Preserve Montgomery County LLC Sues to Block AWS Data Center

Preserve Montgomery County LLC filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court on February 16, 2026, to void advancements made by the Montgomery County Commission regarding a proposed Amazon Web Services data center. The lawsuit alleges that the commission violated the Missouri Sunshine Law by failing to provide adequate public notice of meetings, posting insufficient agendas, and conducting unlawful closed sessions.

The disputed project, proposed by NorthPoint Development, involves a 1,000-acre site near New Florence featuring two construction phases of data center buildings. The plaintiff specifically requests that a judge invalidate decisions made during a January 18 meeting regarding a tax incentive framework and a February 5 meeting concerning a development agreement.

In addition to transparency concerns, the suit claims the commission failed to properly evaluate the project's tax abatement and the environmental impact of its water usage, specifically regarding deep-aquifer wells. The legal challenge seeks to halt the project based on these procedural and environmental failures.