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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
West Virginia: Stop trying to make data centers happen
A giant data center has been proposed to be located between Thomas and Davis, West Virginia, near tourist destinations like Blackwater Falls State Park. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch) When people refer to West Virginia as 'Almost Heaven,' we think of the beautiful, quiet scenic areas like Black Water Falls, Canaan Valley and Dolly Sods, all in Tucker County. However, our lawmakers just see money signs — and not very many of them. Gov. Patrick Morrisey recently signed into law House Bill 2014 — one of his key priorities — which created the state's microgrid program to encourage data centers to come to the Mountain State. Residents in Tucker County are already fighting a proposed data center. A Virginia company, Fundamental Data, has applied for an air permit from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for the 'Ridgeline Facility.' It includes an off-the-grid natural gas power plant between Thomas and Davis, which will likely power the giant data center proposed for a site just a mile away from the county's most heavily populated and tourist-attracting areas. A microgrid is a small power plant that is usually attached to a larger national grid, but runs independently to power things like a college campus, hospital complex or, in this case, a data center. West Virginia's new law allows 'high impact data centers' to curtail local zoning ordinances, meaning their microgrids don't have to attach to existing utilities. HB 2014, as requested by Morrisey, originally included provisions that would have required electric utilities with coal fired plants to operate at a higher capacity — 69% compared to 40% — and hold a 45-day supply of coal on hand at all times, while most only stockpile a 30-day supply. Lawmakers saw this bill as an opportunity to boost the state's coal industry, but power companies said it would be difficult to meet those standards. Not only that, but meeting those standards would have raised electricity rates for customers. The bill was amended dozens of times and passed without those standards, and Morrisey signed it into law. Now residents of Tucker County are worried about a proposed data center taking away from the serene beauty of their home. As someone who grew up in Poca just across the river from the coal-powered John E. Amos Power Plant, I understand why you wouldn't want a new one to pop up near your home. It's never quiet — you can hear the beep beep beep of equipment backing up all night and the banging of construction, and when the towers release steam, it sounds like the end of the world (at least it did when I first heard it as a child). And coal definitely keeps the lights on at the plant 24/7. In Virginia, which has the largest data center market in the world, there are local noise and lighting ordinances to protect residents. West Virginia residents won't have the same protections. My dad said during the 1970s, before air pollution was taken more seriously, ash from the John Amos plant would be all over the place in the mornings. Sometime in the 1990s, everyone on our street noticed spots on their cars that messed up the paint. My dad said the air pollution commission ran some tests on the spots that indicated they came from the power plant. It only happened that one time, dad said, but it was worrisome then and it's something to think about now as the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulations. For instance, the Department of Justice has been told to block states from enforcing their own regulations on coal — because President Donald Trump wants to revive 'beautiful, clean coal.' Not only are power plants loud, but data centers are as well. They create noise pollution, typically a low humming sound, which is the cooling system that must run constantly to keep the temperatures down. Many data centers also use a diesel powered back-up system in case they lose power, and those must be tested monthly. These generators can run between 85 and 100 dBA — 85 dBA is when hearing can be harmed. So why are we putting up with this noise? It must be because it'll bring lots of jobs to the state, right? Not likely. Data centers are just buildings full of computers, and are largely automated. You ever wonder where the stuff you save on the cloud is stored, where the computers that make AI art are or where bitcoin is mined? In a data center. Some facilities employ only 50 people. Most data center jobs come from the construction of the facilities, and are often contracted from out-of-state. Aside from data centers not bringing jobs, they could cost ratepayers more money. Virginia has proposed two transmission lines for their data centers, and the lines could cost West Virginians more than $440 million, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis The two transmission lines, both of which cut through West Virginia, were proposed to help with growing demand for electricity from data centers. PJM's transmission cost allocation methodology charges all ratepayers for the transmission infrastructure because it assumes that the 'regional transmission costs could not be attributed to a single new user or class of users.' However the most recent Regional Transmission Expansion Plan processes shows that's not the case. While West Virginia is trying to use Virginia as an example on data centers, the state isn't doing it the same way with regulations and protections. 