Knoxville TN one-year large data center moratorium (2026)
Knoxville, Tennessee — Emergency Ordinance Imposing a One-Year Moratorium on Permitting, Construction or Development of Large Data Centers Requiring 10 MW or More (July 7, 2026)
Knoxville, TN · City of Knoxville, Tenn. — emergency ordinance imposing a one-year data center moratorium (adopted July 7, 2026; expires July 7, 2027)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- July 7, 2027
- Applies to
- Developers and operators seeking to permit, construct or develop a data center requiring 10 MW or more of power within the City of Knoxville
- Enforced by
- City of Knoxville Plans Review and Inspections / Knoxville City Council
Knoxville City Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance on July 7, 2026 imposing a one-year moratorium on the permitting, construction or development of large data centers requiring ten megawatts or more of power within the city. It took effect immediately — that is what the emergency designation does — and runs through July 7, 2027. The ordinance's recitals are unusually explicit about why, and they go well beyond the usual electricity-and-water framing. They cite the sheer size of some data centers, their effects on neighborhoods, the demand they place on energy and water, Knoxville's own greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, and the fact that data centers often provide few jobs in the community. That last point is worth noting: the jobs-versus-burden trade is the argument developers usually make to a city, and Knoxville wrote its skepticism of that trade into the instrument. The Mayor framed the pause as protecting clean air and clean water. Knoxville acted two weeks after Knox County, the surrounding county government, adopted its own one-year moratorium on June 23, 2026 at a lower 5 MW threshold — two separate governments, two separate measures, two different trigger levels covering overlapping ground.
Who is protected: Knoxville residents and neighborhoods; city air and water quality; the city's greenhouse gas reduction commitments
Legal detail
City of Knoxville, Tenn. — EMERGENCY ORDINANCE adopted unanimously by City Council on July 7, 2026, enacting a one-year moratorium on the permitting, construction or development of large data centers requiring TEN MEGAWATTS OR MORE of power in the City of Knoxville, effective immediately and expiring July 7, 2027. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION: the ordinance took effect on passage rather than after the ordinary waiting period, closing the filing window a developer could otherwise use. THRESHOLD COMPARISON — MATERIAL: the City's trigger is 10 MW; surrounding Knox County's separately adopted moratorium (Knox County TN one-year data center moratorium (2026), adopted June 23, 2026) triggers at 5 MW and additionally captures operations that refuse to disclose demand. A facility between 5 and 10 MW inside the city limits therefore falls under the county measure's logic but not the city's own threshold; practitioners should check both instruments. RECITALS, which are broader than the norm: the size of some data centers; impacts on neighborhoods; demand on energy and water resources; the City's greenhouse gas emission reduction goals; and that DATA CENTERS OFTEN PROVIDE FEW JOBS in the community. The employment recital is the notable one — it rejects on the record the jobs-for-burden trade normally offered at siting. PURPOSE: time for city and county leaders to research impacts and consider safeguards. RELATED: the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission approved a recommended one-year moratorium and zoning recommendations on August 13, 2026, which the County Commission must still adopt.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Knoxville, TN |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Enacted | July 7, 2026 |
| Citation | City of Knoxville, Tenn. — emergency ordinance imposing a one-year data center moratorium (adopted July 7, 2026; expires July 7, 2027) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | No permitting, construction or development of a covered large data center may proceed through July 7, 2027 |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| Agency page | City Council Approves North Waterfront Plan, Data Center Moratorium — City of Knoxville (official) |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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