Four incumbent city council members voted out after outrage over $6 billion data center in Missouri

The approval of a $6 billion data center in a Missouri city led voters to kick out four members of the city council who were running for re-election.

The four incumbents lost by a wide margin to their challengers, and the council was unable to meet Wednesday evening because of a lack of quorum.

‘This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here.’

The council approved of the data center project on March 30 by a vote of 6 to 2, and three of the incumbents who lost their elections had voted in favor of the data center.

“I think when the people in leadership are not listening, it shows that democracy is a solution to them ignoring their constituents,” said Gabe Cotton, a voter opposed to the data center, to KTVI-TV.

Opponents accused city officials of violating transparency laws before approving the plan by CRG Clayco to build on a 360-acre property near Highway 67.

“This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here,” said Dan Moore, one of the candidates who defeated an incumbent in the election. “People are awake now, and we’re not going to let this continue on anymore.”

Festus City Administrator Greg Camp argued that the data center would bring new opportunities for the city from increased tax revenue.

“It’s unlike anything that any of these, certainly the city, or any of those institutions, have ever seen before,” Camp said.

The results of the election must be certified before they are official.

Supporters of the data centers say that critics are exaggerating their detrimental effects and argue that they’re critical for the U.S. to stay in the artificial intelligence race.

RELATED: ‘We are totally unprepared’: Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez propose law to shut down future AI data centers

“Banning data center construction is absurd and completely unacceptable. We need commonsense rules that protect consumers from rising energy bills, but stopping progress altogether — and losing to China — is the wrong approach,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) on social media Thursday.

“Americans shouldn’t see their energy or water bills go up, but we also can’t afford to lose the computer race to China. We’re in a new Cold War, and sidelining data center development risks ceding our technological edge,” he continued.

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