'What you're going to get if you do it this way is the worst players, the ones that didn't need to be in Northern Virginia,' said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at Piedmont Environmental Council in Virginia. '… the players that are wanting that lack of regulations because they didn't want to abide by rules and didn't want to or need to protect communities, which is worse for West Virginia and the communities. What West Virginia is doing is not what Virginia is doing.' If lawmakers are serious about bringing data centers to the state, then they need to be serious about the consequences and set better regulations to protect residents who want to enjoy wild, wonderful West Virginia without noise cancelling headphones. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tucker United fighting construction of power plant and data center
DAVIS, (WBOY) — A community group called Tucker United held a public meeting in Davis on Sunday to discuss the ramifications of the proposed power plant between Davis and Thomas, and what can be done to stop the project. Roughly 100 people filed into St. John's Lutheran Church for the meeting. In a flier, Tucker United said it is against the development of the data center project anywhere in Tucker County. The group claims the project poses a threat due to possible air pollution, high water use that could further strain water sources, and impact on local tourism. Several times during the meeting, members of Tucker United said that the company Fundamental Data, who is behind the project, would not be 'good neighbors' and that the local area would reap few of the economic benefits of the project. Tucker United said that in its correspondence with Fundamental Data, the company would not discuss if the project would bring long-term jobs to the area. Furthermore, they say that under House Bill 2014, which was signed by Governor Morrisey last legislative session, 70% of the tax revenue would go to the state, leaving 30% to the county. 2nd Annual Appalachian Fly Fishing Festival returns to Thomas Among the group's frustrations with the data center project is the secrecy around it, including a 'highly redacted air quality permit' that they have been trying to get more details on. Local leadership and residents were both caught off guard by the proposed power plant, with many learning about the project through a notice posted in the local newspaper. Tucker United is trying to marshal community support, and various members of the community with relevant expertise spoke or were mentioned during the meeting, including a lawyer, an engineer, and a tech project manager. Zina Raye, who works as a project manager in northern Virginia and has had a lot of experience with data centers, connections with the Davis area and said she plans on retiring in Canaan Valley. In an interview with 12 News, she said that the data center would be of a massive scale and that its likely use is artificial intelligence (AI). Raye said that while she believes AI will be largely beneficial to society, she also believes in industry working with the local community when it comes to the building of data centers, which is what she said happened in her home in northern Virginia. 'I believe if public and private partnership exists, that's where you would find that optimal place for this data center. That's where you would take into consideration that West Virginia has this fledgling, wonderful eco-tourism industry, and you don't want to kill your existing industry.' Tucker United is also looking to enlist the support of local leaders and representatives. At the meeting, Mayor of Davis Al Tomson announced that the Davis Town Council adopted a resolution against building the data center next to Davis. Tucker United says it plans to go to the City of Thomas and the Tucker County Commission to make their case to them. Floated during the meeting was advocating for amending House Bill 2014 and creating different zoning ordinances. House Bill 2014 prohibits any county or municipality from enacting rules, laws, or ordinances that 'limit, in any way, the creation of, […] and operation of any certified microgrid district or certified high impact data center project.' Tucker United says that the law has serious implications for not just Davis, but communities throughout West Virginia. Member of Tucker United Shaena Crossland told 12 News, 'I just want to say that if you are a West Virginian, if this is your home, even if it's not and you come here, what is going on right now is really important. And you need to be informed. You need to be aware of what's going on and you need to fight back and take control.' 12 News recorded the majority of the two hour meeting, and you can watch it below. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘It will destroy this place:' Tucker County residents fight for future against proposed data center
