Why this score?
Four weighted factors drive the Greene County risk score. Methodology is fully documented — each input is public data or a reasoned proxy.
Served by Liberty Utilities. Regional utility with moderate grid capacity.
Water source: James River / Springfield aquifer. Moderate water availability. Closed-loop or air-cooled systems likely required for hyperscale.
Moderate availability of large parcels.
Adjacent to Webster County, which has active projects. Cluster development is the strongest predictor of where developers look next.
Water infrastructure
Greene County relies on groundwater from the Ozark aquifer and surface water from James River / Springfield aquifer.
The Ozark aquifer is the primary drinking water source for most of south-central Missouri. It is a karst system — meaning water moves through fractured limestone, making it vulnerable to contamination and difficult to remediate once impacted. A hyperscale data center drilling deep wells could draw down the water table that residential wells depend on. Missouri has no statewide groundwater allocation system, and rural counties often lack the zoning authority to regulate industrial water use.
Electric infrastructure
Greene County is served by Liberty Utilities (formerly Empire District Electric), the primary electric provider for southwest Missouri including the Springfield and Joplin metros.
Liberty operates the La Russell Energy Center in eastern Jasper County, which provides the transmission infrastructure that makes the region attractive for hyperscale development. Geronimo Power (Minnesota) is planning a data center and solar/battery park near the La Russell facility. Liberty's service territory covers much of the Ozarks region, where terrain and distributed population create different grid constraints than the flat Kansas City metro served by Evergy.
Under Missouri's SB 4, data centers above 75 MW must pay premium utility rates and fund grid upgrades.
State legislative context
Missouri's 2026 legislative session directly affects Greene County, regardless of whether a project is currently proposed here.
HJR 173 & 174 proposes eliminating Missouri's income tax and replacing it with expanded sales taxes on services — while data centers continue to receive a sales tax exemption on construction materials, equipment, and utilities for up to 15 years. According to the Missouri Budget Project, 80% of Missourians would face a net tax increase.
At the local level, developers negotiate Chapter 100 industrial revenue bonds that exempt them from real and personal property taxes. Under SB 4, data centers above 75 MW must pay premium utility rates. Many rural Missouri counties have no planning and zoning laws, meaning a data center can be proposed with no public hearing, no zoning review, and no county oversight.
No active data center in Greene County — yet.
Festus voters ousted every council member who approved a $6B data center. Webster County residents started a petition in days. What they did, you can do — but only if you're ready before the proposal lands.
Enter your address and pick your concerns. We write a personalized opposition letter citing state statutes and project data, then email it directly to every commissioner in your county on your behalf. You get a full copy. 60 seconds.
Independent. Nonpartisan. Not affiliated with any developer or government agency.
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