By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Town of Davis Mayor Al Tomson hosted the second Davis Town Hall on Data Centers at the Davis Fire Hall Saturday, May 16th. At the event, speakers included representatives from Tucker United and Fundamental Data, the company behind the controversial proposed Ridgeline Power Plant project outside the towns of Davis and Thomas.
The meeting began with opening remarks by Mayor Al Tomson. He spoke about his parents’ life in pre and post war Estonia and Europe, as well as how America has always been a beacon of freedom. This anecdote he used to tie into his talk on HB 2014 and how he saw the law as stripping locals of their freedom, power and control. Tomson said he felt the law was unconstitutional and undemocratic, as well as he saw it as needing changed in the future.
“Politics are local, government is local,” Tomson said. “If you all have a problem, you’re knocking on the door of the Town Hall and the next thing you know, you and I are talking. You’re either telling me things are going great or there are some things you’re not happy with, but the further you get removed, the less we really have that political dialogue occurring. Not a lot of people drive down to Charleston to express their thoughts and feelings and even fewer go to Washington D.C.”
Beth Boehme of Tucker United spoke on the Harvard Study conducted on behalf of the citizen action group. She said that according to the study, the highest concentrations of particulate matter would be dispersed throughout the Davis, Thomas and Canaan Valley area, but it would also spread and impact Petersburg, Mt. Storm and even as far east as areas of Virginia.
Boehme said that the first major impacts would come to those with underlying respiratory issues such as asthma and COPD. The particulate matter released by the proposed plant, Boehme said, was a “well documented contaminant” that contributes to premature death. She also said that the area could see an increase in hospital admissions, a strain on the local healthcare providers with increases in patient needs and an overall increase in healthcare costs per year. Boehme emphasized that the DEP never said the power plant project was safe for the area, only that it “met requirements” and that the language was far different.
However, representatives from Fundamental Data, the company behind the Ridgeline Power Plant Project were on hand at the meeting and disputed the claims raised in the report and by Tucker United and other opponents of the project. Scott Wyland, an attorney by trade and representative of Fundamental Data, said that reports such as the Harvard study were often skewed and more PM 2.5 is released from wood burning stoves, fireplaces and gas furnaces than would be impacted by the new power plant due to the chimney proximity.
At the core of the project is the need for to produce power. Currently, the push from the government is for A.I. development, Wytland said, with China as the U.S.’s major competitor in the digital market. With the sudden surge for demand, the company saw an opportunity for what Wyland called “bring your own power.”
While the project is not designed to supply power to the grid, the “bring your own” design will supply power to other buildings. Currently, Wyland said when pushed, the plan is for data centers to be those buildings. However, should energy needs shift in the future, the plant could supply power to any industry. When asked who the data center buyer was, Wyland said he could not even disclose if there was even yet a buyer.
One of the largest points the representatives wanted to make clear to the group was the misconception in the public over the size of the proposed power plant. While it has long been reported that the plant would be a 1600 megawatt facility, it is in fact designed to be an 860 megawatt facility.
Wyland and Reynolds said that all environmental and other considerations have been well thought out and taken into account in the design process. While most modern Data Centers are air cooled, the power plant is designed to be a closed loop system which they said would mean minimal if no water impact on the aquifer and ground water. When asked where water sources would come from, the representatives said that issue was still to be sorted out, but that recycled water pumped from disused mines and treated prior to release into the environment was being considered as a viable option to avoid disruption to the local water systems. Any water released into the environment, Wyland said, would be returned to the temperature in which it was originally sourced prior to release.
When asked “why here?” Wyland and Reynolds provided many reasons. Top on the list was proximity to the Columbia natural gas pipeline. The representatives said that a natural gas plant needs gas in order to operate and the main fuel for the plant was natural gas. Diesel was only stored in two of the three tanks as a backup fuel. The third tank was being left empty as part of an emergency measure.
The project was also large, the representatives said. The project is slated to occupy 10,000 contiguous acres in Tucker and Grant Counties. The location was prime due to its available land, as well as its proximity to a key internet switching place 99 miles away, Wyland said. Favorable laws by the State also led into the company’s decision, though the representatives did state that paperwork and the project was started before HB 2014.
The project is slated to be composed of 1500 acres to data centers. An additional 300 acre complex will house the power generation plant and the balance of acreage will comprise solar generation.
The project, Wyland and Reynolds said, could bring as much as and estimated $27 million a year into Tucker County. That figure, the representatives said, was after the 70/30 split from the controversial law. Currently, the duo said, Tucker County currently has a budget of $8 million.
One of the points that Mayor Al Tomson has been putting forth since almost the beginning has been to move the plant. Wyland and Reynolds addressed this simply, it is matter of ground stability. Like much of West Virginia, Tucker County is built on a series of mine tunnels. The proposed site is one of the few sites that is not undermined. The ground is stable, that is one of the reasons it could not be 12 miles away. There is also an issue with impact on the watershed, should the plant move to the east, the representatives said.
The representatives agreed to keep the lines of communication open on a couple of issues that they were not familiar with such as that of a “Heat Island.” The issue was raised in response to the proposal of air cooled data centers that could create artificially hotter air than the surrounding communities. A heat island is defined as occurring when an area experiences significantly warmer temperatures than its surrounding areas due to human modification of the land surface, in some cases 15 to 20 degrees. However, it must be said, the effect is most commonly associated with urban communities. Another issue that will be communicated between the entities is that of salvage tax.
Wyland and Reynolds said that Fundamental Data plans a three phase project in the area. Tucker County is Phase One. Phase Two will be a second natural gas plant. However, Phase Three was confirmed to be explored as a possible nuclear facility for Grant County.
Wyland and Reynolds said that Fundamental Data acknowledges that a general dialogue with the community should have occurred sooner, but they felt it was better to wait until more concrete measures were in place, since plans are still fluid at this stage in the process. The representatives also stated that it was never the company’s intention to deceive the public through redactions and that they existed only for proprietary purposes. The representatives also said that they are committed to a dialogue with the community.
