The following is the text of a letter sent to the Town of Canton in support of a proposed data center moratorium on behalf of MountainTrue and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Via Email
February 11, 2026
Re: Proposed Data Centers MoratoriumDear Mayor Smathers and Canton Aldermen and Alderwomen:
MountainTrue and the Southern Environmental Law Center write in support of the proposed moratorium on data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities and server farms, which will be the subject of a February 11 public hearing. We commend the Town of Canton for taking this important step to protect its heritage, natural resources, and long-term economic future.
As you are likely aware, these types of facilities provide few local jobs, 1 often require enormous quantities of water to cool their operations, 2 and can generate substantial heat that increases fire risk. 3 They also commonly involve round-the-clock noise and light pollution. 4 As one Cherokee County resident explained, the noise from a nearby cryptocurrency mining facility affected him “every day, all day, all night. It’s never-ending.” 5 In addition, these facilities often require massive amounts of energy to run their powerful computers. Meeting that demand through fossil fuel combustion often results in emissions of air pollutants—like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter—that pose well documented risks to nearby residents’ health. 6
Because of these and other harms, including potential effects on property values, several other communities in Western North Carolina have recently imposed similar moratoriums or zoning changes including Clay County, 7 McDowell County, 8 Cherokee County, 9 Buncombe County, 10 Madison County, 11 and the Town of Waynesville. 12
We understand based on news reports that interested parties have contacted Canton about converting the paper mill into a data center or similar facility. While we recognize and appreciate the very real economic hardship caused by the mill’s closure, we are confident that a data center would not meaningfully address that hardship. To the contrary, such a conversion could foreclose one of Canton’s most important opportunities: to reimagine the mill site in a way that honors the town’s mill-town heritage, generates sustainable local economic activity, and protects the remarkable biodiversity of the Pigeon River.
At a minimum, a moratorium is necessary to ensure that decisions about the mill site—and about data centers more broadly—are made deliberately, transparently, and with public input. It would also give the Town time to amend its local ordinance to address these facilities in a way that serves the best interests of the community, and we stand ready to help with that task.
Overall, we support the Town’s strategic approach to this issue and respectfully urge the Town Board to adopt the proposed moratorium.
Sincerely,
Chris Joyell
Healthy Communities Director
MountainTruePatrick Hunter
Asheville Office Managing Attorney
Southern Environmental Law Center1 See “The Energy Bomb: How Proof of Work Cryptocurrency Mining Worsens the Climate Crisis and Harms
Communities Now” by DeRoche, M., Fisher, J., Thorpe, N., and Wachspress, M., Earthjustice & Sierra Club, pg. 26,
https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/energy_bomb_bitcoin_white_paper_101322.pdf.
2 Id. at 15; “Getting it Right: Local Approaches to Data Center Development” by Butler, M., Libre, C., Southern
Environmental Law Center, pg. 2, https://www.selc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SELC-Data-Center-
Development-Report-All-0126_F.pdf.
3 “The Energy Bomb” at 15.
4 “The Energy Bomb” at 15-16; “Getting it Right” at 9.
5 “How the blare of a crypto mine woke up this Blue Ridge Mountain town” by Weir, B., CNN,
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/us/north-carolina-crypto-mine-noise-weir-wxc/index.html.
6 “The Energy Bomb” at 15; “Getting it Right” at 2.
7 See https://www.clayconc.com/_files/ugd/fe4bcd_163aefda66f243cfb4f8c41bd27ebce5.pdf.
8 See https://www.mcdowellgov.com/commissioners/meeting-
minutes/2024/January%208%2C%202024%20Regular%20Session%20Minutes.pdf.
9 See https://www.cherokeecounty-nc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2109/High-Impact-Facility-Moratorium-10-2-
2023.
10 See
https://www.buncombecounty.org/common/Commissioners/20241119/PH%201_APPROVE%20AMENDMENT%2
0-%20BOC%20Ordinance_CRYPTO%20%283%29.pdf.
11 See
https://www.madisoncountync.gov/uploads/5/9/7/0/59701963/scanner_madisoncountync.gov_20230616_134810.pd
f.
12 See https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/36820-haywood-county-and-waynesville-look-to-stay-ahead-
of-cryptocurrency-mining.
