Written Statement for the Public Record

I. Request

I respectfully request that the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners vote yes on Resolution No. 2026-21, placing a temporary moratorium or hold on data-center development while Lincoln County reviews and adopts enforceable standards for: hyperscale electric loads, related privately funded generation facilities, water consumption, road impacts, emergency response, decommissioning, noise, public-cost exposure, and public subsidies.

I further request that this written statement and all attached source citations be entered into the public record.

II. Accountability

Today's vote rests with five elected officials:

• Chairman Jerry Woodruff
• Commissioner Kent Weems
• Commissioner Chris Bruns
• Commissioner Joe Hewgley
• Commissioner Micaela Wuehler

According to reporting in The North Platte Bulletin and KNOP News 2, on June 1, 2026 the Board went into closed session for more than an hour with officials from Dawson Public Power, Nebraska Public Power District, and North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corporation CEO Gary Person. Immediately afterward, Commissioner Hewgley proposed a 90-day hold on data-center applications. Chairman Woodruff seconded the motion. Chairman Woodruff then stated during discussion that he did not think a delay was necessary. The motion failed 3 to 2. The Board then unanimously directed the Planning Commission to review and recommend revisions to data-center zoning regulations.

These are documented public actions. They are also the entire basis for what follows. The public is entitled to a recorded answer to one direct question:

"If a data-center, private-generation, or hyperscale-load application is filed before Lincoln County has enforceable standards in place, where is the downside to instituting a moratorium?"

This is not an anti-business question. It is an accountability question. It belongs in the public record.

III. This Is a Sequencing Issue, Not an Anti-Business Issue

Lincoln County should not accept or process any data-center, hyperscale-load, private-generation, natural-gas-plant, or related industrial application until the Planning Commission has completed its review and the Board has adopted enforceable standards.

This is not a request to ban data centers.

It is a request to apply four basic principles before applications are accepted: Not yet. Not blind. Not under incomplete rules. Not while the applicant controls the clock.

The central question for the Board is this: Will Lincoln County write the rules before an application enters the pipeline, or will the first applicant arrive under the current code while the county is still trying to catch up?

IV. The Legal Terrain Creates a Shot-Clock Problem

Nebraska Revised Statute 23-114.01 governs county conditional-use and special-exception decisions. The statute requires that those decisions be based on county zoning regulations. It also imposes mandatory review windows after a complete application is filed:

• After a complete application, the Planning Commission has up to 90 days to recommend or decide.
• After the Board receives the recommendation and confirms completeness, the Board has another 90 days to grant or deny.
• If the Board does not act within the 90-day decision period, the conditional-use permit or special exception can be deemed granted by operation of law.

That last clause is the legal heart of this matter. Once a complete application is filed, this Board's discretion narrows substantially. If the county lacks enforceable standards specific to hyperscale loads, the application may have to be judged under the generalized framework currently in place.

A temporary moratorium is the only commonly accepted legal tool for stopping that clock before an applicant arrives. It is not symbolic. It is defensive.

V. LB 1261 Changes the Scale of What May Be Coming

LB 1261 was signed by Governor Pillen in April 2026 and takes effect July 18, 2026. According to the Governor's official statement, the law was designed for private industries bringing electric loads of 1,000 megawatts or more to a single site, paired with privately funded generation located on or adjacent to that customer, with Nebraska Power Review Board approval and a long-term contract with the local public power district.

The Governor's office has stated that one purpose of the law is to shift the financial burden for new energy generation onto the large industrial customer rather than ordinary ratepayers.

That is an important promise. But it does not answer all local-government questions. Even if a private developer pays for energy generation and certain electric-grid upgrades, Lincoln County still must independently evaluate:

If an applicant proposes a data center plus privately funded natural-gas generation in Lincoln County, the county should not treat that as an ordinary warehouse or ordinary industrial conditional use. It is a combined energy and compute infrastructure complex.

