Stephen Creech

Why South Carolina Should Walk Away From Data Centers Data centers have suddenly become a big issue in South Carolina. A series of federal executive actions are pushing states toward certain regulatory frameworks, and as usual, politicians are lining up to comply without asking the most important question first - Is this constitutional? I do not approach issues based on whether they sound modern, innovative or popular. I approach them based on whether they respect the Constitution. That document has served this country well for nearly 250 years and abandoning it for convenience is how you lose your freedom piece by piece. Under the Tenth Amendment, states retain sovereignty over matters not explicitly granted to the federal government. Yet what we keep seeing is state leaders bending the knee to federal pressure, adopting federal direction as if it were law, and setting dangerous precedent in the process. You may like the current president. You may believe he is doing a good job. I do. I gave him a seven figure donation. That is not the point. What happens when the next president is someone like Gavin Newsom? Are you prepared to take direction then? If you have already surrendered state authority, you will not get to choose when to resist. That is why state sovereignty must be defended at all times, not just when it is politically convenient. For that reason alone, I oppose federally driven mandates around data centers. South Carolina should assert its Tenth Amendment rights and make its own decisions. But constitutionality is only the first problem. The second problem is that South Carolina does not know how to make deals. From the Governor’s office to the Legislature, we have people making economic development deals who have never actually made real deals in the private sector. They do not understand risk. They do not understand leverage. They do not understand long-term cost versus short-term press releases. I have spent my life buying and selling companies. When I look at the deals this state has made on battery plants, electric vehicle projects, and similar ventures, the conclusion is obvious. If these were private-sector negotiators, they would be fired. The terms are terrible. The risk is enormous. And the taxpayer is left holding the bag. Now those same people want to negotiate with data centers. That should scare everyone. Data centers present two major problems. First, they do not deliver meaningful benefits. They consume massive amounts of water and power. They require enormous infrastructure investment. And they create relatively few jobs. The idea that we need a data center in South Carolina to be “on the forefront” is nonsense. Data moves instantly. You do not need a data center in your backyard to participate in the digital economy. Second, their costs do not stay contained. When a data center demands new power capacity or new water infrastructure, those costs do not disappear. They are amortized. They are depreciated. And they are passed on to consumers in the form of higher utility rates. The citizen pays. Again. This is how bad deals work. The upside is overstated. The costs are hidden. And years later, families are told to accept higher bills because capacity had to be expanded for a project they never benefited from. If data centers are to exist at all in South Carolina, there should be one non-negotiable rule. They must be completely self-sufficient. Their own power. Their own water. Their own infrastructure. No subsidies. No taxpayer support. No socialized costs. If they cannot operate under those terms, they should not be here. South Carolina is not in a position to gamble on projects it does not understand, negotiated by people who cannot negotiate, under pressure from a federal government that has no constitutional authority to dictate these decisions. This is how states get into trouble. Slowly. Quietly. One bad precedent at a time. The smart move is simple. Walk away. Reassert state sovereignty. Protect taxpayers. Stop chasing shiny objects. And demand leadership that understands the Constitution, understands economics, and understands that not every deal is a good deal.

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND, EXCEPT OUR CLINICALLY ILL FELON PRESIDENT, STEPHEN MILLER, JD VANCE, JD’S COUCH, JD’S FUTON, KASH KANT KATCH ‘EM PATEL, KOSPLAY KRISTI, PARTICIPATION-TROPHY PETE, KAROLYN’ LEAVITT, SECRETARY BRAINWORM, AND MIKE “ALWAYS ON HIS KNEES” JOHNSON. — GCN