By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
CHARLESTON November 5th, the Attorney for Tucker United, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club went up against the Attorney for Fundamental Data to give their arguments before the West Virginia Air Quality Board in an Evidentiary Hearing closed to the public. Outside, Tucker United assembled a protest against the proposed Ridgeline Power Plant facility that drew support from across the State.
Tucker United member Zina Raye was on hand at the protest. Raye said she was uplifted by the support the rally had drawn, despite its midweek schedule.
“Its good that people care and that people showed up despite being the middle of the week, workday” Raye said. “I think it shows importance, that people do care about this location.”
Raye, one of Tucker United’s experts on the proposed project, said that she felt that should the project move forward, it would be better suited paired in the vicinity of the existing Mount Storm Power Plant.
“Personally, if they do build this Power Plant next to Mount Storm, create an energy cluster, create a good foundation to expand energy in that corner,” Raye said. “I think it would be very short sighted if they utilized the location they proposed.”
Protester Judy Hamilton said she felt that she agreed with many in the crowd, that data centers did not belong in West Virginia. Hamilton went on to say that she felt the state was being used.
“Tucker County is not the right place,” Hamilton said. “I don’t think any-place in West Virginia is the right place. I think that West Virginia is just being used by once again out-of-staters with an interest in making fast money at the cost of our people.”
Diane Pendleton, of Charleston, said she was there to support those from Tucker County who were defending West Virginia’s natural beauty.
“I’m here in solidarity with all of these nice community members that protect West Virginia beauty,” Pendleton said. “I think we’re number one in the country with our natural beauty and we need to keep that in mind.”
Some protesters, like Julianna Serafina, who grew up in Phillipi, but now lives in Charleston, own second homes in Tucker County. Serafina, who had been visiting Tucker County since the 1970’s she said, has owned a vacation home in Timberline since 2018.
“I think its really a tragedy to site this in Tucker County which depends on tourism as one of the main economic things,” Serafina said. “And I really question if data centers West Virginia really needs.”
Serafina went on to elaborate that she feels that House Bill 2014 left any local input stripped by the legislature.
“I just think its awful,” Serafina said. “I especially think its awful the way it was done with House Bill 2014, that the local input has basically been shut off by the legislature.”
Protester Marilee Hanemann said that she felt that AI will be a short term benefit for the State. According to Hanemann, long term benefit comes from the nature that is already here.
“The AI is (a) short term resource that is just going to make a mess, instead of providing long term benefit,” Hanemann said. “What’s already there is the benefit.”
Protester Bill Carlon said he visits Canaan Valley in the summers and likes to golf at the Canaan Valley course. Carlon said he feels that Tucker County is a wilderness area and should remain so. He also said he felt it is not industrial and was never meant to be so.
“You go up and you got close to a dark sky situation,” Carlon said. “They want to put in Power Plant. Its a big campus. All the lights, its going to ruin that.”
Carlon mentioned many of the challenges Tucker County wildernesses have faced over the years and yet has endured despite.
“Over the years, its been under siege,” Carlon said “The Sods used to be a bombing range, a practice bombing range, they wanted to flood the Valley at one point. There’s just so many that have threatened it over the years. This is just one more. Its persevered and it needs to. It needs to carry on.”
Quinton King, President of the West Virginia Environmental Council, an organization that represents groups across the State, including the Highlands Conservancy in the Legislature, was on hand at the protest to lend his support.
“Tucker County what it means to me is like one of many problems,” King said. “There are three data centers, so three massive power plants being proposed currently in different parts of the State. So using West Virginia for the brain power for AI that we don’t really need in the State, is really disheartening.”
King said that the fight Tucker United has taken on is one that Tucker County doesn’t need given other environmental battles organizations, such as the Go North Coalition in the County have faced over the last 40 years over projects such as Corridor H.
“Tucker County is a pristine area,” King said. “They have their own challenges fighting Corridor H for 40 years. This is just more of what they don’t need.”
King also said he foresees similar fights across the State. Tucker County, he said, is just the first.
“Tucker County is just the first of many counties that I think will be dealing with similar data center fights,” King said.
Peyton Levi of Barboursville was on hand for the rally. Levi said he mainly wanted to get more information and become more informed about the issues surrounding data centers. Levi said he felt that he thought that the State was rushing into the issue of data centers without really thinking it through about pollution and other adverse effects.
“We are people that care about the history of the State,” “We love to travel around. I’ve kind of understood that this data center plan that they started 10 years ago, I think they’re rushing it,” Levi said.
Levi said he had never been to a permit hearing before and was eager to learn more about what was going on.
“Its cool to be here at a permit hearing that I never been to anything like that before to just kind of sus out what’s really going on,” Levi said.
Kyra Wilson of Wayne County traveled to Charleston with Peyton Levi from the Huntington Area. She said she felt an optimism shared by Zina Raye that so many participants showed up for the protest.
“I feel very optimistic that people actually showed up today,” “Its really disheartening to hear that they want to put a data center in West Virginia, at all,” Wilson said.
While the protest began at 8 a.m., participants had begun to disband by 9 a.m. with all the protesters leaving by 9:15 a.m. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude in under two hours. The purpose of the hearing was only to hear motions. No witnesses were called.
A further evidentiary hearing is scheduled for December 3rd in Charleston.
