Strata Expanse AI Data Center (Hanging Rock), Ironton, Ohio

Strata Expanse, a Texas company, opened a data center it calls an AI Center of Excellence west of Hanging Rock, near Ironton in Lawrence County, Ohio, with a ribbon cutting on December 19, 2025. The site produces about 10 megawatts of computing power now and could grow to 80, running largely on hydrogen, natural gas, geothermal, solar and battery power, chief revenue officer Ellen Taylor said. The site sits in Hamilton Township, which has no zoning code, so the company needed no permit, public hearing or vote before building.

Ironton residents said they only learned about the project after it was already built; a petition titled "Stop the AI data centers in Lawrence County, Ohio" passed 5,000 signatures, and 30 to 50 people attended a special city council meeting on January 8, 2026. Development corporation director Bill Dingus told the council Strata Expanse did not need or want tax breaks, so the county commission was never notified, and he had not personally seen the company's power numbers.

"To me it was a clear indication that public support for this project is non-existent," said Councilman Jacob Hock, who added that Dingus "seems to be pretty ill-informed about data centers and their potential impact on the community."

Ironton City Council passed a moratorium on AI data centers on February 12, 2026, written to end automatically once the city adopted permanent zoning rules for data centers. The council adopted those rules, Amended Ordinance 26-09, unanimously on May 14, 2026, which ended the moratorium. Neither measure ever covered Hamilton Township, where the Strata Expanse site sits, so the project itself was never subject to either one.