An advocacy group opposing data centers in Montgomery County can continue to pursue its claims that the county did not adequately involve or inform the community about the impact of the centers.
Google and Amazon are both building data centers that cover a total of 1,900 acres on opposite sides of Interstate 70 east of New Florence in Montgomery County.
In February, the advocacy group Preserve Montgomery County filed a lawsuit against the county and the Missouri Department of Economic Development in an effort to halt the Amazon data center. Attorneys for the county and the Department of Economic Development filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit in March.
On Friday, Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker denied the motion to dismiss most of the lawsuit. In his order, Walker determined that the advocacy group does have standing to assert its claims and can move forward with the case.
He did, however, dismiss the group’s claim that the Department of Economic Development failed to properly monitor and administer a grant agreement involving American Rescue Plan Act funds. He thus dismissed the department as a party in the lawsuit.
Walker took the matter under advisement in August after listening to arguments on the motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs argue that both the county and the state failed to post a proper public notice of the project or adequately provide information about water and electricity usage by the data centers. They also claim they weren’t fully apprised of the terms of the tax abatement.
Attorneys for the state and county countered that there is no factual evidence to support the claims.
No future hearings on the case have yet been scheduled.