© 2026 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Stokes County faces new lawsuit over massive data center project

A man wearing a "no data centers" shirt stands among the crowd at a Stokes County Board of Commissioners meeting
April Laissle
/
WFDD
Stokes County residents routinely packed the commissioners’ meeting room to voice opposition to the data center project.

Environmental advocates have filed another lawsuit against the Stokes County Board of Commissioners related to a massive data center project in Walnut Cove.

The suit alleges commissioners didn’t thoroughly review all pertinent research before voting to rezone the 1,800 acre plot for Project Delta.

Anne Harvey David, a lawyer with the Southern Environment Law Center or SELC, argues the board relied on inaccurate and incomplete summaries.

“We think that they rushed through this process and that they used AI-generated reports in an attempt to sort of support or prop up a predetermined decision," she said.

Commissioners initially approved the project in January, but reversed that decision in April after the SELC alleged procedural errors. The developer, Engineered Land Solutions, submitted another application, which was approved in September.

The latest suit asks a judge to overturn that decision, arguing the rezoning also conflicts with the county’s long-term development plan.

Stokes County officials did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

April Laissle is a senior reporter and editor at WFDD. Her work has been featured on several national news programs and recognized by the Public Media Journalists Association and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Before joining WFDD in 2019, she worked at public radio stations in Ohio and California.