"Residents say they were left out of the decision-making process for a project that includes hundreds of polluting diesel generators."

"HAMLET, N.C. — Steel skeletons of two-story buildings jut from the landscape strewn with building supplies, the site of a $10 billion Amazon data center touted as the largest economic development project in state history.

Yet many residents vehemently oppose it. Richmond County officials secretly crafted the deal, which includes significant tax breaks for Amazon, then sprung it on an area already encumbered by pollution. 

Sources in the county include two rock quarries, an asphalt plant, a company that processes wood pellets, a facility that turns railroad and landscaping ties into biochar, a poultry slaughterhouse and a natural gas power plant."

Lisa Sorg reports for Inside Climate News August 4, 2026. [2]