the time, Davis Mayor Al Tomson said.
By: Lydia Crawley – The Parsons Advocate
Davis Mayor Al Tomson announced that he toured a power plant similar to the one proposed for construction between Davis and Thomas. The announcement was made on Wednesday to Facebook. Tomson later spoke with the Parsons Advocate about his trip to Virginia. The trip seemed to be in direct response to Tucker County Commissioner Fred Davis’ recent tour of Data Center sites in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
“I visited a power plant, Commissioner Fred Davis visited data centers. Power plants and data centers are night and day different. One cannot compare data centers with a large noxious power plant!” Tomson said.
In the post, Tomson said he traveled to Virginia on Wednesday to “better understand the potential impact of such a facility on our community.” The Leesburg, VA facility, according to Tomson was similar in concept, but smaller to the Ridgeline Power Plant proposed for Tucker County.
The post outlined that the Potomac Energy Center operated on two natural gas turbines that produced a total of 778 megawatts of power. The facility was constructed three years ago, employs state-of-the-art emissions controls, plume reduction technology and a closed water cooling system. The post also states that the facility was recently sold to a new owner for approximately $1 billion.
Tomson said that he researched the power requirements for data centers and found that the proposed plant could support up to 300 centers. Given the land proposed for the project of 10,000 acres or 15 square miles, Tomson said “there is a chance” the project could work.
“I did some Googling this afternoon,” Tomson said. “AI basically says that a data center can use anywhere from five to 10 Megawatts of power. So given the size of the power plant, we could have anywhere from 150 to 300 data centers.”
The project, if completed, Tomson said, could stretch across the mountain from Davis and Thomas to Mettiki. Tomson said it will change the mountain forever.
“That would change the complexity of this location completely,” Tomson said.
However, Tomson said that he did not get to physically tour the plant itself. According to Tomson, he was only able to view the plant from behind the fence that surrounded the property. His visit was during the morning, at approximately 9:30 or 10 a.m., Tomson said that he was able to view the property from the community standpoint and got community input on the impact the facility has had.
“I only saw it from outside the fence and I got to listen and see and I talked to some people in a coffee shop,” Tomson said. “And that is where I got the local input, what they think, which they are not exactly keen for emissions reasons more than anything and light.”
During his travels, Tomson said he spoke with locals who claimed that the facility generated a low hum that could be heard for miles, especially at night when traffic noise is diminished. Other complaints, Tomson said, included light pollution at night and a reoccurring dust like residue on vehicles and home surfaces similar to pollen.
When compared to the proposed Ridgeline facility, Tomson states that the Davis plant would employ the use of seven turbines compared to two at the Leesburg facility. The output at the Davis plant would be more than double that of Leesburg at 1,600 megawatts.
The fuel sources would also differ greatly between the facilities, Tomson states. The Leesburg facility operates strictly on natural gas. However, Tomson said, the proposed plant in Davis is slated to burn diesel fuel approximately 30% of the time.
Tomson’s post also states that Fundamental Data, the company behind the Ridgeline project, has provided no meaningful information on emission controls, plume mitigation, water source, usage or discharge.
Tomson states he was concerned with the scale of the project and its proximity to Davis and Thomas, as well as air quality issues so close to Davis Thomas Elementary Middle School. Tomson also stated that he was concerned with residents and visitors being exposed to air pollution from the facility.
“There’s no question the plant could bring revenue and jobs,” Tomson said. “But at what cost – to our health, our quality of life, and our tourism-based economy?”
Fundamental Data was contacted for comment on the project, but has not as yet returned calls or issued a statement to the Parsons Advocate.
