Visit by State Official Raises Hopes of Moving Data Center Complex
WV deputy secretary of commerce met with Tucker County leaders and pledged to help address concerns about a proposed power plant and data center facility
A high-ranking state official agreed to get involved in discussions over a proposed power plant and data center complex near Davis and Thomas, raising hopes that the site of the facility might ultimately be moved to a different location within the county.
Davis Mayor Al Tomson said he is “80 to 90 percent” confident that the site of the proposed facility will be moved after he and other local leaders met Wednesday with Nick Preservati, the West Virginia deputy secretary of commerce.
“We want to protect tourism. We want to protect our health and our natural environment,” Tomson said. “They heard us.”
A spokesman for Gov. Patrick Morrisey offered a more restrained take on the private meeting, noting, “while it was a very positive conversation, moving the location of the data center was not discussed or agreed to.”
Preservati, the second-ranking official in the West Virginia Department of Commerce, drove to Davis to attend the meeting at the town hall. The state Department of Commerce oversees the process for certifying data center facilities for “microgrid” status, which shields such developments from local control and entitles them to expedited regulatory approval at the state level.
Preservati, who also is director of the Office of Energy, was appointed to his state positions by the governor.
Long meeting
Tomson said he believes the best option to address environmental and health concerns is to move the site of the proposed power plant several miles east, near the Mount Storm power plant. It would still be in Tucker County, meaning the county wouldn’t lose its share of the property tax revenue from the facility, and the jobs created would still be readily accessible to local residents, Tomson said.
He mailed a letter Dec. 8 to the secretary of commerce, which led to the three-hour meeting Wednesday in Davis. The letter expressed a number of concerns with a law passed earlier this year to expedite the approval of large data centers, including a lack of local control, and inadequate safeguards for the environment and the health of local residents.
At the meeting, Preservati agreed to engage in discussions with Fundamental Data, the company seeking to build the proposed power plant, as well as Western Pocahontas Properties, which owns the site where the facility would be located.
Tomson expressed optimism that those discussions will ultimately result in a different location for the facility.
Upbeat assessment
Thomas Mayor Jody Flanagan also attended the meeting Wednesday, and left feeling upbeat about what he heard.
“It was a really productive meeting. We’re getting everybody on the same page. It’s a great thing that happened today,” Flanagan said. “We all came up with the same goal — we want what’s best for the county and the state.”
Two representatives of Tucker United, a local group formed to oppose the data center complex and promote other forms of economic development, attended the meeting. Cris Parque, a representative of Tucker United, said the group had no comment following the meeting, adding, “conversations are ongoing.”
Steve Leyh, executive director of the Tucker County Development Authority, attended the meeting. He declined to comment for this story. County Commission President Mike Rosenau also attended. He did not respond to a call seeking comment.
(Mat Cloak contributed to this story.)
