DAVIS, W.Va. — On Tuesday, the state Department of Environmental Protection approved an air quality permit for a data center coming to Tucker County.
The Virginia-based Fundamental Data LLC submitted the permit application, and the DEP determined the company met the necessary requirements. The DEP heard and read comments from over 1,600 residents about the process, many urging the department not to sign off on the permit.
Davis Mayor Al Tomson says he believes data centers, in general, are not a fundamentally bad thing to come to West Virginia, but the power plant that goes hand-in-hand with the data center is too close to residential areas.
“I think many of us recognize that data center and their associated power plants are necessary. They’re necessary for the country, they’re necessary for West Virginia. What we’re saying is we have issues with the location of where they want to put this particular power plant,” Tomson said Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Tomson says there are two different towns that will have affected residents.
“They want to put it less than a mile from residents in Davis and the City of Thomas. What we’re saying is — in many cases — it should be moved further away,” he said.
Another problem Tomson and many others from Tucker County have with the permit being granted is the fact that Fundamental Data classified the gas-turbined powered operation as a minor source facility.
He says one thing that was never done before the permit was approved was a study to see how the location of the plant would affect the residents living in close proximity to the center.
“Fundamental Data self-determined and said to the DEP that they’re a synthetic minor permit, and many of us take issue with that determination,” Tomson said. “The 80 largest power plants that are located in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey, of those 80, this is one of the largest ones. All of the other power plants were a major permit application, which has extra requirements for determining that they’re going to be safe for the community where they’re going to be located.”
Fundamental Data wants to have the full data center operational by 2027 or 2028.