Ralls County MO data center moratorium (2026)

Ralls County, Mo. — DATA CENTER MORATORIUM IN PLACE, adopted by the County Commission. THE TRIGGER IS RECORDED WITH UNUSUAL SPECIFICITY AND IS THE REASON TO KEEP THIS ENTRY: 'The commission said that a week ago, A TENANT SAID THEIR PROPERTY OWNER POSSIBLY SIGNED A PROPOSAL SELLING 53 ACRES TO A DATA CENTER COMPANY.' NOTE WHAT THAT IS AND IS NOT. It is not a filed application, a rezoning request, a site plan or a public announcement — it is a TENANT reporting that their LANDLORD MAY HAVE AGREED TO SELL. THE COUNTY ACTED WITHIN A WEEK OF HEARSAY ABOUT A LAND TRANSACTION. THIS IS THE EARLIEST-STAGE TRIGGER RECORDED ANYWHERE IN THIS DATASET and it illustrates the pre-emptive principle better than any other entry. A LAND SALE VESTS NOTHING. No application has been filed, no permit issued, no development agreement executed — so the county retains the full range of options and faces none of the vested-rights exposure that has defeated moratoria elsewhere: Inver Grove Heights MN data center moratorium amended under lawsuit (2026) (a filed application became a $150M damages demand against a $1M insurance cap, and the city amended its ordinance rather than test it), Rockford IL (annexation agreement), Cle Elum WA (2002 development agreement), Salem (pre-filed application), Lowell (settlement), Athens (site outside the city limits). Compare the other pre-emptive postures: Sauk County WI 18-month data center moratorium (2026) ('not aware of any projects currently planned'), Marina CA 45-day data center moratorium (2026) ('not prompted by any current applications'), Woodburn OR 120-day data center moratorium (2026) (a NAMED prospective developer, Verrus, but no filed application), Tarrant AL 12-month data center moratorium (2026) ('out of caution'). RALLS COUNTY IS EARLIER THAN ALL OF THEM. MISSOURI IS THINLY REPRESENTED IN THIS DATASET and the gap is known: protesters filled the Missouri Capitol at a 'People's Hearing on AI Data Centers' organised by the Missouri Rural Crisis Center and Missouri Workers Center seeking a statewide construction moratorium, and the same reporting states that 'KANSAS CITY RESTRICTED ZONING, AND JACKSON COUNTY ENACTED A MORATORIUM' — NEITHER IS INDEXED, and both are recorded as leads. Franklin County MO went the other way, rezoning for two data center developments. NOT ESTABLISHED: the term length (none reported — expires_date NULL), the vote, the exact date, the ordinance number, the operative scope, and whether the 53-acre sale proceeded.