VI. The Current Code Exists, But It Is Not Adequate for Hyperscale Development

Lincoln County's current zoning resolution does contain a standalone section: Section 8.22, Data Centers. That section recognizes data centers as a distinct land use and states that its purpose is to regulate their location, design, construction, and operation.

That is a starting point. It is not enough. Section 8.22 uses generalized planning language rather than measurable performance standards:

• "Appropriate road capacity" is not a binding road-use agreement.
• "Evidence of sufficient water and wastewater capacity" is not a volumetric water cap or annual acre-foot accounting.
• "Water-efficient practices" is not a consumptive-use limit.
• "Buffers may be required" is not a mandatory setback table.
• "Noise mitigation measures" is not a decibel limit at the property line.
• "Compliance with applicable fire codes" is not a funded rural emergency-response plan.
• "Applicant responsibility for infrastructure-extension costs" is not a full public-cost reimbursement agreement.
• A signed utility letter showing "ability to serve" does not disclose private generation, transmission upgrades, gas supply, backup generation, interconnection risk, or ratepayer exposure.

Lincoln County's existing renewable-energy ordinance demonstrates that this county knows how to require strong safeguards when it chooses to. For commercial renewable-energy projects, the zoning resolution requires decommissioning plans, engineer cost estimates, removal schedules, site restoration, road repair, as-built plans, and financial guarantees. Section 8.22 contains no equivalent provisions for a data-center complex or associated private power plant.

A hyperscale data center with private generation should not receive weaker safeguards than a wind or solar project.

VII. The Hydrological Reality

Independent engineering estimates can quantify the water demand for a hyperscale facility of the scale LB 1261 was written for. The table below summarizes one widely cited estimating framework based on conventional cooling assumptions. These are engineering estimates intended to illustrate scale; actual values depend on cooling technology selection, climate, and site engineering.

At a combined demand of approximately 12 million gallons per day, an annualized draw approaches 4.38 billion gallons, or roughly 13,400 acre-feet per year.

The Twin Platte Natural Resources District manages groundwater in this basin under strict integrated management plans tied to Platte River depletion obligations. Offsetting an industrial consumption of approximately 13,400 acre-feet would require sourcing or retiring water rights from a corresponding agricultural footprint — somewhere on the order of 10,000 to 13,000 acres of irrigated farmland in this region, depending on permitted application rates.

Peer-reviewed and academic literature corroborates that data-center water consumption deserves substantially more transparency and regulatory scrutiny than current generic zoning provides. (See sources, Exhibits F through I.)

The fundamental point is simple. Section 8.22 requires no disclosure of gallons per day, no annual acre-foot ceiling, no aquifer impact analysis, no consumptive-use accounting, no NRD-coordinated depletion offset review, and no drought contingency plan. These are not unreasonable demands. They are the minimum required to evaluate a project of this physical scale.

VIII. What LB 1261 Does Not Cover

LB 1261's promise that "private industry pays" is narrowly framed around electric system upgrade costs. That framing leaves county taxpayers and rural service districts exposed to a wide range of non-electric externalities:

Road and bridge destruction

A 1,000-megawatt natural-gas plant and a hyperscale data center require hundreds of heavy-haul loads: turbines, transformers, steel, concrete, generators. Southern Lincoln County's secondary roads and bridges are not rated for that load profile. Without a binding road-use agreement, repair costs fall on county taxpayers.

Emergency-services capacity gap

Private natural-gas generation, high-voltage interconnection, and industrial-scale battery storage introduce hazards that volunteer and rural fire districts are not currently trained or equipped to handle. Specialized foam tenders, chemical suppression equipment, and technical-rescue training all carry real costs.

Stranded-asset risk

If the tech tenant exits in 10 years, who inherits the oversized, specialized transmission infrastructure and the industrial site itself? Without a decommissioning bond comparable to those Lincoln County already requires for renewable-energy projects, the public absorbs that risk.

