CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Gray DC) – — Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced $4 billion in private investment to build data centers across West Virginia, but the plan faces pushback from residents concerned about rising electricity costs and resource consumption.

The West Virginia State Legislature opened the door for data center development in 2023, with a plan promising 30% of funds would stay in host counties.

“We have a framework that will help make West Virginia not only the best state to open a data center… but best for consumers as well,” Morrisey said.

Resource and cost concerns

Critics say each data center will consume between 1 and 5 million gallons of water daily, employ fewer than a dozen people and strain the power grid.

Morrisey said the law bars passing costs to consumers.

However, a Carnegie Mellon report shows electricity costs in communities around data centers are expected to spike nearly 25% by 2030. The explosion of data centers nationwide will drive up electricity bills by an average of 8% even for those not near a facility.

Limited lifespan

The lifespan of a data center averages 15 years. By year 25, they are considered obsolete.

There are currently plans for eight data centers across West Virginia. Morrisey said he is listening to those communities.

West Virginia’s welcome signs were changed from “Wild and Wonderful” to “Open for Business” in 2006.

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The Department of Biology invites the community to join its spring ephemeral wildflower walk Sunday (April 12) at the Core Arboretum.

The free guided walks will begin at noon, 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. 

The walks will take place each Sunday in April.

Find more information and register to attend.

Last year, more than 45 species of plants were seen in bloom over the course of the wildflower walks.

Individuals are also welcome to visit and see the flowers on their own. Information on how to find and  identify the flowers are available at the kiosk.

Those who wish to schedule a group tour outside of the regular schedule or would like to become a volunteer guide, should contact Zach Fowler, WVU Core Arboretum director, at zfowler@mail.wvu.edu. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia University has welcomed back its beloved Research Week for its eighth year.

Research Week at WVU was created to highlight the research efforts of students, faculty and staff across the school’s three campuses and to thank them for helping create the R1 institution’s household name.

Monday kicked off the week with award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author and historian John M. Barry as a keynote speaker in a conversation “on the power of storytelling to shape public understanding, inform policy, and influence how science is understood in public life,” according to WVU.

One of the events that took place on Tuesday was the Core Facilities showcase held in the Health Science Center, which featured 30 different displays of research.

12 News spoke with WVU Core Resources Director Karen Martin on why it was important to feature the university’s research projects in this way.

“This is going to be professional development for them so that they can learn the skills that they can then take, not only to do their research now, but that they can take with them for jobs in the future. And we’ve got the cutting-edge, greatest technologies out there, so they’re really competitive, they’ve got good skills when they leave here. And we study everything from diabetes, cancer, neuroscience, just a whole range of everything that we study, and so students really get a lot of opportunities to learn, to understand how the technology works, and they’ve got that to take with them,” Martin said.

Research Week will continue all across WVU until Friday. You can find a full list of events and virtual seminars on the university’s website here.