Lynne M Taylor
Mooresville NC resident for over 20 years
Author’s Note: While my extensive research is usually centered exclusively on education issues, locally, state-wide, nationally and internationally, I’ve taken the time to find out what’s going on in our backyards. The supportive side of the Mooresville Technical Park (aka: Mooresville Data Center) has done a fine job of selling taxpayers all the benefits this Data Center holds for our community and county. It’s a citizen’s duty to complete ‘due diligence’ when it comes to looking beyond the headlines and the snazzy videos the supportive side has offered. What follows is showing you, the reader, the items about this data center we HAVEN’T been told. LMT
A Brief Timeline of Data Overreaches in Iredell County/Mooresville, NC:
While not a thorough timeline, the information below is accurate (based on my research in connection with our school system).
2014: Former President Obama was flown into Mooresville to introduce a new education data tracking system that would be tested here and then used as a model across the nation. Project RED (RED: Revolutionizing Education)[1] was the project. Pearson Publishing was one of the main sources for Project RED. If you remember the early days of Common Core, Pearson was at the helm there, too. From there, at least 20 different national and international groups were involved.
(So much for local control). Costs in education were promised to be reigned in, less book/seat time and more than double the computer use were also touted as great things for our city/county schools. Yet, look at the recent test scores, the taxpayer costs for education (ie: property tax) and graduation rates. Have we saved money? Have we protected our children from too much screen time? Have we seen our property taxes earmarked for education used to support what We the Citizens want and not the status quo? These are all valid questions you must look into and decide for yourselves.
2019: GIGA (Part of Lenevo)[2] came to town (the company has since left our area). GIGA is a data framework system that sets up in a town or area, then moves on to repeat the process.
Since Mooresville likes to be called the Race City, are we using that for a motor car sport, or,
is it suggesting we are racing to become a data hub? Back then, the town leaders told us it was all about ‘greening up’ (aka: clean energy). However, a closer look at GIGA and the activities were centered around AI (Artificial Intelligence). Look closer and you’ll see that GIGA is also tied to international data mining companies, like IBM (which not only helped support Common Core, but has been used to create AI algorithms to replace humans in jobs we’re supposed to be training our students for. Again, you need to ask for yourselves: What does this mean for the future of an academic education? What if the technology isn’t used as ‘advertised’? What if I don’t want my child’s data harvested?
2020: The “Accelerate Mooresville Plan” becomes the latest grab for data in education; this time in the name of ‘economic growth’. This particular concept wasn’t new, in fact, it had been in the works previously. In 2021[3], the AMP was sold as a way to align with the Mooresville One Plan.
MOP documentation shows that Mooresville will (has already begun) be transformed to look like every other gentrified town, complete with an increase in data tracking (ex: smart meters on our homes, city and county budget items to remove vehicles from our streets, passes that sit in our cars to use information trackers which are capable of reading the data off everyone in the car who has a smart phone, license to drive, any computers. This all came into fruition with the I&& toll lanes. Several citizens concerned about the waste and data use opposed the toll lanes, yet here we are. Added to this is the fact that the local areas (will include the Great Charlotte area) and uniting with the State of NC as well as SC to survey[4] us on our uses of our streets and roads. While this sounds innocent enough, have you ever heard of “Smart Cities”? Have you seen the smaller towns jump on board with related activities? These are known as “Smart Communities” and are designed to adhere to the concept that our carbon footprints are too big, therefore, we must be corralled. All this ties back to the 2020-21 AMP in that one of the biggest ‘benefits’: “Big Tech (aka: Big Technology) must increase, as well as the branding of Mooresville.”
2024: Mooresville leaders host a meeting at the Citizen Center[5] to promote the idea that limiting our carbon footprints weren’t only vital, but would help education. How? All this change would create a need for rezoning areas. Then there is PEDAL[6] (a 10 year plan Mooresville received federal funds to create more bike lanes. Why bikes? Because with the continued rising costs of our property values, road taxation and toll fees increased: bikes are our best bet to get around. Rezoning is tied to regionalism. Regionalism removes more and more local control and authority. NC, as an entire State has created “Prosperity Zones”. These ‘zones’ have shiny ads, too. However, the cost, to our students and our education system may, or may not, continue to be at our direction, locally. During the citizen meeting, “Mooresville Tomorrow” became another avenue for the MOP. While all this may sound like ‘no big deal’, consider the fact that the meeting was run, not by the Town of Mooresville, or even the County Commissioners, but a PRIVATE entity known as the APA (American Planning Association). The APA is a key member to adherence to globally designed (meaning the United Nations) land use and economic zones.
APA uses terms like ‘upzoning’ to have local towns and cities to change existing building codes to create more buildings and homes than historically capable of handling.One final point for 2024 (as well as another action citizens can take): Mooresville is a member of the Climate Mayors (CMs), as is Charlotte. If you’ve not looked at the businesses and funding behind the CMs, you should. The information for all of this is in the footnotes.
Ask yourselves, if I have a toddler or an elderly person, how can I transport them safely? What about our citizens with physical limitations? If you still question how rezoning can help education, look at the taxation plans of Mooresville and Iredell County, when it comes to their main goal in education: building more schools. While the growth may warrant more school buildings, are we willing to see the continued attack on farmers to give up their land? Are we willing to continue to see our absolutely necessary dependence on trees (which remove the carbon dioxide we cannot breathe and exchange it for oxygen, which we have to breathe?!
What about the fact that many of these ‘rezonings’ are glorified land grabs, especially for what remains as rural property/farms in our area?[7]
At what cost will we say, ‘enough’?!
