The Nodaway County Commission is weighing three options regarding a moratorium on large-scale projects, Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker told a group of around 25 people gathered at the regular County Commission meeting Thursday. The attorney retained by the county, the City of Maryville, and the Rural Water District spoke to commissioners at the Tuesday, June 2nd meeting. The next step is for the attorney to draft the options and present them to the county, who would then weigh the options and vote on them should they decide to go that route. Commissioners said that the step would be strictly for research purposes and to collect more information and would be for six to twelve months.
"We can do six months, maybe a year," said Commissioner Chris Burns. "A moratorium might stop them from doing things. We have two years to stop the next one." Some of Thursday's participants reported that there were already data center people approaching residents of Bedison, which is located between Maryville, Conception, Barnard, and Ravenwood, about land. Bedison is located in the Maryville School District. Mr. Walker said that while he had heard they had been making inquiries in other counties, "I hadn't heard of that."
Nancy Zeliff presented commissioners with questions that people had submitted on index cards at the "No Data Center" meeting held at the Maryville Community Center earlier. She asked them to assign them to people who could get answers.
Jerry Wilmes said his concerns were the noise and the health of the community. He said that he didn't see a downside to the county passing a moratorium on data centers. "Let's say I'm wrong; what do we have to lose," he asked.
Tim Schafer said that he went into the data center presentation Tuesday, June 2nd from Scale Microgrids and other consultants and got conflicting answers and that the representatives didn't have answers to his in-depth questions. "They admitted this would affect our livestock," Mr. Schaffer said. For a lot of opponents, it came down to a matter of trust. "What if they build the center and violate everything they said they would do," Mr. Wilmes asked.
To the trust issue, Holly Caviness told the story of a facility in Memphis which promised residents that the gas turbines it was building would be temporary, but they were not, leading to respiratory issues and asthma. She said they recently had to settle a lawsuit for exploiting their workers for $900,000. By contrast, Ms. Caviness said, local schools are propped up by cattlemen who are reliable people. Addressing the issue of touted revenues from data centers, Ms. Caviness said, "They pay people 365 days a year to find ways to avoid taxes." Multiple news outlets have reported that Tennessee has just passed a law requiring data centers to pay all electrical and infrastructure costs.
On May 5th, Politico reported that work on a water reuse facility designed to alleviate water strain from an AI data center in Memphis meant to power Elon Musk's AI system was abruptly halted after Mr. Musk had promised a water reuse facility, and nobody will say why.
"We don't need extractive industries," said Ms. Caviness. "They will destroy our community."
Susie Strauch said that Scale had taken out an option to buy land along the 102 River, where they could draw water from to fuel the data center. According to the White Cloud Acres site, the plan is for a closed-loop system and that they were conducting a study to see if reclaimed wastewater would meet that need. If the study found that it didn't, then drawing from the 102 would be an option. She was concerned that the road would be closed. Commissioner Scott Walk said that only the county could close roads. In Missouri, road closures have to go through a lengthy abandonment process. Enough landowners must sign a petition to close a road, they must be residents of White Cloud Township, and it must be posted and there must be hearings. The only other way is if a road is abandoned for five years, then it would be deemed closed.
If the data center were to draw water from the 102 instead of using wastewater from the City of Maryville, it would have to obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. The facility would have to get a permit under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. A water intake pipe drawing water from a river is a classic example of a project needing a permit. In addition, if the project requires dredging or filling soil, sand, or gravel within the river, it would require an additional permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
Ms. Strauch asked about the J turn that the DOT is installing near the proposed data center site that means people can't cross the road directly. Mr. Walker said that was a Missouri Department of Transportation project. "That's an accident waiting to happen," Ms. Strauch said. "I was told that 'studies show' that J turns are safer," said Mr. Walk.
Jennifer Gillespie said that the data center forum at Mozingo made her even more opposed to the project. "They were treating us like we were stupid," she said. "I did not expect to see all these consulting firms. You know nothing about us, so don't tell us how great it is all going to be." Ms. Gillespie cited the option cited in the Public Water Supply District paper handed out at the meeting pointing to drawing from the 102 River as an option. "Doesn't that concern you," she asked.
Assistant Economic Developer Kim Mildward said that they had to look at different options for the project to better their chances at a permit. "If they don't, that would raise a bunch of red flags at the DNR and they would immediately start asking questions," she said. Referring to previous comments that the proposed center would entail using Maryville wastewater, Ms. Gillespie asked, "Why would they want land along the 102 if they didn't plan to draw the water there?"
Tim Schafer asked where the water the Evergy facility next to the proposed data center was coming from. "They're already boring water from Public Water Supply District #3 in Andrew," said Commissioner Burns. "If they can't get the water from Andrew County, can Evergy exercise eminent domain and then pipe it across the street to the data center," asked Mr. Schafer.
Commissioners discussed the feasibility of zoning. "Zoning would be a very long process," said Commissioner Chris Burns. "We can't just do spot zoning and set up enforcement." A zoning law would require a petition from registered voters, a simple majority vote in an election, and then the county to appoint a board to oversee the zoning. Commissioner Bill Walker said that it would cost the county $100,000 a year to maintain zoning, and there would have to be an enforcement mechanism. Mr. Walker said that he sat on the Polk County Zoning Board and that, "We couldn't get people to press charges." The project was abandoned.
Asked if White Cloud Township could pass its own zoning ordinance, Commissioner Scott Walk said that White Cloud would be subject to the same rules and challenges that the county would if it were to pass zoning. "And you can't do it retroactively," he said.
Commissioner Scott Walk explained how Senate Bill 4, passed by the Legislature in 2025, would work. If a utility like Evergy has to build infrastructure for the proposed data center near Pumpkin Center, they can't pass on the costs to regular utility customers. The data center has to pay for the upgrades and they would pay a tariff much higher than regular customers pay for.
Commissioners were open to holding a town hall with the Rural Water District and the Maryville City Council at a future date.
No comments:
Post a Comment