Lexa

Researched: 2026-08-02 · Lead source: Brockovich AI Data Center community map (1 resident report, 2026-05-27) · ZIP demographics: 54.3% Black, pop 1,935 (Census ACS 2023, ZCTA 72355) · County: Phillips (roughly 60% Black — verify at census.gov/quickfacts/phillipscountyarkansas) Status: Resident-reported only — no data center found in Lexa itself as of 2026-08-02. Nearest real facility is a bitcoin mine ~10 miles south in Helena-West Helena.

This report is research, not legal, financial, real-estate, or investment advice.

0. Snapshot

Lexa is a tiny Arkansas Delta community in northern Phillips County — one of the poorest, Blackest counties in America. A pin in a place this small matters precisely because nobody else is documenting it. Here is the honest finding after a hard look:

• No data center or crypto facility was found sited in Lexa (ZIP 72355) itself as of 2026-08-02. No rezoning, land purchase, substation, or solar-plus-storage project tied to a data center was found for Lexa in any reachable public source. The single resident pin is best labeled: Resident-reported only — no public source found as of 2026-08-02.
• A demographic wrinkle worth stating plainly: the incorporated town of Lexa (~178–207 people) was 71.9% white at the last detailed census, but the broader Census ZIP area (ZCTA 72355), which sweeps in the surrounding rural Delta, is 54.3% Black. The majority-Black figure describes the countryside around Lexa, not the small town center.
• The nearest actual facility is in the same county: BlockOps, an Austin, Texas bitcoin-mining firm, has a mine at 129 N. Washington St., West Helena (Helena-West Helena), on the 168-acre former Dragon Woodland Sawmill site — ~10–12 miles south of Lexa. ~2,900 miners, 8 MW from Entergy, air-cooled (no water draw), ~$2M initial / ~$13.5M total investment, approved by the Helena-West Helena City Council in early 2025.
• Power/water context: utility is Entergy Arkansas; the Delta sits on the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, heavily over-pumped by irrigation, and Arkansas was ~89% in drought as of mid-2026.
• The silence is the story. A majority-Black rural ZIP with a resident pin and no public record is exactly the kind of place that gets built around before anyone notices. This report documents what exists so residents can watch for what comes next.

1. The Facility & Where It Sits

In Lexa (72355): No data-center or crypto facility, application, rezoning, or land assemblage was found as of 2026-08-02. Lexa is a ~0.4-square-mile incorporated town in northern Phillips County, roughly halfway between Helena-West Helena and Marianna, created by the railroad and long in population decline (207 in 2020 → ~178 estimated 2025). (Wikipedia — Lexa; Encyclopedia of Arkansas, accessed 2026-08-02)

Nearest real facility — BlockOps bitcoin mine, Helena-West Helena (same county, ~10–12 miles south):

• Operator: BlockOps, a cryptocurrency-mining and hosting firm based in Austin, Texas.
• Site: 129 N. Washington St., West Helena, AR, on 168 acres formerly the Dragon Woodland Sawmill Corporation lumberyard.
• Size: ~2,900 bitcoin miners (half BlockOps, half external clients), 8 MW allotted by Entergy; ~$2 million in initial energy-infrastructure renovation, ~$13.5 million projected total once hardware is installed.
• Cooling: air-cooled with fans — deliberately designed for no impact on the local water supply, a choice made because of the city's recent water-system troubles.
• Status: presented to and approved by the Helena-West Helena City Council in early 2025 (reported 2025-03-06). (arkansasonline; Citizen Portal, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Note: a separate "Helena Bitcoin Mining" web presence and a "BTC Farms – West Helena" listing exist; whether these are the same operation as BlockOps or distinct was not confirmed as of 2026-08-02.

The border — where it sits

• The documented facility is in Helena-West Helena, not Lexa. Helena-West Helena is 71.9% Black with a 31.7% poverty rate — a deeply Black, deeply poor Delta county seat. The mine is a warehouse/industrial reuse of an old sawmill, not a residential-neighborhood siting.
• Lexa itself has no known facility. If a data center or crypto mine is ever proposed near Lexa, the likely draw would be Entergy distribution and cheap Delta land — the same recipe that landed BlockOps in West Helena and Google across the river in West Memphis.

2. Public Hearings & Notices

For Lexa: none found — there is no known project to hear.

For the county's documented facility (BlockOps, Helena-West Helena):

Upcoming: No Lexa or Phillips County hearing on any data-center/crypto matter was found as of 2026-08-02. Watch the Phillips County Quorum Court and the Helena-West Helena City Council (Section 8).