2025: Mooresville Data Center becomes a huge concern. Iredell Free News[8] raised this back in May 2025. One thing we should question, is where in the process exactly is the Town of Mooresville? When you read the Citizen Portal article[9] on this topic, you can see that much of this is still undecided. The No Data Center Mooresville website[10] is run by private citizens of the area to be the most impacted (negatively). The website has much information on what this Center will cost us in water usage, electricity, land grabs, destruction of wildlife habitats and more. What will it cost those of us not in the immediate area? Plenty, over 500 million gallons of water are needed by the Data Center. That’s the equivalent[11] to 757 Olympic sized swimming pools. Taking that much water away from homes means toilets don’t flush so easily. Running water becomes a huge problem, too. Close to 13,000 residents will have to give up their entire year’s worth of water usage! This doesn’t even account for the fall out damages being experienced in the State of GA[12], where one family lives 400 ft away[13] from one of these Data Centers. Not only is erosion control negatively impacted, but growing crops, playing outdoors becomes hazardous. Air quality, especially during construction is of great health concerns to each of us. From the supportive side of all of this, you can read that jobs will be created, more money for schools will be an automatic result. Mooresville Technology Park[14] is being sold as a local idea, group effort, etc. However, how you asked yourself this: What if there’s an outside company contributing to this? Remember, outside companies, agendas, etc. usually do not include the local citizens as much as they do profits. Profits before people isn’t freedom, it’s control.
Enter TRACT, the company setting up massive data centers across the nation. Back in January 2025, TRACT Capital (an arm of the company used to invest in all kinds of infrastructure) announced that Fleet Data Centers[15] are on the way. Mega campuses and all that comes with them. Then factor in how TRACT is partnering with the global company, Rabobank (steeped in the ‘sustainability’[16] efforts of the United Nations since at least 2017) to create agricultural data harvesting! If you truly want a farmer to practice sustainability of the land, let them use it as they see fit. They know crop rotation is a huge part, as well as other ways non-farmers don’t know.
To access the TRACT press release[17] about the partnership, see footnote #17.
Other things to consider, as a local resident:
1) What’s happening is not specific to Mooresville/Iredell County. It’s happening all across the nation and will continue to grow. Citizens can and should oppose these Centers. TRACT[18] has a portion on their website where you can see that MN is also being planned, just like Mooresville. TX has also found itself in this mix.
2) Even those concerned about carbon footprints are raising big concerns (education is certainly among them). This website[19] even posed the question of who really pays for the data centers.
3) ELearning has published a ‘must read’ article on the dark side of massive data mining. It’s a bit of an in-depth read, but well worth it. As far as education goes, consider how much our schools have replaced teachers and books with AI algorithmic computers, learning devices, gamification, etc. Then ask yourself about the screen time damages, the biometric data also being harvested. Have you looked into how much screen time/computer use literally impacts child development? If not, you should.
Ask yourself, do I know all the data contracts my school district has? Do I know where the data goes? Do I know what international data standards are tied to the assessments/tests my child takes.
Ask yourself, do you want to see Mooresville/Iredell County continue to ignore the residents and put businesses and their profits before our well being? I’m sure there are even more questions we could demand answers for. However, we MUST become active in what’s happening in our area before our choices are removed from us by others.
About the author: Lynne M Taylor is an internationally recognized researcher on education.
She’s spoken out about education’s demise since 2000. Her published articles have been featured by American Policy Center and others. Lynne is a respected expert who has worn awards for her advocacy for families and their children in education. Finally, Lynne has been featured on hundreds of radio broadcasts, podcasts and conferences. Contact: [email protected]
[1] https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/07/24/do-you-know-red/
[2] https://www.commoncorediva.com/2019/07/02/oh-say-can-you-say/
[3] https://www.commoncorediva.com/2021/05/04/hidden-in-not-so-plain-sight/
[4] https://www.commoncorediva.com/2024/02/01/localized-united-nations/
[5] https://americanpolicy.org/2024/02/12/sdgs-local-chokeholds/
[6] https://www.commoncorediva.com/2024/01/18/sdgs-up-close-and-personal/
[7] https://americanpolicy.org/2025/05/01/using-education-to-attack-farmlands/
[8] https://www.iredellfreenews.com/news-features/2025/residents-raise-concerns-about-proposed-data-center-ask-mooresville-commissioners-to-delay-vote-on-rezoning-request/
[9] https://citizenportal.ai/articles/3796196/Mooresville/Iredell-County/North-Carolina/Iredell-County-proposes-master-plan-for-new-data-center-development-with-strict-zoning-limits
[10] https://nodatacentermooresvillenc.com/
[11] https://elysianenergy.com/500-million-gallons-infographic/
[12] https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/11alive-news-investigates/data-center-boom-georgia-water-resources/85-01dc6838-72e2-4043-8724-783cabc93664
[13] I Live 400 Yards From Mark Zuckerberg’s Massive Data Center
[14] https://www.mooresvilletechnologypark.com/
[15] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/08/3006397/0/en/Tract-Capital-introduces-Fleet-Data-Centers-a-new-mega-scale-data-center-development-platform-focused-on-customized-500MW-campuses.html
[16] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/rabobank-and-un-environment-announce-new-billion-dollar-partnership
[17] https://igrownews.com/tract-latest-news/
[18] https://www.tract.com/
[19] https://www.carbon-direct.com/insights/who-pays-for-the-cloud-the-hidden-costs-of-rising-data-center-demand
