Data Centers in Arkansas: Lawsuits, Disputes, and Your Rights

Arkansas is not a hyperscale cloud market. What it has is a cluster of crypto mining facilities, warehouse-scale banks of computers and cooling fans, that arrived after Act 851 of 2023 made the state unusually friendly to them by shielding mines from targeted local regulation. Operators set up in rural areas where land was cheap and neighbors were close, including the Bono and Greenbrier communities.

Crypto mines share the feature that matters most to neighbors of AI data centers: massed cooling fans running 24 hours a day. The noise profile, and the legal fights it generates, are effectively the same. That makes Arkansas an early chapter in a national story, and its court results matter to anyone living near a large computing facility.

The reported complaints center on one thing: relentless noise.

• A 24/7 whine. Residents near the NewRays One facility described constant, high-pitched noise from mining fans that never shuts off, day or night. Neighbors of crypto mines in Texas have documented migraines, tinnitus, and sleep loss from the same kind of sound.
• Nowhere to appeal locally. When counties tried to respond, Act 851 stood in the way. Faulkner County passed a noise ordinance and was sued by the operator, which won judgment in May 2024, a result that told Arkansas communities their ordinances could not target mines directly.
• A shifting legal landscape. The 2024 reform bills, SB78 and SB79, rolled back parts of the Act 851 regime after public backlash, so the rules of the fight have changed since the first suits were filed.

Residents v. NewRays One. Twenty-three residents sued the crypto mining company over the 24/7 whining noise from its facility near the Bono community, on private nuisance and negligence theories, and the litigation continued into 2024. It is among the earliest resident noise suits against a large computing facility in the South.

NewRays One v. Faulkner County. The operator went on offense, suing Faulkner County over its noise ordinance, and won judgment in May 2024. Act 851, the 2023 Arkansas Data Centers Act, shielded crypto mines from targeted local regulation, and the county ordinance could not survive it. The case is a national cautionary tale: developers sue too, and state preemption laws can gut local noise rules.

The legislative correction. The backlash to Act 851 produced reform legislation in 2024, SB78 and SB79, restoring pieces of local authority. The episode shows the whole arc: preemption, litigation in both directions, then reform driven by organized residents.

For the closest comparison in active litigation, see the Granbury, Texas bitcoin mine noise suits, where residents represented by Earthjustice are pressing nuisance claims over the same kind of round-the-clock fan noise.

Arkansas neighbors of a mining or data center facility have several paths, each shaped by the Act 851 story:

• Private nuisance and negligence claims. This is the theory the 23 NewRays plaintiffs used, and it belongs to the affected residents themselves, not the county. Remedies can include money damages and an injunction requiring mitigation. Attorneys often take strong cases on a contingency fee basis.
• Ordinance enforcement, carefully. After the 2024 reforms, local governments regained some authority, but the boundaries are legally technical. Written complaints still build your record regardless of how the preemption questions resolve.
• Zoning review for new projects. A proposed facility still needs land use approvals in most places, and procedural defects in an approval are the most successful challenge nationally. Windows are short after a vote.
• Legislative pressure. Arkansas residents already changed state law once; SB78 and SB79 exist because affected communities organized.

A statute of limitations applies to nuisance and damage claims, commonly two to six years depending on the state and claim type; an Arkansas attorney can confirm the deadlines for your situation.

Document the noise like the cases that succeeded: a dated log of when it is worst, decibel readings at your property line and bedroom window, notes on sleep disruption and health effects, and written complaints to the operator and your county every time. Our guide to documenting data center harm covers the details.

Then find out what your record supports. Our free case review connects you with an independent attorney handling data center and mining noise cases in Arkansas; it costs nothing and you hire no one unless you choose to.