After a proposal to build a data center in Nottingham stoked fierce backlash, the town’s planning board is holding a special meeting Wednesday to further discuss the topic.
What happened in Nottingham?
Thomas Moulton, the Seacoast entrepreneur, proposed converting a vacant warehouse on Route 4 into a data center to the Nottingham planning board in May, which was first reported by InDepthNH.
In the days leading up to the planning board meeting, a petition online garnered more than 25,000 signatures.
Moulton withdrew his application hours before the meeting last Wednesday, where he was slated to discuss the proposal.
He cited the fierce criticism from local residents, which included a planned protest outside the meeting.
Protestors still gathered outside the meeting on May 27, and dozens of residents spoke out against data centers during the meeting’s public comment section.
What caused public pushback to the data center?
Kristen Lamb, who serves on the town’s conservation committee and master plan update subcommittee, said she was concerned about water quality impacts, increased electricity bills and noise pollution. She said Nottingham residents care deeply about protecting the natural landscape.
“We have a history of prioritizing our natural history, our natural resources and water quality” she said.
Numerous studies have found the energy consumption of data centers could place a serious strain on water infrastructure and power grids.
Plus, Lamb argued that building a data center would violate the town’s zoning ordinances.
In the days leading up to last week’s meeting, Lamb spoke out online and wrote letters detailing her concerns to the planning board and Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
What does state law say?
Data centers have become an increasingly hot-button issue in state legislatures across the country.
In New Hampshire, Democratic legislators introduced Senate Bill 439 earlier this year, which would have created a statewide definition of data centers and granted local municipalities more authority over regulating them. Sen. Debra Altschiller co-sponsored the bill.
“[Building data centers is] one of the fastest growing and, quite frankly, most disruptive forms of industrial development in the country,” said Altschiller. “It’s something brand new, and we can’t treat the development of AI data centers as if it is just any other kind of manufacturing.”
In a Senate committee in January, Sen. Timothy Lang, a Republican, introduced an amendment that pushed the legislation in the opposite direction.
“Basically, what the amendment does is rewrite the bill,” he said during the committee meeting on Jan. 20. The amended bill would instead limit towns’ ability to regulate data centers, and allow them in commercial and industrial zones.
The amended bill passed the House Committee on Municipal and County Government along party lines on May 5.
However, it died in a bipartisan floor vote in the House, 304-11, meaning there was no real movement in state laws or regulations on data centers this year.
“Municipalities are left with whatever they have in place right now, today,” said Altschiller. “And it’s not a whole lot.”
Democrats in the House also introduced a bill that would prohibit building data centers in the state and create a committee to study their environmental impact. It failed in committee.
What happens now?
Despite Moulton’s withdrawal, Kristen Lamb said he could still reintroduce the proposal in the future or another developer could try a similar plan, so she and other residents are continuing their fight.
“Our town is interested in moving forward with a moratorium or exploring what we can do to make it explicit that data centers or any kind of commercial industry that has that kind of impact on our water, residents income and way of life and wildlife doesn’t get passed,” she said.
The planning board’s workshop meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on June 3 at the town office building.
