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⌨ Nashville’s data center rulebook is under construction · Thiel’s “New Rome” and the Final Restrainer · TN wants other platforms to match Skrmetti’s Meta deal · Much more!
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Nashville’s data center rulebook is under construction as angsty developers seek common ground.
From Megan Podsiedlik
As requested, a data center report has been prepared by Metro Nashville departments and Nashville Electric Service for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. The report includes nine formal recommendations: seven that can be done administratively and two that need legislation. It also lists 13 issues for further study.
Most of the recommendations streamline permitting processes. The two legislative recommendations would acknowledge NES and TVA authority over electricity questions and confirm that developers pay for the utility and road upgrades their projects need. New restrictions, like a background-noise cap, vibration limits, wastewater limits, and cumulative impact assessments, are presented as topics for further study.
A data tracker currently counts 43 local data center moratoriums in Tennessee but only names 26 that have been enacted, the longest being for two years. As Tennessee tightens the belt on data center development, industry leaders are reassessing the landscape and looking for a path forward.
“What has changed from then to now is the scale of the data centers we’re developing,” Harmol Samra, CEO of data center developer PostDigital, said in a recent interview. “I think it’s okay to put a moratorium as long as we set a clear window.”
Similar overtures were shared by representatives of DC Blox during the zoo data center battle in Nashville.
“Metro should regulate facilities according to their actual impacts rather than treating all data centers as identical,” said Doug Sloan, an attorney representing DC Blox during a Metro Planning Commission meeting back in June.
DC Blox is now locked in a legal battle over its proposed Nashville data center. In August, the company filed a lawsuit asking a judge to throw out Metro’s data center moratorium and order the city to resume processing its demolition, grading, and building permits.
Two weeks ago, Judge Eli Richardson found the claims too vague to proceed, writing that “a raw deal or sandbagging—real or imagined, without more—does not a federal lawsuit make,” but gave the company 21 days to refile. DC Blox says it is filing an amended complaint, due any day now, but hasn’t challenged the council’s separate eminent domain bill.
✹ THIRD ROME'S THE NEW CHARM?
Thiel’s “New Rome” and the Problem of the Final Restrainer
From Leonard R. Fishman
Peter Thiel, who is delivering four lectures on the Antichrist in Nashville this autumn as a guest of The Pamphleteer, will turn to the inheritance of Rome in his concluding lecture on October 19, titled “New Rome.” Thiel frames history via the concept of the katechon—the restrainer that, according to Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, holds back the lawless one “until he be taken out of the way.”
Though Paul does not specify the restrainer's identity, generations of Christian thinkers have equated it with the Roman Empire, anointing Rome with both eschatological and political significance. The successors to the Roman Empire were thought to inherit Rome’s obligation to preserve order against the forces that would bring about the Antichrist and the end times. Across centuries, various states have claimed the title of the “New Rome,” grounding their legitimacy in the belief that they held a providential role in history.
Russia developed a particularly distinctive interpretation of Rome and its role as the katechon. Around 1510, the monk Philotheus of Pskov declared to Grand Prince Vasily III that “two Romes have fallen, the third stands, and a fourth there shall not be.”
On the surface, this looks as though it is merely flattery, placing Moscow as the rightful heir to Rome and Byzantium. However, by insisting that no fourth Rome would follow, Philotheus also marked Moscow as the culmination of the succession, investing its survival with a theological significance not present in earlier claimants. The prophecy that elevated Moscow also imposed a burden on it: if the third Rome were to fall, there would be no one to take its place.
HEADLINES
- 📱 Tennessee leaders push TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to match Skrmetti’s Meta deal. After Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti got Meta to agree to new child-safety protections, a group of Tennessee conservatives has joined a national push for other platforms to adopt the same safeguards. The signers include Nicole Smith, Raul Lopez, Tommy Vallejos, Walter Blanks Jr., Patsy Writesman, and Brian Floyd. They want TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to put those protections in place now. (Fox Business)
- ☀️ Portion of Nashville Fairgrounds could become solar facility. Metro plans to put about $2.4 million of solar panels on the roofs of three Exposition Buildings and the Show Arena, aiming to finish in early 2027. The Fair Board approved draft contracts with Nashville Electric Service, but Metro Council still has to sign off. The project could make up to about $110,000 a year after maintenance costs. (WKRN)
- ⚡ Energy Department backs major grid expansion across eight states to strengthen reliability. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to put about $250 million toward a $581 million Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) package of 84 transmission and distribution projects in eight states, adding about 2.5 GW of grid capacity. Separately, TVA would upgrade about 125 miles of existing power lines in Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina, bringing total planned investment to nearly $741 million and more than 4,300 MW of new capacity. DOE says the goal is lower electricity costs and fewer outages, but the money isn’t final until agreements are signed and permitting and environmental reviews are done. (DOE)
✹ PAMPHLETEER TOOLS
Pamphleteer Tools Council Watch tells you who funds your councilmember and how they vote. The Property Tax Calculator tells you what that cost you.
DEVELOPMENT
- Skyline Hospitality eyes Q1 2027 start on Oracle-area Hilton hotel (Post)
- Proffitt Dixon seeks approval for seven-story ballpark-area mixed-use (Post)
- California-based Puesto to open first non-California location at Nashville Yards Oct. 23 (Post)
- South Nashville neighbors ask TDOT to fix roads before I-24 Choice Lanes (WKRN)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit w/ Southern Avenue @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $76, Info
🎸 Wyatt McCubbin @ Exit/In, 8p, $18, Info
🪕 Ralph Stanley II @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info
🎙️ Open Mic @ Fox and Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley's Heroes @ Robert's Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik, and Camelia Brennan.