Public-subsidy exposure

LB 1261 does not prohibit tax-increment financing, abatements, fee waivers, or other public subsidies negotiated separately at the local level. The county should commit that no such subsidy will be granted without a separate noticed public hearing.

IX. Minimum Requirements for Any Future Application

I ask the Board to treat the following ten items not as objections, but as minimum public-protection standards for any future data-center, hyperscale-load, private-generation, natural-gas-plant, or related industrial application. Lincoln County should not accept or process such an application until these requirements exist in enforceable form.

These standards are detailed separately in the accompanying document, "Proposed Minimum Standards for Hyperscale Data Center and Private Generation Review." They are summarized here:

1. No application accepted before enforceable standards are adopted.
2. Mandatory public-impact disclosure envelope (load, water, cooling, road, fire, noise, subsidy).
3. Independent third-party technical review, selected by the county, paid by the applicant.
4. Volumetric water protection standard with Twin Platte NRD coordination.
5. Binding road-use agreement with pre- and post-construction inspections.
6. Funded fire and emergency-services capacity (training, equipment, drills, mutual aid).
7. Measurable noise and setback standards, including nighttime and low-frequency limits.
8. Private-generation and ancillary-facility disclosure as part of the same application.
9. No public subsidy, TIF, abatement, or cost-shift without a separate noticed public hearing.
10. Decommissioning plan and financial guarantee, comparable to the county's existing renewable-energy bonding.

X. Questions That Should Be Answered Publicly

The public deserves recorded answers to the following:

For Chairman Woodruff, Commissioner Weems, and Commissioner Bruns:

• Will you commit that Lincoln County will not accept or process any data-center, private-generation, natural-gas-plant, or hyperscale-load application before enforceable standards are adopted?
• If you reject Resolution 2026-21 today while no application is pending, what specific harm does a temporary pause cause, and who bears the risk if an application arrives during the gap?

For Commissioner Hewgley and Commissioner Wuehler:

• Will you continue to insist that a temporary, defined moratorium is a responsible public-protection measure rather than an anti-business position?

For Zoning Administrator Judy Clark and the Planning Commission:

• Do Lincoln County's current zoning regulations contain enforceable, measurable standards for hyperscale data centers, private generation, water consumption, industrial cooling, noise, road impacts, fire response, decommissioning, and public-cost shifting?
• If not, what is the realistic timeline to adopt such standards, and how will the county prevent an application from arriving in the interim?

For Gary Person and North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corporation:

• What companies or project representatives have been involved in discussions regarding data centers, private generation, large electric loads, natural-gas generation, or related economic-development opportunities in Lincoln County?

For Dawson Public Power and Nebraska Public Power District:

• Have discussions occurred regarding long-term contracts, grid upgrades, interconnection, private generation, LB 1261, or large-load service related to any Lincoln County data-center or private-generation project?

For the Twin Platte Natural Resources District:

• What standards apply to high-volume industrial groundwater use, depletion offsets, consumptive-use accounting, well-interference analysis, drought contingency, and source-aquifer review for a data-center or private-generation project of the scale enabled by LB 1261?

XI. Requested Action

I ask the Board to vote yes on Resolution No. 2026-21.

At minimum, if the Resolution is not adopted as drafted, the Board should publicly commit, on the record, that Lincoln County will not accept or process any data-center, private-generation, natural-gas-plant, hyperscale-load, or related industrial application until:

1. the Planning Commission completes its review;
2. the Board adopts enforceable standards;
3. the public is given a full impact disclosure;
4. affected utilities and public bodies disclose expected costs and risks;
5. water, road, fire, emergency-response, noise, subsidy, and decommissioning standards are in place.

A temporary moratorium is not a ban. It is legal armor. It preserves the public's option value while Lincoln County writes rules equal to the scale of the risk.

Respectfully submitted,
[Lincoln County Resident]