3. Power

• Serving utility: Entergy Arkansas. For the West Helena crypto mine, Entergy engineers said the city could allot 8 MW, with a ~60-day lead time to upgrade distribution.
• Crypto tariff: Entergy offered the miners a special low energy charge of roughly three-quarters of a cent to a little over a penny per kWh — versus 10–11 cents/kWh for residential power. This cheap-power-for-miners arrangement is the key economic driver and a fair thing for residents to question. (arkansasonline, accessed 2026-08-02)
• For Lexa: no data-center load, substation, or large-load agreement was found. Entergy Arkansas is the presumptive provider if anything is ever built.
• On-site generation: none found.

4. Water & Drought

• No facility water draw in Lexa (nothing is built). The nearby West Helena crypto mine is air-cooled by design and reported to use no local water — a notable contrast with liquid-cooled AI data centers.
• Aquifer: the Arkansas Delta sits on the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer (MRVA), one of the most heavily pumped aquifers in the nation, drawn down mostly by row-crop irrigation. Any future liquid-cooled data center here would land on an already-stressed system. (USGS / data.gov MRVA, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Local water system: Helena-West Helena has had water-system troubles in recent years (the reason BlockOps chose air cooling) — a sign the local municipal water infrastructure is fragile.
• Drought: as of 2026-06-09 roughly 89% of Arkansas was under drought conditions. Check Phillips County live at droughtmonitor.unl.edu. (plantmaps AR, accessed 2026-08-02)

5. Population & Who Lives Here

• ZIP 72355 (ZCTA): 54.3% Black, pop 1,935 (Census ACS 2023) — this figure includes the rural Delta area around Lexa.
• Town of Lexa: ~178–207 people; last detailed census composition ~71.9% white / ~26.3% Black — the town center is whiter than its surrounding countryside. (Wikipedia — Lexa, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Phillips County: roughly 60% Black; one of the poorest counties in Arkansas (~30% poverty). County seat Helena-West Helena is 71.9% Black with a 31.7% poverty rate and steep, ongoing population loss. (worldpopulationreview — Helena-West Helena; Wikipedia — Phillips County, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Historical context: this is the heart of the Arkansas Delta — plantation-economy history, decades of disinvestment and out-migration, cheap land and cheap power. That combination is exactly what draws crypto and data-center developers to places with little capacity to negotiate.
• Documented health burden tied to a facility: none — nothing is operating in Lexa.

6. Money — Abatements, Incentives, Jobs

• For Lexa: no incentive, abatement, or PILOT found (no project).
• For the West Helena crypto mine: the city projected roughly $105,000 per year in added sales-tax revenue. Permanent jobs at bitcoin mines are typically very few (a mine is mostly racks and fans, lightly staffed). Ask BlockOps and the city for the actual permanent-headcount and local-hire numbers. (arkansasonline, accessed 2026-08-02)
• The broader money question for the Delta: the value a crypto mine captures is cheap subsidized power (sub-penny kWh) and cheap land; the value it returns to a poor county is a modest sales-tax bump and few jobs. That trade is worth scrutiny anywhere it appears in Phillips County.

7. Community Reaction & News Coverage

• For Lexa: no news coverage, opposition, or organized activity found — consistent with there being no project. The absence of any public record is itself the finding for a majority-Black rural ZIP.
• For the West Helena crypto mine: coverage came from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (arkansasonline.com / nwaonline.com) and Citizen Portal; Arkansas Business has covered Delta "data mines" more broadly ("Data Mines and the Loud Buzz of Money"). No organized opposition or lawsuit specific to the BlockOps mine was found as of 2026-08-02 — though bitcoin-mine noise has driven organized pushback elsewhere in Arkansas (e.g., Cave City) and in nearby states, which is the risk to watch if any mine expands. (Arkansas Business; KATV — Cave City, accessed 2026-08-02)
• Local outlets to watch: Arkansas Times, Arkansas Advocate, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and the Helena/Phillips County community press (the historic Helena World).

8. Find Out For Yourself

Town

Town of Lexa — small incorporated town (mayor–council). Contact information was not published on a reachable official site as of 2026-08-02; reach Lexa through Phillips County below, or ask the County Clerk for the town's meeting schedule.

County — the main door

Phillips County (county seat: Helena-West Helena) — phillipscounty.org (verify) · County Courthouse, 620 Cherry St, Helena, AR 72342.

• Ask the County Clerk / Quorum Court for any data-center or crypto-mine applications, land rezonings, or Entergy large-load notices anywhere in the county, and the meeting schedule.

