Daviess County Fiscal Court Commissioner Janie Marksberry used a series of publicly recorded land agreements Thursday to raise concerns about a possible data center-related development in eastern Daviess County. However, the documents do not identify a data center project, and Owensboro Municipal Utilities says one of the agreements is tied to studies for a potential power generation plant at the former Elmer Smith Station site.
During the Fiscal Court meeting, Marksberry presented documents she said show ETX Upstream-linked entities have secured lease options, purchase options, and utility easement rights across hundreds of acres in eastern Daviess County. She argued residents deserve more information about development activity that could affect nearby neighborhoods and questioned why the agreements had not received more public attention.
However, OT’s review of the records presented by Marksberry shows they do not identify a specific project, proposed development, end user, or data center. What the documents do establish is that ETX-linked entities have spent at least nine months assembling land interests and infrastructure rights across multiple properties near U.S. 60, KY 144, and Owensboro Health Regional Hospital.
The agreements include:
- A March 2026 agreement granting Green River East GenCo LLC an option to lease more than 100 acres of OMU-owned riverfront property near U.S. 60, along with rights to obtain easements across the property. The option may be exercised for up to five years.
- Multiple August 2025 purchase-option agreements giving Green River East LoadCo LLC the exclusive right to purchase private property owned by Gary Boswell, along with some of his family members and business partners. One agreement covers approximately 85 acres.
- September 2025 easement-option agreements allowing Green River East LoadCo LLC to acquire utility corridors across East Side Industrial Property land for electric transmission and communications infrastructure. One easement is 150 feet wide, while another is 25 feet wide.
The timeline of the agreements indicates the effort began months before public debate over possible data center development emerged. The earliest records reviewed by Owensboro Times were filed in August 2025.
Marksberry questions transparency
Marksberry told Fiscal Court the records show ETX-linked entities have assembled a substantial footprint in eastern Daviess County.
“ETX Upstream LLC is a Boston-based energy transition developer that invests in, develops, and manages land and power assets for large electricity users,” Marksberry said. “It focuses on land acquisition and finance power solutions for industrial and data center mega load customers, and related energy transition infrastructure projects. These documents show that ETX-linked entities have secure control or contingent control over a large contiguous east county footprint tied into OMU power and river access, and is very close to our hospital campus.”
She also criticized what she described as a lack of transparency surrounding the agreements.
“I believe our public has the right to know something is coming to their neighborhood that could severely affect their quality of life,” Marksberry said. “A lot of changes coming to our town over the course of the next few years could severely affect everyday lives, and the location of these proposed data centers is surrounded by houses and our local hospital. That’s why I believe transparency is so important.”
Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen challenged Marksberry’s presentation during the meeting, arguing she was drawing conclusions from selected portions of the records while withholding other information, such as her decision to reference a current elected official without publicly identifying the person.
“I’m perplexed by your sharing partial information,” Castlen said. “Essentially, accusing elected officials of being involved in this, but you don’t identify them. I found that leaves the public to wonder, is it one of the four of us?”
He also noted that the documents Marksberry presented involved agreements with OMU and private parties, not Fiscal Court.
During the discussion, a few members of the public even shouted that residents deserved to know which elected official was involved if the information was relevant to the discussion. County Commissioner Chris Castlen then asked Marksberry to at least clarify whether the elected official was a member of Fiscal Court.
“If it’s a conflict of interest for someone, I mean, that’d be good information,” Chris Castlen said.
Marksberry responded that it was not a member of Fiscal Court, though she still declined to publicly identify the individual during the meeting. Afterward, she shared copies of the documents with members of the public and media, which showed State Sen. Gary Boswell as a party to one of the agreements.
After the meeting, Owensboro Times asked Marksberry why she was connecting the agreements to data centers when the recorded documents themselves do not identify a data center project.
Marksberry acknowledged the records do not specifically describe a data center and said her conclusion was based largely on ETX’s business activities.
“That’s what these companies do,” she said. “They buy land for those heavy-load type energy. It could be for the big power lines to be increased. It could be something like that as well, but if you look up that company … that’s what they do is the buy land and option land, and they’re doing it all across the United States.”
Asked whether the project could be something other than a data center, Marksberry responded: “Well, it typically ties back to them some way, that’s what they need the extra energy for, typically, is to power that.”
