A Kentucky family garnered national attention when they rejected a $26 million offer to sell part of their land for a data center.

Ida Huddleston, 82, and her daughter Delsia Bare own 1,200 acres outside Maysville, Kentucky. In April 2025, an unnamed company approached them with an offer to buy half of their property, but they declined.

“They call us old stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” Huddleston said, according to the outlet. “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.”

Videos of the interview have since gone viral. One post racked up more than 6.5 million views at the time of publication. 

 

Fox News Weekend Host Tomi Lahren reacted to the video, supporting the family. “The backbone Americans of this country will not be bought out by big Tech bullsh*t,” she posted. “Stand strong.”

When WKRC asked Huddleston about whether the data centers would bring jobs and economic growth, she rebuffed the idea. 

“They’re a liar, and the truth isn’t in them,” she said. “It’s a scam.”

Texas Poised to Become World’s Largest Data Center Hub by 2030 — But at What Cost to Water and Farmland?

Meanwhile, Texas could become the world’s largest data center hub by 2030, as The Dallas Express reported. If current trends continue, Texas could surpass Virginia in five years.

While developers promise economic prosperity, many Texans fear the data centers will draw their most precious resource – water.

In February, dozens of residents in Hood County rallied to pause a proposed 2,100-acre data center, as DX reported. Hood County Commissioners shot the residents’ efforts down – twice – allowing the project to move forward. 

When a cotton farmer outside Amarillo sounded the alarm in February about a proposed data center, he pointed out it could draw millions of gallons of water – needed for irrigation and drinking – from the Ogallala Aquifer. Data centers circulate massive amounts of water to cool computer equipment.

In response, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he was working with Congress and the White House to encourage data centers to be sited away from productive farmland. 

“My staff is digging in regarding this specific case,” he wrote at the time. “It is one of several raising these legitimate concerns throughout the state.”

In March, Republican state Rep. Helen Kerwin urged Gov. Greg Abbott to pause data center construction in rural communities, as The Dallas Express reported. She cited residents’ concerns about strains on local water and electricity.