Public speaks out on data center planned for Falling Waters area

A large-scale data center project proposed for the Falling Waters area of Berkeley County, West Virginia, by real estate firm Penzance Management has sparked significant community opposition. Hundreds of residents attended a town-hall style meeting at Spring Mills High School to express concerns about the planned $4 billion, 1.9 million square foot data center campus on 548 acres. Residents voiced anxieties about potential impacts on quality of life, including increased noise, decreased property values, and harm to water resources, land, and wildlife. Specific worries included the data center's high water consumption, especially during a four-year drought, and its potential to cause local wells to dry up and exacerbate flooding in a known flood zone. The constitutionality of state legislation, HB 2014, which allegedly stripped local authorities of control and facilitated such projects, was a major point of contention, with some residents, including Christopher Breeze, suggesting the Berkeley County Commission file a lawsuit against the Legislature. Commissioners Eddie Gochenour and John Hardy hosted the event, attempting to distance themselves from HB 2014, which grants the governor's office authority over microgrids and data centers. However, residents, including John and Katie McInnis, an administrator for the "No Data Centers in the Eastern Panhandle" Facebook page, expressed frustration over the perceived secrecy and lack of local input, suggesting the project was a "done deal" facilitated by state-level actions. Concerns were also raised about the project's longevity and whether data centers should be classified as public utilities, receiving benefits like eminent domain, while potentially increasing local electrical bills and environmental burdens.