Town hall meeting scheduled to discuss proposed Google data center in Putnam County – WV MetroNews

BUFFALO, W.Va. –The Buffalo community and surrounding areas will have the opportunity to discuss next steps in opposing a proposed data center Friday evening.

It was announced in late March by Governor Patrick Morrisey that Google had purchased 1,700 acres of land on both sides of Route 62 in Buffalo to construct a new data center. The site—on the opposite end from the Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia plant—was considered attractive due to Appalachian Power’s existing 765-kV transmission line that runs through the property.

Individuals will meet at Buffalo Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. to discuss community concerns and determine next steps.

“At the moment, it just feels like everyone is upset, but we don’t have a clear plan of action, we don’t know where to direct our concerns, so hopefully we can come together to just ensure that we’re raising a unified voice, with clear goals and a consistent message,” Heather Ransom, meeting organizer and Pliny resident, said on MetroNews Midday Thursday.

Ahead of the meeting, Ransom discussed some of the questions surrounding the proposed data center.

“If I had to kind of sum them up, the lack of transparency, the potential financial burden, and then of course the health and environmental impact from various types of pollution,” she said.

Google said it is committed to covering the cost of any infrastructure needed to operate the center, including water, sewer, and electrical transmission.

The data centers coming to West Virginia are the result of House Bill 2014, which created the Power Generation and Consumption Act. The law established the certified microgrid program to promote economic development and attract high-impact data centers.

Ransom said there are questions surrounding this particular data center, as well as data centers in general, due to a lack of regulation.

“There’s lots of questions about this facility in particular, but there are plenty of questions around AI data center’s more generally, and there aren’t adequate studies, there’s no clear regulation, there’s this rush to get them built and it seems irresponsible at best,” she said.

The community had the opportunity to voice its opinions to the Putnam County Commission during its April 14 meeting.

Ransom said a range of individuals with diverse backgrounds spoke.

“There were a lot of different concerns, so I certainly can’t represent all of them,” she said. “I know there was one gentleman who spoke who was very well versed in the actual technology around the data center and the implications kind of at a larger scale at what AI can actually result in.”

During that meeting, Commission President Andy Skidmore stated that the available acreage could accommodate up to four data centers.