Zoning for Data Centers and Energy Raise Concerns

By Gordon Hopkins During a hearing on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners heard concerns from the public about data centers and the potential strain on resources they create.The county hired Marvin Planning Consultants to help update zoning regulations and ensure they are consistent and comply with state regulations. The Planning and Zoning Commission spent two years working with Marvin Planning revamping regulations and sent the results to Jefferson County Commissioners for their approval. Data CentersIncluded in the regulations are provisions for data centers. John Shepard, senior planner with Marvin, said at the hearing, “Those provisions have come up because we've had people ask for them. Typically, they need to be in town where they have electricity, water and sewer, but there have been some outside of town.”A data center is a centralized facility that houses, powers, and cools critical IT infrastructure, including servers, storage systems, and networking hardware. They facilitate essential functions like cloud computing, data storage, and application delivery. The advent of AI (artificial intelligence) and dramatically increased the demand for data centers.Nebraska has become a key data center hub. Companies operating facilities in the state include Google, Meta and First National Technology Solutions. It is seen by some as a potential financial boon. However, data centers and AI also increase demand for power and water for cooling and some people worry about the drain on resources.One speaker, Brandon Pohlmann, made clear his opposition to data centers in the ag district.“Well, here's some things that stood out to me when I did that. My first thing is data centers. That's a permitted use in the plans. Now, my big thing with data centers, crypto farms, they put an extreme strain on the electric grid, and it's a waste of water,” said Pohlmann. “So, I would like to see data centers, crypto farms outlawed in Jefferson County. Just from a resource standpoint, they benefit nobody but Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and it's going in the long term, if they use that much water, it's going to hurt the agriculture in this county, and that's the base of our economy.” Energy NeedsOthers expressed concern that the regulations limit, or outright prohibits, alternate energy options at a time when Nebraska is seeing an increased need for power. Former commissioner Gale Pohlmann said, “Our wind farm regulations have eliminated the wind industry here. Let's not do the same with solar regulations. I have heard that, in less than five years, Nebraska will have to import electricity because we will not be able to produce what we consume.”County commissioners will be reviewing the new regulations along with an updated Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday, February 10, 2026. The LegislatureMeanwhile, the Nebraska Legislature is considering bills to address increasing energy needs.LB1186 is the Affordable American Energy and Jobs Act, intended to incentivize construction and development of renewable energy projects. Introduced by Senator John Cavanaugh, the bill would require the state to develop best practices for renewable energy. Counties that adopt those best practices would receive a greater portion of nameplate capacity taxes. The bill is opposed by NACO (Nebraska Association of County Officials).LB1010, introduced by Senator Tom Brandt, would grant energy storage facilities authority similar to electric generation facilities. According to the bill’s statement of intent, “LB1010 defines ‘energy storage resource’ and ‘associated energy storage resource.’ It confirms existing law that privately developed renewable energy facilities may include associated battery storage resources. The bill provides for the Power Review Board's approval authority over stand-alone energy storage resources and requires written consent of the impacted electric supplier prior to construction. The bill requires a private electric supplier to enter into a joint transmission development agreement with a public power entity and to maintain a contractual agreement with a public power entity for the output of the privately owned energy storage resource.”NACO also opposes this bill.LB1227, introduced by Senator Bob Anderson, prohibits counties from adopting new energy codes that are not cost efficient. NACO opposes the bill.LB1134, introduced by Senator Kathleen Kauth, would prohibit counties from enacting codes, including electrical and energy codes, without providing evidence that the change is necessary to protect the public.

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