Arkansas local moratoria
Every local infrastructure moratorium in the inventory for Arkansas, current through September 23, 2026.
6 instruments — 5 in force, 0 pending, 1 past.
State policy is tracked separately: 7 actions (7 bills) in state_legislation.csv. These are not included in the local count above.
| Jurisdiction | Type | Enacted | Sectors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll County | County | 2026-06-16 | data center, cryptocurrency mining | 🟢 Active |
| Harrison | City | 2023-05-30 | data center, cryptocurrency mining | 🔴 Rescinded |
| Independence County | County | 2026-08-10 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Madison County | County | 2026-08-17 | data center, cryptocurrency mining | 🟢 Active |
| Russellville | City | 2026-07-16 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Union County | County | 2026-06-30 | data center | 🟢 Active |
Detailed entries
Carroll County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-16 (Carroll County Quorum Court unanimous adoption of Emergency Ordinance 2026-17)
- Normalized date:
2026-06-16(exact) - Duration: Immediate 12-month moratorium from adoption
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining
- Moratorium ID:
ar-carroll-county-2026 - Legal basis: Emergency Ordinance 2026-17
- What prompted it: Immediate pause on high-impact industrial and high-intensity digital infrastructure facilities (reported by contemporary coverage to include data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and cryptocurrency mining facilities) in unincorporated Carroll County while the county develops a permitting and public-notice framework
- Affected projects: —
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. The 12-month emergency moratorium (Ordinance 2026-17), unanimously adopted by the Quorum Court on 2026-06-16 and effective immediately, remains in force with no reported repeal, extension, or replacement; its 365-day term runs through 2027-06-16. Corroborated by a second independent local news source (the Eureka Springs Independent's contemporaneous meeting report) beyond the original KY3 broadcast story, and by three specialty policy trackers (ServerCountry, SAVRN, AI GridWatch) that separately cite the ordinance number and June 16 vote. A complete signed county copy of the ordinance was still not located on the county's website or in Municode as of 2026-09-23, so the underlying record remains multiple independent news accounts rather than a primary ordinance document. [VERIFY] [VERIFY primary source (news-only evidence) not confirmed at confidence 0.65 in the 2026-07 refresh]
- Outcome: —
Harrison
- Type: City
- Status: 🔴 Rescinded
- Date enacted: 2023-05-30
- Normalized date:
2023-05-30(exact) - Duration: One year or until specific land-use standards were developed, whichever occurred first
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining
- Moratorium ID:
ar-harrison-2023 - Legal basis: Ordinance 1515, "An Ordinance Imposing a Temporary Moratorium on Data Centers and Crypto Mining Facilities in the City of Harrison, Arkansas"
- What prompted it: Green Digital conditional-use application; Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023; zoning code did not list data centers or crypto mining facilities; concerns over electricity use, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, e-waste, noise, and local impacts
- Affected projects: Green Digital / Metahash crypto-mining data center; Chamber timeline reports a 10 MW Entergy contract and estimated $2.5 million capital investment
- Detailed status: Repealed; Harrison City Council voted 6-2 to repeal Ordinance 1515 at a specially called meeting on Tuesday, 2023-11-28, on a motion by Council Member Mitch Magness, seconded by Council Member Joel Williams (councilors Jeremy Ragland and Wayne Cone voted no). City Attorney Nancy Cartwright recommended repeal as a litigation precaution tied to a federal court matter involving Green Digital and the state's data-mining protections; the council also amended its noise ordinance the same night (Ordinance 1516). No separate numbered repeal ordinance for Ordinance 1515 itself was identified in the Harrison Daily Times' contemporaneous account of the meeting, and the city's own ordinance/clerk portal (harrisonar.gov) is behind a bot-protection challenge page that could not be bypassed to check the clerk's ordinance index directly.
- Outcome: Moratorium was removed after officials concluded it increased legal exposure under the state "right to mine" framework; later state Acts 173 and 174 of 2024 restored more local and state regulatory authority over crypto mining
Independence County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-08-10 (Independence County Quorum Court unanimous adoption of Ordinance No. 2026-21 at its regular August meeting, reported the next day as a Monday-night vote)
- Normalized date:
2026-08-10(exact) - Duration: Five-year moratorium on construction of commercial data centers, effective immediately under an emergency clause; runs through Aug. 31, 2031
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ar-independence-county-2026 - Legal basis: Ordinance No. 2026-21, adopted with an emergency clause
- What prompted it: Preemptive pause adopted with no data center project currently proposed in the county; Justices of the Peace cited the heavy water and electricity consumption of commercial data centers, lack of transparency in land acquisition, and a recent wind-turbine development dispute (a company holding turbine contracts predating the county's 2025 wind moratorium) as reasons to act before any project arrives.
- Affected projects: None identified; officials said no data center had been proposed in Independence County at the time of adoption.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. Adopted 2026-08-10 by unanimous vote under an emergency clause; runs through 2031-08-31, or until the Quorum Court determines a path forward and adopts applicable rules and regulations. No specific data center project had been proposed in the county at adoption.
