The plan by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell to use eminent domain to acquire property in order to prevent the construction of a data center near the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere came just days after the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) sent a letter warning about the fate of the Nashville crayfish to the company, reportedly already under contract to buy the property.
After the letter was sent, the Nashville Business Journal additionally reported the Nashville Zoo had “engaged’ with the SELC about the data center before the environmental legal nonprofit expressed its concern about the crayfish.
According to the SELC, who sent its letter in conjunction with the Center for Biological Diversity, the commercial property currently owned by MarketStreet, and reportedly under contract to be sold to DC BLOX for about $38 million, is very close to the endangered crayfish’s habitat, and DC BLOX could be found liable if its activities impact the species.
“The proposed data center campus would be located just over a quarter mile from occupied habitat for the endangered Nashville crayfish,” wrote the SELC in its letter, claiming, “a failure of erosion and sediment control measures or stormwater infrastructure so close to its occupied habitat could pose an outsized risk of harm.”
A website maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reveals the crayfish was proposed for delisting in 2020, and an analysis completed in 2019 determined there was no likely scenario under which the species did not exhibit “a high degree of resistance to disturbance, indicating the species has a low susceptibility to threats and a high degree of stability.”
While the letter did not disclose any formal relationship between the SELC and the zoo, the attorneys additionally cited concerns about the effect of purported humming noises generated by data centers on exotic animals.
“Data centers can cause significant noise pollution in the form of ‘an industrial-scale ‘drone’ or ‘hum,'” according to the SELC letter, which claimed this noise “could be especially concerning for the endangered clouded leopards at the Nashville Zoo.”
The letter further claimed, “Other endangered species at the Nashville Zoo that could experience behavioral disruptions due to noise pollution include white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys), siamangs (Symphalagus syndactylus), red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra), black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata), and ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta).”
The SELC and Center for Biological Diversity ultimately asked DC BLOX to complete an assessment of “direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts” caused by its proposed data center, then “obtain any necessary” permits related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973.
News of SELC’s involvements in efforts to oppose the construction of a new data center in Nashville come as the nonprofit has already been retained to defend against a lawsuit brought by a cryptocurrency mining company that sought to build a data center in Hawkins County.
Despite Hawkins County voting overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump in 2024, the county government has retained SELC attorneys to defend against the lawsuit by the ExoticRidge cryptocurrency company, even as the SELC sues the Trump administration over allegations it has failed to uphold Biden-era environmental regulations.
Since agreeing to represent the county, SELC attorneys have reportedly offered advice and guidance for commissioners to clarify their ordinance banning data centers.
SELC is also representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in a federal lawsuit filed in Mississippi, accusing Elon Musk’s xAI of illegally operating temporary turbines used to power the Colossus supercomputer in Memphis that powers the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok.
Last year, the SELC represented the NAACP when it threatened a similar lawsuit against xAI over the company’s Tennessee operations.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Nashville Department of Transportation & Multimodal Infrastructure.
