Data center profile · Gateway Business Park near Jenkins, Letcher County, Kentucky

Letcher County Off-Grid Data Center (Gateway Business Park)

Feasibility-stage plan for a reported 100 MW off-grid gas plant and data center on about 100 acres near Jenkins, Kentucky, under a county moratorium.

Feasibility, county moratorium. An 18-month agreement gives Diversified and Maverick Holdings a path to buy about 100 acres; no tenant is targeted and the site is not deemed viable. Letcher County voted unanimously on July 20, 2026 for a two-year data center moratorium.
~100 acres
site the developers may buy
option under a joint development agreement
100 MW
proposed off-grid gas plant (press summary)
on-site generation, not an agency figure; no data center load stated
2 years
county moratorium on new data centers
from July 20, 2026
8 of 9
residents who opposed the project at the Fiscal Court
July 2026 meeting
OperatorDiversified Gas and Oil Corporation and Maverick Holdings (with the Appalachian Industrial Development Authority)
CustomerNone targeted
Planned IT capacity62 MW at full build-out (our estimate from on-site generation)
Next deadlineJuly 2028: County moratorium runs about two years from July 20, 2026
Permits

Permits checklist

1 granted · 2 checked, nothing on file

Approvals a campus like this normally needs (including an air permit for backup or on-site generators), and what we found.

Risks

Why it stopped, what could revive it

Power

Power and the grid

None energized or contracted yet

Off-grid natural gas plant, existing compressor station fuelExploratory, no air permit
100 MW
proposed; trade-press summary, not an agency figure; generation technology not chosen News report · July 2026
Proposed

Getting on the grid

Who supplies what, what it costs, and what is still not public.

  1. As of Oct. 2026
    No air permit or utility case
    No state air permit application and no Kentucky PSC case names the project; it is designed to supply its own power. see Permits
Timeline

What happened, and what is due

SitePaper trailConstructionPowerPermitsMoneyLegalUpcoming
  1. March 2026
    Site The development authority, Diversified and Maverick Holdings sign an 18-month joint development agreement (press) News report · March 2026
  2. July 17, 2026
    Site The agreement becomes public; officials call it early-stage and Jenkins says it was not involved in planning News report · July 2026
  3. July 20, 2026
    Permits Letcher's Fiscal Court votes unanimously for a two-year moratorium after nearly two hours of public comment News report · July 2026
  4. Sept. 2026
    Legal Residents ask how the county will enforce the moratorium; no further data center action is reported News report · Sept. 2026
The buildings

Specs

Who is involved

Owners, partners and builders

Owners and developers
  • Diversified Gas and Oil Corporation: gas producer and counterparty
  • Maverick Holdings: local real estate developer
  • Appalachian Industrial Development Authority: owns the business park
Decision-makers
  • Letcher County Fiscal Court: moratorium
  • Terry Adams: county judge/executive
Still unknown

Open questions

Where this comes from

27 records from 8 documents

Drawn from news reports and company statements, each kept with its date and source. The bar shows documents by type.

News report 6Company 2
Evidence

Every quote behind this page

Grade key: A = the primary record itself (permit, filing, exhibit) · B = a dated official statement · C = news reporting. Map distances are our own measurements on OpenStreetMap and carry no grade. Allegations in lawsuits are marked as such in the quotes.

Power (4)
  • Diversified Energy's off-grid data center power venture with FuelCell Energy and TESIAC (announced March 10, 2025: in-basin gas + captured coal-mine methane delivered by pipeline to fuel cells; up to 360 MW across three
    “announced a strategic partnership intended to address the urgent energy needs of data centers by supplying as much as 360 megawatts of electricity to three distinct locations in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky”
    Company · March 2025 · grade B
  • On-site generation: 100 MW
    “He pointed to an effort to build a 100-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant at a Letcher County industrial park for a potential data center”
    News report · Aug. 2026 · grade C
  • Project status: proposed
    “Reports suggest that the project is in the early stages of planning, with work currently ongoing to explore the possibility of onsite power generation.”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
  • MW basis named: mw generation onsite (proposed gas plant, press summary only, NOT an agency figure) - a secondary trade summary describes a 100 MW off-grid power plant using an existing natural gas compressor station
    “aiming to use an existing natural gas compressor station to fuel an off-grid, 100-megawatt power plant that could attract data centers or manufacturers”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
Money and contracts (2)
  • Appalachian Industrial Development Authority joint development agreement (reported in secondary summaries as signed March 2026 with an 18-month term) gives Diversified and Maverick Holdings a path to purchase approximate
    “the documents that have been shared from the industrial authority include a joint development agreement”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
  • An 18-month joint development agreement was signed in March 2026 (publicly reported Jul 17, 2026): AIDA, Diversified and Maverick Holdings, with an option to potentially purchase approximately 100 acres at the Gateway Bu
    “The documents that have been shared from the industrial authority include a joint development agreement.”
    News report · March 2026 · grade C
Permits and government (3)
  • Kentucky data-center resources tracker lists Letcher among the Appalachian Kentucky counties with moratoriums in its August 2026 update, corroborating that the two-year halt remained the standing county position
    “Letcher | County orders two-year halt on data centers [July 22, 2026]”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
  • Jul 22, 2026: the Letcher County Fiscal Court voted unanimously to place a two-year moratorium on construction of new data centers in the county and to require environmental impact studies before future projects, respond
    “Responding to concerns raised by residents over a proposed natural gas-fired power plant intended to attract artificial intelligence data centers, the Letcher Fiscal Court voted unanimously Monday to place a two-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
  • Letcher County Fiscal Court:
    “the Letcher Fiscal Court voted unanimously Monday to place a two-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers in the county”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
Legal (1)
  • Nearly two hours of resident testimony (water use, noise, pollution, wildlife, tourism, neighborhood impacts) preceded the Fiscal Court's moratorium vote; residents who spoke to WYMT off camera were mixed, some opposed a
    “The action came after nearly two hours of public comments, during which residents expressed concerns about water use, noise, pollution, wildlife”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
Site and other (2)
  • Judge/Executive Terry Adams told the July 20 meeting that county officials learned about the proposal only after documents became public through an Open Records Act request; AIDA, which owns Gateway Regional Business Par
    “Judge/Executive Terry Adams said county officials learned about the proposal only after documents became public through an Open Records Act request.”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C
  • County code: 21133
    “A new proposal to explore a data center at the Gateway Business Park in Letcher County is sparking discussion across Eastern Kentucky about the region's future.”
    News report · July 2026 · grade C