To: Edgecombe Board of County Commissioners: Leonard Wiggins, Chairman; Viola Harris, Vice-Chairwoman; Evelyn Powell; Larry Woodley; Donald C. Boswell; Ralph Webb; George Thorne

Don't Sell Edgecombe County to Big Tech Polluter Interests!

Community residents in the Kingsboro/Bulluck neighborhood and neighboring communities in Tarboro and Rocky Mount, NC are demanding that the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners vote NO on the sale of county-owned land in Kingsboro Business Park to Energy Storage Solutions for a $6 billion, 300-megawatt data center, citing a lack of clarity about community economic benefits, projected impact on resident energy costs, and concerns for long-term environmental and health risks.

Edgecombe County economic development must prioritize its own residents -- not big technology companies, not the exploitative AI infrastructure that helps them grow even bigger -- and focus on protecting our rural community resources and quality of life.

Signed,
Edgecombe Neighbors for Data Center Accountability

Why is this important?

Lack of information about jobs – how many will actually be created, whether these jobs will be permanent facility-based jobs or temporary construction jobs, and whether Edgecombe County residents will be prioritized in recruiting – is one of many major unknowns that have led activists to oppose of the county’s sale of the land to the developer.

Since launching this petition in November 2025, we have gained over 200 signatures. Our presence at monthly board of commissioners meetings has increased local awareness. The county manager's office collected almost 400 community member survey responses about data centers, and 82% were opposed. This led to the county board creating a Data Center Advisory Panel that includes several of our group members, who continue to engage the rest of the panel about the harms of data centers in our community.

One of our group members, David Batts, ran for county commissioner in February and WON on a "no data centers" platform. We're eager to support him when he takes up the role formally in November 2026.

How it will be delivered

We delivered over 200 initial signatures at the Dec. 1 2025 Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners meeting. We continue to collect signatures in person at our meetings and here online for those who have not yet signed and will present them again when we reach a bigger number.

Links

Campaign Facebook Page Campaign Website

Updates

2026-03-22 17:58:34 -0400

Why is Duke Energy Raising Rates? Join us for a discussion and find out what is going on and what we can do about it. Friday March 27th at Oak Grove Retreat in Tarboro at 6:30pm.

We will be watching this 18-minute documentary that features voices from prominent scientists, journalists and community leaders, and introduces NC WARN's Stop Climate Deception campaign, which calls on Governor Josh Stein to finally get our state on the right side of the climate emergency.

We will then hear from Amelia Covington, Statewide Climate Coalition Coordinator with Down Home NC. She will share information about Duke Energy’s current plans to hike up our energy bills (again), how we got here, and upcoming opportunities to fight against Duke's rate hikes and for affordable energy.

Followed by an update on the status of Data Centers in Edgecombe Co. and a Question and Answer discussion session on what you can be expecting and how to prepare.

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1636123313983798

2026-03-06 10:21:31 -0500

Please RSVP to our Tuesday March 10 6:30pm Zoom call where we will be recapping what we learned at the NCEJN Data Center summit. Zoom link in here: https://calendar.app.google/mfHWG2q9QH9F5m2W7

2026-01-02 10:18:14 -0500

We are convening for a community meeting tonight Jan 2 6pm at Oak Grove Retreat in Tarboro to discuss the proposal in further detail. Edgecombe Co officials have RSVPed and are ready to take some of our questions.

2025-11-30 10:32:52 -0500

We will present our signatures tomorrow night (Monday Dec 1 at 6pm) at the Edgecombe County Commissioners meeting! Let's get as many signatures as possible before then!

2025-11-24 07:51:54 -0500

100 signatures reached

2025-11-21 19:52:28 -0500

50 signatures reached

2025-11-21 18:28:14 -0500

25 signatures reached

2025-11-21 17:58:37 -0500

10 signatures reached