Arkansas

Arkansas has no statewide moratorium or restriction legislation and still courts large projects, but county-level restriction spread rapidly in August 2026 and several of the pauses are among the longest in the country. Independence County's quorum court unanimously enacted a five-year moratorium on August 10, 2026 — running through 2031 — citing strain on local water supply despite having no specific project proposed. Madison County followed on August 17 with a unanimous 8-0 three-year moratorium, also with no known project in development; it is the second-longest pause in the state and one of five Arkansas counties with three-year or longer moratoriums. Union County and Carroll County each adopted one-year pauses in June 2026, and Russellville adopted a six-month moratorium in July. Central Arkansas has taken the regulatory route instead. The Pulaski County Quorum Court voted down a 12-month construction moratorium 10-3 on July 28, 2026 amid disputes over an exemption for the AVAIO Digital Wrightsville project, and a Little Rock moratorium proposal failed on a 4-4 deadlock on August 4. Both jurisdictions are instead writing rules: Little Rock passed regulations in June 2026, and on August 13 Pulaski County advanced an ordinance classifying large facilities as heavy industrial, requiring a conditional use permit, 500-foot residential setbacks and noise caps, with a full vote scheduled August 25. Separately, a county judge dismissed a newspaper public-records suit seeking Google's utility rate contract for its $4 billion West Memphis data center, ruling the dispute belongs before the state Public Service Commission.