Google plans a $15B data center in Montgomery County, to mixed reactions

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Google is investing 15 billion into new data center campus in Montgomery County, what Governor Mike Kehoe calls the largest single investment in Missouri history. But in the small town of New Florence, not everyone is welcoming the project. The development is happening off Interstate 70 near Highway 19 in New Florence. 5 On Your Side's Megan Kernan went there today to hear from those for it and against it.

[00:00:24]And listen, you can hear the bulldozers running down there right now.

[00:00:27]>> Pre-construction work is already underway in New Florence, where Google is investing 15 billion dollars into a new data center campus in Montgomery County. In a town of fewer than 700 people, residents say the massive project is already transforming the rural landscape.

[00:00:44]>> know anything about it until it was all being done. You know, how come they didn't ask the people around here, you know, to vote on it or what we thought about it?

[00:00:51]>> The development sits off Interstate 70 near Highway 19, nearby Amazon's data center project that's already underway.

[00:00:58]I'm I'm just mainly concerned about, you know, the wells around here, you know, from my understanding, those data centers take a lot of water. This is an air-cooled facility, so water concern is is really not of worry in any way, shape, or form. The only water that will be used at this data center will be for domestic use. So, our kitchens, our bathrooms, showers.

[00:01:19]>> Google says this project will bring thousands of construction jobs here to Montgomery County. While supporters call it a game-changer, critics question the long-term impact on rural communities. I don't see how using natural resources like land and water for computers and industrial sites as beneficial to the people in the long term. Will people want to stay living next to that? Jessie Stratton lives nearby on farmland her family has owned for decades. She worries New Florence could lose the quiet rural identity that brought her family back home.

[00:01:54]>> It It makes me really sad that coming home here for years is a more quiet rural area and then all the fields that were farming and animals is now just going to be buildings. Reporting in New Florence, Megan Kernan, 5 On Your Side.

[00:02:11]Google says they will pay for 100% of the electricity used to power the data center along with all other direct costs.