City (nearest documented facility)

City of Helena-West Helena — Mayor Joseph Whitfield; City Hall, 98 Missouri St, Helena, AR 72342 (verify address/phone on the city site).

• Ask about the BlockOps approval file, any noise ordinance, and whether more crypto/data load is being sought.

Utility & state

Entergy Arkansas — entergyarkansas.com · ask about the crypto/large-load tariff, any new substation or distribution upgrades in northern Phillips County near Lexa, and how large-load deals affect residential rates. Arkansas Public Service Commission — apsc.arkansas.gov · search dockets for any Entergy large-load or special-rate filing touching Phillips County.

Five questions worth asking on the phone

1. To the County Clerk / Quorum Court: Has anyone applied to rezone land or requested large electric load for a data center or crypto mine anywhere in Phillips County, including near Lexa?
2. To Entergy Arkansas: Are there any pending large-load or substation upgrades in the Lexa / northern Phillips County area?
3. To Helena-West Helena: How many permanent local jobs did the BlockOps mine actually create, and is there a noise ordinance covering it?
4. To the County: If a data center or crypto mine is proposed near Lexa, what public notice and hearing would residents get?
5. To the APSC: Where can Phillips County residents file comments on any Entergy large-load or crypto tariff?

9. If You're Thinking About Moving Here

Neutral read, given what is documented:

• There is no data center in Lexa today. As of 2026-08-02 the resident pin is not corroborated by any public facility, permit, or land record. That is genuinely good news for anyone worried about air, noise, or water from an operating site here.
• But the Delta is being prospected. Cheap land, cheap Entergy power, and eager local governments have already drawn a bitcoin mine to Helena-West Helena and a $4B Google campus across the river in West Memphis. A place like Lexa could be approached with little warning and little public process.
• Water. You are on a drought-stressed alluvial aquifer, and the nearest county water system (Helena-West Helena) has had reliability troubles. Any future liquid-cooled facility would be a real water question; the existing crypto mine was deliberately air-cooled to avoid that.
• Power bills. The pattern to watch is sub-penny power for miners/data centers versus 10–11 cents for residents — ask who ultimately pays for distribution upgrades.
• What's unresolved: simply whether the resident pin reflects something in early planning that isn't yet public. The single most useful thing a resident can do is call the County Clerk and Entergy and ask the questions in Section 8.

If you're considering moving to or staying in 72355, the practical step is to watch the Phillips County Quorum Court and Entergy for any large-load or rezoning activity, and to treat the West Helena crypto mine as the nearby template for how these deals get done in the Delta.

10. Sources

All accessed 2026-08-02.

1. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / arkansasonline — "Bitcoin mining operation in Helena-West Helena approved by city council" (2025-03-06) — https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2025/mar/06/bitcoin-mining-operation-in-helena-west-helena/
2. NWA Democrat-Gazette — same story — https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/mar/06/bitcoin-mining-operation-in-helena-west-helena/
3. Citizen Portal — "Bitcoin-mining firm BlockOps presents plan to renovate Helena lumberyard, requests city approval" — https://citizenportal.ai/articles/6027997/Bitcoin-mining-firm-BlockOps-presents-plan-to-renovate-Helena-lumberyard-requests-city-approval
4. Arkansas Business — "Data Mines and the Loud Buzz of Money" — https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/145105/data-mines-and-the-loud-buzz-of-money
5. KATV — "Cave City citizens push back on cryptomine being built near their town" (noise-opposition precedent) — https://katv.com/news/local/cave-city-citizens-push-back-on-cryptomine-being-built-in-their-town-meeting-dumb-kids-locals-artemis-technologies-arkansas-blockchain-council-power-requirements-bitcoin
6. Wikipedia — Lexa, Arkansas (population, demographics, location, ZIP) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexa,_Arkansas
7. Encyclopedia of Arkansas — Lexa (Phillips County) — https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/lexa-phillips-county-7185/
8. Wikipedia — Phillips County, Arkansas — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_County,_Arkansas
9. worldpopulationreview — Helena-West Helena, Arkansas (demographics, poverty, mayor, decline) — https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/arkansas/helena-west-helena
10. USGS / data.gov — "Groundwater withdrawal zones … Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer" — https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/groundwater-withdrawal-zones-for-drinking-water-from-the-mississippi-river-valley-alluvial
11. PlantMaps — Arkansas current drought conditions (2026-06-09) — https://www.plantmaps.com/en/us/state/arkansas/current-drought-conditions
12. U.S. Drought Monitor — Arkansas — https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?AR
13. Entergy Arkansas — https://www.entergyarkansas.com
14. Arkansas Public Service Commission — https://apsc.arkansas.gov