DAVIS, W.Va. — The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved an air quality permit for a data center in Tucker County.
The DEP said Virginia-based Fundamental Data LLC has met the requirements to receive a permit.
The agency has classified the gas-turbined powered operation as a minor source facility that will stay below what emissions levels allowed for larger facilities.
Tyler Cannon, of West Virginia Citizen Action Group climate coordinator, said the approval is “concerning.”
“Despite the swift organizing that people did in Tucker County around this issue, providing over 16-hundred comments to DEP in opposition to the facility being located right outside of Davis, right beside the elementary school, despite 300 people showing up for an-person hearing up there from two small towns, the DEP moved forward in issuing the permit,” Cannon said Tuesday on MetroNews Midday.
Cannon said the DEP has said it won’t be swayed by emotional public comments.
They said they do not make decisions on permits based on public interest or public health conditions—they make permitting decisions on how compliant they are with federal and state laws,” Cannon said.
The DEP said the Tucker County facility operating as a synthetic minor facility would not put in danger popular outdoor areas like Dolly Sods and Blackwater Falls.
Cannon said one of those concerns about the Tucker County project and the data center projects being proposed for Mingo County are what’s not known about the plans.
The proposed data center comes after state lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year to encourage data centers. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed the bill into law on May 1.
The new law (HB 2014) lays out a Certified Microgrid Program and a High Impact Data Center Program for West Virginia, aiming to attract and support these industries.
Morrisey and his administration have touted the bill’s focus on data centers, the physical facilities that house computer structures like servers and storage.
Fundamental Data said it hopes to have the data center operating by 2027 or 2028.