- Outcome: Preemptive five-year moratorium adopted while the Quorum Court studies commercial data centers and drafts future rules and regulations; the longest data-center moratorium term reported in Arkansas as of this pass.
Madison County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-08-17 (Madison County Quorum Court, 8-0 vote, regular meeting)
- Normalized date:
2026-08-17(exact) - Duration: Three-year moratorium on data centers, digital asset (cryptocurrency) mining businesses, and other large-scale computer/server operations; effective immediately under an emergency clause; runs through Aug. 31, 2029
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center, cryptocurrency mining
- Moratorium ID:
ar-madison-county-2026 - Legal basis: Ordinance approved by the Madison County Quorum Court, 8-0 vote, Aug. 17, 2026 (instrument number not located in sources reviewed)
- What prompted it: Preemptive pause adopted with no known data center project in development; two public hearings preceded the vote; the county wants time to study data centers and develop regulations addressing their potential costs and benefits
- Affected projects: None identified; no known project in development at adoption.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. Adopted 2026-08-17 by unanimous 8-0 vote after two prior public hearings; effective immediately under an emergency clause and runs through 2029-08-31, the second-longest data-center moratorium term reported in Arkansas after Independence County's. No known data center project was in development in the county at adoption.
- Outcome: Preemptive three-year moratorium on data centers and digital-asset mining businesses adopted while the county studies regulations.
Russellville
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-07-16 (City Council amended a proposed 18-month moratorium to six months by a 6-2 vote, then adopted the amended ordinance by another 6-2 vote)
- Normalized date:
2026-07-16(exact) - Duration: Six-month moratorium as amended and adopted; originally proposed as an 18-month moratorium in a June 16, 2026 councilmember proposal
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ar-russellville-2026 - Legal basis: City Council ordinance (instrument number not confirmed); creates a temporary committee to recommend regulations
- What prompted it: Pause on acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for data center development, construction, or siting within city limits; officials said no active data center proposal was known
- Affected projects: —
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. The July 16, 2026 City Council agenda (Item 3, New Business) confirms the ordinance considered and adopted that night was titled 'An Ordinance Imposing a Temporary Moratorium on the Acceptance, Processing and Approval of Applications for the Development, Construction, or Siting of Data Centers Within the Incorporated Areas of the City of Russellville... Establishing a Temporary Committee...', sponsored by Council Member Justin Keller; River Valley Radio and a Citizen Portal meeting summary confirm the council amended the sponsor's original 18-month proposal down to six months (6-2) and then adopted the amended ordinance (6-2). The resulting ad hoc committee (also reported as the 'Data Center Research Committee' / 'Zoning and Land Use Amendments Committee') was seated and was still actively meeting as of an Aug. 18, 2026 River Valley Radio report, with no report found of the moratorium being lifted or repealed early. The signed ordinance's assigned number, precise effective date, and sunset date still were not located in the city's online ordinance archive or on Municode as of 2026-09-23. [VERIFY] [VERIFY instrument number not confirmed at confidence 0.6 in the 2026-07 refresh]
- Outcome: —
Union County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-06-30 (Union County Quorum Court unanimous adoption of Ordinance 1795 at an emergency meeting); reported to run 2026-07-10 through 2027-07-09
- Normalized date:
2026-06-30(exact) - Duration: One-year moratorium, reported to run from 2026-07-10 through 2027-07-09
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
ar-union-county-2026 - Legal basis: Ordinance 1795, adopted with an emergency clause
- What prompted it: Pause on new data center development in Union County following resident concerns about electricity, water, transparency, and use of public resources
- Affected projects: A proposed data center development called the 'Union County Campus' in El Dorado, tied to Paradox Data LLC. On June 25, 2026, Fort Lauderdale-based Z Squared Inc. announced a binding letter of intent to acquire a majority ownership interest in Paradox Data LLC; per SEC filings, the transaction had not closed as of the reporting reviewed. The site has an existing 8-MW utility connection, a roughly 10-acre parcel under a binding purchase contract, and company documents describing a potential campus of up to 170 acres and a long-term target of as much as 150 MW combining utility power and on-site natural-gas generation. The June 30, 2026 emergency Quorum Court meeting that adopted the moratorium was held amid heavy public interest in this proposal.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23; set to run through 2027-07-09 absent further action. Confirmed by South Arkansas Now's report of its own livestream coverage of the June 30, 2026 emergency Quorum Court meeting (Ordinance No. 1795, unanimous vote, emergency clause, term July 10, 2026 - July 9, 2027) and independently corroborated by AI GridWatch's specialty tracker, which cites the same ordinance number and end date. A signed or codified copy of Ordinance 1795 itself was still not located online as of 2026-09-23 (eldoradonews.com's original report is paywalled), so the record continues to rest on detailed contemporaneous news accounts rather than the ordinance document. [VERIFY] [VERIFY primary source (news-only evidence) not confirmed at confidence 0.55 in the 2026-07 refresh]
- Outcome: —
Source: moratorium_inventory.csv · Methodology · Codebook.