Inside the Fierce Battle Over a $6 Billion Data Center | Lori Merriman

"When I started this, I thought I was just fighting a data center, and the amount of corruption that has been uncovered is mind blowing." —Lori Merriman https://flashlightsproductions.substack.com/p/inside-the-fierce-battle-over-a-6?utm_source=youtube "I thought we were in the United States and I thought that they worked for the people." Festus is a small town thirty-five miles south to St. Louis, Missouri. About a year ago and unbeknownst to Festus' 14,000 residents, the town's city council started secretly meeting with real estate developer CRG to discuss building a massive 360-acre hyperscale data center in a wooded area in Festus. The North American real estate firm CRG is the real estate development arm of the construction company Clayco. Bob Clark is Clayco's founder. Lori Merriman, who lives in Festus, became a leading force in the town's fight against the data center. She told me that it took three to four months before citizens in Festus got wind of what was happening behind the scenes. Once they did, they turned up in force to the next council meeting where the mayor and councilmen told them not to worry and that the whole scenario with the data center was completely hypothetical. Just two days later, the city council voted unanimously to approve the rezoning of a large woodland area to allow for the construction of a hyperscale data center called "Festus Campus." The fight was on. Battles have been waging since November 2025 and they will continue for an unforeseeable time. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction to Festus and the Data Center Threat 0:18 Data Center Crash Course: US Statistics and Global Rankings 9:11 Missouri's Data Center Boom and Major Operators 13:37 Life in Festus Before the Data Center Craze 14:54 November 2025: The Meeting Where It All Began 21:46 City Council Composition and the Vacant Seat 22:19 Secret Meetings to Dodge Sunshine Law Quorums 25:10 The 6-2 Vote to Approve the Contract 27:16 Local Newspapers and Buried Public Notices 31:26 FOIA Documents Reveal "Dumb Hicks" Insults 33:07 Public Backlash Against the Mayor's Conduct 35:47 Governor Kehoe's Offer to "Nudge" Council Members 38:03 Political Fallout and Ties to State Politics 39:21 Union Members Bussed in to Support the Project 40:37 The Search for an Attorney 41:28 Stephen Jeffery and Wake Up Jeffco LLC 42:34 Why Everyone Was Afraid to Form the LLC 45:02 Fast-Tracked Approval of Data Center in the School Gymnasium 45:37 April 2026: Incumbents Voted Out 47:00 Discovery Battles and Delay Tactics 49:33 Fundraising Totals and Ongoing Legal Costs 50:16 Untangling the Three Lawsuits 54:41 Organizing the Recall Signature Campaign 55:12 National Media Attention and Uncertain Future 55:37 Bob Clark, Clayco, and the Closed-Door Meeting 1:00:00 The Recall Rejected: Reasons Deemed "Not Sufficient" 1:01:11 Suing the County Clerk Over Election Certification 1:03:53 More Delays, More Legal Costs for Citizens 1:16:49 The Recall Signature Requirements Explained   RESOURCES Data Center Watch Missouri town fires half its city council over data center deal Digitalisation World, Shift in US hyperscale data centres towards central regions GoFundMe Campaign for WakeUpJeffco: Protect Our Community