She later added: “I don’t know any more than you all do, other than what I’ve pulled.”
What the records show
While the documents show a coordinated effort to secure land, utility corridors, and access to OMU property, they do not identify the ultimate purpose of the project. Instead, they do indicate a project that would require significant electrical infrastructure.
The easement agreements specifically reference future electric transmission and communications lines.
The OMU agreement grants not only a lease option but also rights to obtain easements across utility property.
The names of the ETX-affiliated entities involved in the transactions — Green River East GenCo LLC and Green River East LoadCo LLC — also suggest an energy-related purpose.
Taken together, the records support the conclusion that ETX-linked entities are assembling land and infrastructure rights for a large industrial or energy-intensive project. They do not establish whether that project is a data center, manufacturing facility, power plant, or another type of development.
OMU identifies potential power generation use
After Thursday’s meeting, OMU General Manager Tim Lyons provided OT with a brief explanation tied directly to one of the agreements.
“The OMU Commission has approved an agreement to lease a portion of the former Elmer Smith Generation Station property,” Lyons said. “This option provides Green River East Genco LLC the opportunity to complete appropriate studies and surveys necessary to consider the property for the location of a power generation plant.”
Lyons’ statement marks the first public explanation attached to any of the recorded agreements discussed Thursday and identifies power generation — not data center development — as the purpose currently being evaluated on the OMU property.
The statement is consistent with the recorded OMU lease option, which involves property at the former Elmer Smith Generating Station site.
The City of Owensboro also provided OT with a statement acknowledging discussions regarding potential power generation at the location.
“The City is aware that OMU has had discussions with a third party regarding the potential construction of a new power plant at the Elmer Smith Station property,” the statement reads. “Given the significant infrastructure already in place at the site, it is understandable why the OMU-owned property would be identified as a strategic location to help meet the growing demand for additional electricity. The site has a long history of power production, and it would be great to see it utilized for that purpose once again while creating stable, well-paying jobs for the community.”
Neither statement referenced a data center.
Boswell: Records involve long-held industrial property
Boswell, whose name appears in several of the recorded agreements, said the documents involve property he and his partners have owned for years as part of the East Side Industrial Park.
“[Janie] went and found some options that involve me and my son and my partner on some property that we have owned for a long time,” Boswell said. “I’ve been developing, at a huge cost of my own, trying to create some jobs in the East Side Industrial Park for a number of years at a pretty expensive clip, putting all the infrastructure and roads and stuff like that down.”
Boswell said he signed an option agreement after being approached by a company interested in industrial development, but was never told what specific type of project might ultimately be built.
“I was approached about two years ago by a company that expressed interest in some type of industrial development there, and I did sign an option,” Boswell said. “There was never any discussion whatsoever about what that might be, and as of right now, I don’t have any specific information about anything they might be putting on there.”
He also disputed the notion that the documents establish a data center project.
“There’s a lot of speculation about a data center,” Boswell said. “I’m on a nondisclosure, but I can disclose that there’s nothing specific in that option that mentions a data center. When this option was done, these people came to me. There was never any discussion about anything that may or may not be there.”
Boswell characterized Marksberry’s conclusions as unsupported by the documents.
“Her statements are speculation. That’s all I’ll say,” he said.
ETX’s public statements offer additional context
ETX Upstream describes itself as a developer of land and power assets for large electricity users. According to the company’s website, it focuses on securing land, power and infrastructure necessary for major energy-intensive projects.
ETX Upstream’s public statements help explain why the company’s involvement has fueled speculation about data centers, while also aligning with OMU’s description of a potential power-generation project.
In May, Newmark Capital Markets announced it was partnering with ETX Upstream to market what it called the “Gallatin Data Center Portfolio” for recapitalization. Marketing materials referenced Kentucky and Mississippi sites with more than 1 gigawatt of power capacity and more than 1,000 acres and included Daviess County among the locations shown.
ETX Upstream CEO Matt Moreno shared the announcement on social media and described the Kentucky and Mississippi developments as the company’s flagship “Energy Hub” projects.
“Our ‘Energy Hub’ project strategy consists of multilateral development between load, utility, and generation stakeholders in these communities,” Moreno wrote.
He added that the projects are designed to provide “high voltage grid power for large load customers” through co-location with grid-connected generation resources.
Moreno did not identify a specific customer or project in Daviess County.