A complex of data centers in Ashburn, Va. The city is located in Loudoun County, which has been dubbed 'Data Center Alley." (Gerville | Getty Images) As a child, Nikki Forrester dreamed of living in a cabin in the woods surrounded by mountains, trees, water and the outdoor opportunities that came with the natural land. In 2022 — four years after earning her graduate degree and moving to Tucker County from Pittsburgh — Forrester and her partner made that dream a reality when they bought two acres of land near Davis, West Virginia to build a home. Forrester has thrived in the small mountain town known for its mountain biking, hiking, stargazing, waterfalls and natural scenery. She and her partner moved into their new home in February. Hiking and biking trails are right outside her front door. In the winter, she said, snow piles up making the nearby mountains look like 'heaven on Earth.' It's been quite literally a dream come true. 'I feel like I've never felt at home so much before. I love being in the woods. I love this community. It's super cheesy, but this was my childhood dream and now it's actually come true,' Forrester said. 'It felt so good to set down roots here. We knew Davis was where we wanted to start our future.' But in March, one small public notice posted in the Parsons Advocate — noticed by resident Pamela Moe, who scrambled to find answers after seeing it — changed Forrester's assumptions about that future. A Virginia-based company, Fundamental Data, was applying for an air permit from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for what it called the 'Ridgeline Facility.' The company's heavily redacted application showed plans to build an off-the-grid natural gas power plant between Thomas and Davis. That power plant will likely be designed to power an enormous data center just a mile out from Tucker County's most populous and tourist-attracting areas. Earlier this month, representatives for Fundamental Data — who did not respond to requests for comment on this article — told the Wall Street Journal that the facility could be 'among the largest data center campuses in the world,' spanning 10,000 acres across Tucker and Grant counties if fully realized. Now, Forrester said, she and her neighbors are in the middle of what feels like a 'fight for [their] lives' as they attempt to learn more about the vague development plans and fight against 'big data.' Her images of the future — skiing on white snow, hiking through waterfalls, looking up at clear and starry nights all with one-of-a-kind mountain scenery below — now exist in the shadows of a looming natural gas plant, an industrial complex and the contaminants that could come with them. The fresh, mountain air that surrounds her home and community could be infiltrated by tons of nitrogen oxide (gases that contribute to smog), carbon monoxide, particulate matter and other volatile organic compounds, per the company's air permit application. 'Honestly, I feel like if this happens, it will destroy this place. People come here because it's remote, it's small, it's surrounded by nature. If you have a giant power plant coughing up smoke and noise pollution and light pollution, it puts all of those things in jeopardy,' Forrester said. 'It would honestly make me question whether I would want to live here anymore, because I do love the landscapes here so much, but they would be fundamentally altered and, I think, irreparably harmed if this actually comes to be.' Since learning of the project in March, Forrester and dozens of other Tucker County residents have banned together and formed Tucker United. The residents — all volunteers — want answers from Fundamental Data or anyone else regarding details of the proposed Ridgeline facility. But that fight hasn't been easy. The state DEP has allowed Fundamental Data — a company with little to no information publicly available — to submit a redacted air permit application, omitting details regarding potential air pollutants that could come from the site. According to reporting in Country Roads News, local officials were unaware of the project before reporters and members of the public brought it to their attention. Reading the Wall Street Journal article was the first time most residents were alerted about the potential size of the planned development. Josh Nease, who lives outside of Thomas and Davis in an unincorporated part of Tucker County, said the unknowns about the project have been the most frustrating part to grapple with. 'There's no lack of uncertainty right now, that's for sure,' said Nease, a sixth generation West Virginian who moved to Tucker County after spending vacations there as a child growing up in Bridgeport. 