Tom Pappert, lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, warned that Hawkins County’s decision to accept pro bono legal representation from the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) in a lawsuit challenging its ban on cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence data centers could inadvertently advance a broader anti-Trump narrative embraced by Democrats and draw heightened national media attention.
Speaking Wednesday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert discussed the county’s agreement with the environmental legal organization, which has recently been involved in litigation against both Elon Musk’s xAI project and the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“Hawkins County is represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, the SELC. That is one of the top environmentalist law firms in the country,” Pappert said.
Pappert noted that listeners of Leahy’s show and readers of The Star may recognize the organization because of its previously reported representation of the NAACP in a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI.
He went on to highlight what he described as a political contradiction, noting Hawkins County’s strong support for President Donald Trump while partnering with a legal group currently litigating against the Trump administration.
“Similarly, the SELC is the lawyers for a coalition of environmentalist groups that are suing the Trump EPA,” Pappert said. “So Hawkins County decides to partner with this group despite voting 84 percent for Trump in the last election.”
The lawsuit against Hawkins County was filed by ExoticRidge, a Kentucky-based cryptocurrency mining company that argues the county unlawfully enacted a blanket ban on data centers despite having no broader zoning code.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the lawsuit seeks to invalidate Hawkins County’s prohibition on cryptocurrency mining and data center operations.
Explaining the nature of the proposed operation, Pappert emphasized that not all data centers are massive facilities featured in national headlines.
“This data center is more along the size of, from what I’ve gathered from the filings at least, a storage unit, and inside this storage unit they’re going to use recycled waste products to power computers so that way the owners of the company can mine cryptocurrency, Bitcoin,” he said.
Pappert described the central argument made by ExoticRidge in its lawsuit.
“The argument in the lawsuit is that Hawkins County has no zoning ordinances whatsoever. In fact, it is completely free to do what you want county, except, the company learned, if you are in the cryptocurrency or AI data center business, in which case they’re going to clamp down on you,” he explained.
“By the way, ExoticRidge is represented by the Beacon Center of Tennessee, the free market kind of libertarian guys, while Hawkins County, this county that voted 84 percent for Trump, is being represented by the SELC,” Pappert said.
While stressing that his comments reflected his own personal assessment, Pappert suggested county leaders may not be fully considering the potential ramifications of the litigation.
“I understand there’s a lot of fear about data centers. I don’t understand what the cause of the fear is, but it seems like this is just my personal opinion, this could wind up being a disaster,” he said.
Pappert raised concerns about potential financial liability if the county ultimately loses the case.
“They’ve got the SCLC paying their own legal bills now. It’s pro bono representation, that’s true, but what happens if Exotic Ridge winds up getting a favorable ruling out of this that says Hawkins County was violating its own ordinances and they owe them money? I just don’t think it’s being considered,” he said.
Pappert further predicted the dispute could attract significant national media attention due to its political and cultural dimensions.
“If the national media catches wind, they’re going to have every left-wing reporter that you have ever heard of in this country. You’re going to see them probably from outside the country. You’ll probably get a few British journalists as well,” he said.
“They’re going to descend on Hawkins County and they’re going to say, ‘This one county in rural Tennessee is going to stand up to Trump, Elon Musk, and AI, and all the baddies, and they’re going to sue them back’,” he added.
Pappert concluded by warning that local officials may be unintentionally aiding a broader anti-Trump narrative, noting, “I don’t think they understand how well they’re playing into the Democrats’ hands with this course of action.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
