Franklin County Officials Reject Zoning Request For a Crypto Mining Data Center

The Franklin County Commission has denied a zoning request that would have allowed the development of a crypto data center. The Tullahoma Utilities Authority requested 9.12 acres of land at 6945 Spring Creek Road to be rezoned to a C-1 commercial restricted district from an R-2 general residential district. The request was made to pave the way for data center development. 

The general manager for Tullahoma Utilities Authority, Brian Skelton, said the site was meant for cryptography to mine cryptocurrencies. He added that the data center would have required 35MW of power. The director of site acquisition at Red Dog Technologies, a bitcoin mining firm in Tennessee, Todd Napier, said it would cost $70 million to bring the data center to life. He also noted that it would generate up to $2 million in property taxes for the county over the next ten years.