'I think the unknowns here are really worrying.' If given the chance, he would want to ask representatives of Fundamental Data the following questions: Why the lack of transparency? Why does the company want to locate in Tucker County and why not further out from the towns? And why does it feel like there's resistance against working with the local governments and community members? Luanne McGovern, an engineer by trade who owns property in Tucker County and who sits on the board of West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit in the region, holds similar frustrations to Nease. Per the permit application, the Ridgeline facility — in its currently proposed form — would use gas-fueled turbines with heat recovery steam generators. Diesel would be kept on site in three 10 million gallon storage tanks as a backup power source in case of gas line interruptions. Those tanks would be 66 feet tall and 180 feet in diameter. Leaks from pumps and valves, among other pieces of equipment, are to be expected per the application. Operations for the facility should begin by 2028. When residents started working together to make sense of Fundamental Data's air permit application, they asked McGovern to look it over and share her thoughts. Having worked on similar permit requests before, she knew what she was looking at: A large, natural gas power plant. What was more notable, however, was what she was unable to view. Pollutants were listed on the request, but only in annual caps. There was no information on water usage despite some data centers using up to 5 million gallons of drinking water a day, straining resources in communities. While the heights of the diesel storage tanks were included, she said information on the turbines wasn't. While the DEP asked for clarification on Fundamental Data's redactions following an influx of public comments from concerned residents, the company said it believed the omitted information met the state's standard for confidentiality. The DEP ended up agreeing. Fundamental Data, through its representative Casey Chapman, provided some details to the DEP in an attempt to put the public at ease: the site 'does not plan' to use water from local water systems, rivers or streams and won't discharge wastewater into them; mountains surrounding the development should 'substantially limit' its visibility from populated areas and the facility 'expects' to operate at noise levels that adhere with federal regulations. But McGovern still had questions. 'Where is the water coming from? How high are these turbines? Where will they be? If we had some answers to these questions, we could do some modeling and figure out what the potential environmental impact would be, but we don't,' McGovern said. 'We're just completely in the dark. There's so many unanswered questions. As an engineer, there's huge parts of this permit that are just bad. There's no information provided, not even a level of standard of information that you would expect.' Nease is realistic; he understands that these are complex issues and the state — as well as his region — are attempting to find new ways to bolster the economy and, hopefully, improve West Virginia's economic standings long term. He sees the challenges hitting Tucker County residents every day. There's a housing shortage and short-term rentals are driving up costs for the places that do exist, pricing out residents who can't afford to live where they work. While tourism can bring in crowds, it's often only seasonal. The county's population — like most of West Virginia — is declining. 'I fully understand the need to diversify the economy. I support doing that, we talk about it all the time. I guess I'm just not sure that a project like this is the solution,' Nease said. 'We just don't know enough about it. We don't know if this is going to benefit the Tucker County economy. I sure hope it does, but all I have to rely on for that are vague statements.' On March 18 — the same day that Fundamental Data submitted its air permit application to the DEP — House Bill 2014 was introduced at the state Legislature to incentivize data centers to locate in West Virginia and generate their own power sources through microgrids. Senate President Randy Smith, a Republican who represents Tucker County and voted for HB 2014, did not respond to requests for comment on this article. Despite being a key priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey who requested its introduction, the bill was presented more than halfway through the state's 60-day session. In back-and-forths over several weeks, lawmakers amended the bill again and again. One change removed a requirement for microgrids to use renewable energy sources, opening the door for coal and natural gas. Several other amendments changed the tax structure for any property taxes collected on the developments. The version of the bill that now stands as law allows 'high impact data centers' to curtail local zoning ordinances and other regulatory processes and establishes a certified microgrid program, which means data centers can produce and use their own power without attaching to already existing utilities. The law creates a specialized tax structure for data centers and microgrids, which must be placed in designated districts. Local governments have little say or control over those districts, which are established at the state level. Taxes collected on any data centers and microgrids operating in West Virginia would be split as so: 50% will go to the personal income tax reduction fund, 30% will go to the county where the data center is located, 10% will go to the remaining 54 counties split on a per capita basis using the most recent U.S. Census, 5% will be placed in the Economic Enhancement Grant Fund administered by the Water Development Authority and the final 5% will be put in the newly created Electric Grid Stabilization and Security Fund. Initially, those taxes were going to be completely diverted away from localities where the data centers would be located, angering county commissioners and other local leaders from throughout the state. Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the fact that 50% of any tax revenue collected going to offset the state's personal income tax cuts is a concern, especially while only 30% will return to localities that host the data centers. 'Local governments are really limited in the ways that they can raise revenue, which is largely controlled by either the state constitution or the state legislature. So taking away a significant slice of one of the only ways that they can raise revenue — through property taxes — leaves [localities] with fewer options to fund basic services,' Allen said. 'At the same time, these data centers and micro grids are probably going to increase the need for the public services that local governments pay for.' Allen pointed to the potential risks that come with operating power plants: county fire and police services will be needed for safety at the plants and water districts may be impacted, she said. Essentially, she said, counties will be on the hook for funding more services while only receiving a fraction of the revenue generated by the sources of those costs. And, generally, there's no guarantee — despite Fundamental Data's claims for the Tucker County facility — that data centers will serve as massive employers. Nationwide, according to the U.S. Census, jobs in data centers are increasing. But more than 40% of all jobs in 2023 existed in just three states. Per an analysis by Business Insider, most of the data center jobs available are only in construction and contracted from outside the places the centers are located. Data centers are largely automated. Microsoft, for example, employs just 50 people per a facility. In West Virginia — because of the inclusion of microgrids, which aren't mandated to be created for data centers — the picture could look different. But again, the lack of details from companies coming here makes the real impact difficult if not impossible to determine. Allen said she's wary of the state's potential reliance on data centers for a financial boom given the state's history of extraction-based economics. Like with the coal economy, residents across the state will bear the aesthetic, environmental and health costs associated with living near data centers and their power plants. Most of the profits, however, may not return to them, Allen said. 'It's not exactly identical to coal or natural gas or timber, but it feels extractive in the same way in that the benefits of the data center are borne by people outside of West Virginia, while the costs are borne by our residents,' Allen said. Nease said that while he wants to be 'pragmatic' about the potential for development in Tucker County, he can't help but think of the state's history in that regard either. 'I'm worried we're going to fall into that same trap again. It's an age old story — not just for West Virginia. Some people are going to benefit from this project, they just might not be here,' Nease said. 'The company will benefit, its [shareholders] will. But will we?' While state lawmakers spent hours this legislative session debating how to craft the state's new law to attract data centers, several couldn't stop thinking about — or mentioning — neighboring Virginia, where the development of large, high-impact data centers have boomed. Echoing sentiments shared by Morrisey through his 'Backyard Brawl' plan to compete with neighboring states economically, delegates — including Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, who sits on the House Committee on Energy and Public Works, where the bill passed — said they wanted to see data center development here thrive like it has in Northern Virginia. Loudoun County, Virginia has been dubbed 'Data Center Alley.' It's home to the largest data center market in the world. But that development didn't happen overnight, said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at Piedmont Environmental Council in Virginia. The industry started building in Northern Virginia in the 1990s and 2000s. Some of the largest data and internet providers at the time were located there. Over time, though, the market has changed. Bolthouse said what used to be small complexes organized like business parks — featuring restaurants, shopping, day cares and more for people who lived in the region — are now large campuses with few people, no outside amenities and mostly computers and software. And those 'hyper-scaled' complexes — in Virginia and beyond — haven't come without costs. The pollutants emitted by large centers are known to exacerbate respiratory problems and other health conditions. Residents nearby can hear the incessant buzzing and hums of the computers and generators at work. Light pollution, depending on the size and type of facility, can be impossible to ignore. But these issues — outside of the environmental ones — vary place to place because of local ordinances. 'That is like the only thing that's really protecting Virginia communities, because the only way that the people who live in these localities are able to get any kind of protection is because of noise ordinances, because of the lighting ordinances,' Bolthouse said. In West Virginia under HB 2014, residents won't have the same protections or powers due to the state's superseding of local ordinances. And now, decades into Virginia's ever changing data center sector, Bolthouse and other environmentalists are seeking more regulations on the state level since the nature of these data centers has changed so much over such a short period of time. 