New Carlisle
JTNWI is supporting the community in pushing back against the proposed Amazon data center in New Carlisle.
About the amazon data center
Quick Facts
Data Center Name: Project Rainier
Developer: Amazon
End-User: Amazon (Anthropic for its AI model, Claude)
Investment: $15 billion
Address: Huckleberry Road and Gordon Road, New Carlisle
Size: 30 buildings | 1,200 acres
Generation: 2,200 megawatts
Status: Phase 1 operational (other phases in progress)
community Issues Spotlight
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Homeowners and farmers have complained that their shallow wells and retention ponds are drying up, with many pointing to Amazon’s dewatering. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources investigated these claims (3 residential wells), but ruled that the phenomenon was caused by drought, not by Amazon or the adjacent GM/Samsung battery plant. Still, community members are skeptical, as Amazon wants to withdraw even more groundwater at the site and has just received approval from the St. Joseph County Drainage Board for an additional 31 million gallons per day for 546 days (1.4 million gallons per hour). Amazon will discharge the extracted groundwater from the southwest corner of the project into the Niespodziany Ditch, a low-lying, flood-prone channel that drains into the Kankakee River.
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The data center is located near Bendix Woods County Park, whose ecosystems the facility’s construction will affect. Bendix Woods is home to an important migration path and old-growth forest habitat, a beech-maple climate woodland. Amazon plans to fill in nearly 10 acres of wetlands, critical natural sponges that abate flooding, and more than 5,000 feet of streams in the Kankakee River watershed.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a temporary halt order earlier in 2025 due to unauthorized impacts on the site's wetlands. Amazon was instructed to cease all construction activities in the waters of the state until they obtain the necessary authorization. Amazon confirmed in January 2026 that it was working with regulatory bodies on revised applications and mitigation efforts.
