Tioga Community Center to host data center open house
State Sen. Mark Enget is organizing an open house in Tioga, North Dakota, for local and state officials to discuss data center developments with the public. The event will address common concerns like water and electricity demand, noise, and environmental impacts. This comes as multiple data center projects in Williams County and the Williston area have recently received conditional use permits or plat approvals.
State Senator Mark Enget, R-Powers Lake, is organizing a public open house in Tioga, North Dakota, on September 14 to address the growing polarization surrounding data center developments. The event at the Tioga Community Center, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., invites residents to engage with local and state officials regarding potential data center projects in the region. Attendees will include county commissioners from Mountrail, Williams, Burke, Divide, and Ward counties, along with representatives from various North Dakota state departments and electric cooperatives.
The open house aims to provide a neutral platform for discussion, covering common concerns such as water and electricity demand, noise, environmental impact, traffic congestion, and property values. Senator Enget, whose District 2 faces the prospect of hosting data centers, emphasized that the goal is to equip residents with facts to make informed decisions, rather than promote a specific viewpoint.
Several data center projects are discussed in the context of the region. The Williams County Commission previously approved an appeal for a conditional use permit for Project Trinity and approved a conditional use permit for the Enerfore Digital Data Center, both planned south of Tioga. Additionally, the Williston City Commission approved a subdivision plat for Project Fighting Pike, which involves the Critical Data House data center, and Tachyon9 Corporation and Nixxy Inc. announced plans for another data center in Williston. Despite past timelines, updates on the Critical Data House project have been scarce, with the Williston Herald unable to get responses from representatives. Williams County Commissioner Beau Anderson expressed concerns about the open house becoming contentious but noted that updated planning and zoning ordinances are in place to guide future development.