility will be “air cooled,” reducing its need for large amounts of water, and that it will connect to the Entergy grid, which he said should lessen air and noise pollution concerns. He also shared projections tied to a fee-in-lieu of taxes, or FILOT, agreement: $3 million to the Clinton Public School District and $2 million to the city budget in the first year. Purdie said annual gains would decrease over the following decade before rising again in year 11, and he said the project would create about 50 permanent jobs and 800 to 1,000 temporary construction positions.
Some residents urged caution. Shea Whitfield, whose family has lived in Hinds County for six generations, said he was “cautiously optimistic” and asked why the industrial park would exist if not to bring industry into it. Jill Hiers said the center’s energy needs could “tank” the local power grid without additional transmission lines and urged the city to pursue businesses that engage more directly with the community.
Others called for transparency. Tia McArthur, an insurance broker, said the center could produce an “exponential” increase in local tax collections but added that limited project details breed suspicion and asked officials to “avoid all appearances of evil.” Resident Greg Dreaper questioned the research behind the FILOT agreement and said he wanted studies and numbers on financial and environmental impacts so residents could make informed decisions.
