In a town of just under 300 people near the border of Iowa and Nebraska, turmoil over a potential data center has turned into death and terrorist threats against its city council members.
The threats came on social media after plans for a proposed Google data center were announced in Salix, a town about 20 minutes south of Sioux City, earlier this month, following months of uncertainty. A 900-acre plot of land northeast of the small town was annexed in April.
“The community has been tense for the last few months,” Salix Mayor Kevin Nelson said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.
On Aug. 3, MidAmerican Energy, which had been eyeing Salix for development, proposed in a letter to the Salix City Council the possibility of developing a Google data center at the site.
“Introducing Google now is intended to give residents and local leaders an early opportunity to ask questions, share priorities and concerns with Google and consider the potential opportunity with more complete information before any development plans are presented,” the letter from MidAmerican sent to city officials and provided to the Register, reads.
The community’s tension over the possible data center boiled over Tuesday, Aug. 12, just before a city council meeting that was supposed to include discussion of the plans.
“This city was made aware of death threats and terroristic threats, quite frankly, that were made via Facebook,” Nelson said. “Then we were made aware that this person made other, much more graphic and detailed terroristic and death threats.”
The city council meeting was postponed due to the threats, according to a Facebook post from the city. A pop-up alert on the city’s website also announced the postponement.
“A make-up date has not been decided yet,” Nelson said. “We need to postpone this so that law enforcement can do their job and investigate this and possibly get this person arrested.”
The threat has been reported to the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office, Nelson said. There was a previous death threat also in connection with the proposed data center in May, Nelson said. The sheriff’s office was not immediately available for comment.
“I can’t speak to this person’s state of mind, but my guess would be (they want) to scare elected officials into not having a data center,” Nelson said.
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Data center turmoil in western Iowa brings death threats
Reporting by Kyle Werner and Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kyle Werner and Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