'That's the push we're seeing now — for the state to come in and add additional regulations, to look at the environmental impact,' Bolthouse said. 'No one is talking about taking away the ability of localities to regulate these facilities. I can't imagine that.' And while the landscape for data centers is evolving in Loudoun County and beyond, the reason so many large companies have decided to locate their centers in Northern Virginia goes back to the 1990s. The infrastructure for them to be developed, Bolthouse said, already existed — it wasn't newly created like West Virginia is attempting to do. 'There's such a robust fiber network here. These data centers are kind of like a gigantic global computer. They talk to each other, and so the closer they are to all the other cloud providers, the better,' Bolthouse said. 'When you put a data center here, your data is stored in Northern Virginia and you are in spitting distance to [Amazon], Google, Microsoft, all the big co-locators … probably every big business has an operation here in Northern Virginia. So it's like the Wall Street of the data center industry. That's why they want to locate here.' Bolthouse warned that without regulations, without protections and without the advantages that Virginia has through its location and infrastructure, West Virginia could be attempting to enter a new sector by inviting in the 'worst players.' 'What you're going to get if you do it this way is the worst players, the ones that didn't need to be in Northern Virginia … the players that are wanting that lack of regulations because they didn't want to abide by rules and didn't want to or need to protect communities, which is worse for West Virginia and the communities,' Bolthouse said. 'What West Virginia is doing is not what Virginia is doing.' She said West Virginia needs to look at the assets it already has, not the assets others in the sector have worked with for decades. Those assets, in Bolthouse's words, are the same things that made Forrester feel like her childhood dreams were coming true when she built a home in Tucker County: the state's 'beautiful mountains, its rivers, its natural beauty and outdoor opportunities.' 'That's what West Virginia should be leveraging. The state shouldn't be trying to get something that another state has already secured the market on,' Bolthouse said. 'I don't know that West Virginia can become the next Data Center Alley. I don't think that's actually feasible … You're trying to basically have a race to the bottom, and you're only going to get the worst players.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Questions and concerns raised over proposed Davis power plant
DAVIS (WBOY) — More than 200 people attended a Davis town hall meeting Sunday afternoon to discuss a proposed power plant in the Davis and Thomas area. The sentiment of the proposed 500-acre facility was largely negative, with residents and non-residents citing concerns over pollution, water usage, health risks, noise pollution and light pollution. However, one of the biggest sticking points is the apparent secrecy around the project. Both residents and officials were caught off guard by the power plant. Davis Mayor Alan Tomson said he and county officials learned about the project just 10 days before the meeting. What we know about the proposed power plant in Tucker County Several pieces of information in an air quality permit application, like how much fuel the turbines at the plant would use and projected amounts of pollutants they would create, were redacted. Fundamental Data, the company behind the power plant, also has no internet presence and is essentially a complete unknown. 'It is part of the plan and part of the design that we don't have answers to fundamental questions,' one person said during the town hall. 'Otherwise, there would not be wholesale redactions.' The application for the power plant was filed the same day that House Bill 2014 was introduced to the West Virginia House of Delegates. The bill explicitly prohibits any county or municipality from enacting rules, laws or ordinances that 'limit, in any way, the creation of, […] and operation of any certified microgrid district or certified high impact data center project.' HB 2014 was signed into law on Saturday, the day before Davis' town hall took place. Now, Davis, Thomas, and any other community in West Virginia will find their ability to fight or prevent other microgrids severely restricted. 'I want to ask [state legislators] if they have so little disregard for local opinion. That people, local leaders were not involved in the process whatsoever,' Mayor Tomson told 12 News in an interview. 'To be able to take all control and authority away from the local leadership when you have really impactful projects that are going into those local areas.' 12 News recorded the entire two and a half hour meeting; you'll be able to find that recording at the bottom of this story on Monday evening. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
