Fundamental Data Reveals Extensive West Virginia Data Center And Power Plant Plans
Fundamental Data representatives unveiled detailed plans for a massive data center and power plant complex spanning Tucker and Grant Counties, West Virginia, at a public meeting. The project includes three potential power plants (two natural gas, one nuclear) and extensive diesel storage. Residents expressed significant concerns over environmental impact, public health, and lack of company transparency, leading to heated discussions.
Representatives from Fundamental Data made their first public appearance in Tucker County, West Virginia, revealing extensive details about a proposed data center and power plant complex. The multi-phase development, expected to encompass up to 10,000 acres across Tucker and Grant Counties, includes an initial natural gas power plant near the towns of Davis and Thomas, with plans for an additional natural gas plant and potentially a nuclear power plant. The project also features three 10-million-gallon diesel fuel storage tanks, with one designated for environmental protection.
Community members at the Davis fire hall meeting voiced significant frustration and anger over the project's scale, environmental implications, and Fundamental Data's perceived lack of transparency. Residents like Claire Anderson and Matt Hauger expressed concerns about health impacts and the company's reluctance to engage with the community sooner. Opponents also criticized the heavy redactions in the company's air quality permit application to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, though company representatives Scott Wyland and Lewis Reynolds maintained that the redactions protected proprietary information, not emissions data.
Reynolds and Wyland attempted to address public health and environmental concerns, stating the initial gas plant site was chosen for its stable ground and that moving it further east into the Chesapeake Bay watershed would incur stricter environmental regulations. They dismissed a health report commissioned by the opposition group Tucker United, which estimated significant health-related costs, as unscientific. The company also indicated its "closed loop system" for water usage would not affect local aquifers.
Regarding the state's HB 2014 law, which overrides local control for state-certified data center projects and redirects tax revenue, Reynolds stated it was irrelevant to this specific project as Tucker County lacks a zoning ordinance to reject it. He noted the permit application was filed before the law's passage. Fundamental Data estimated the power plant project could create 5,000 construction jobs and generate $27 million in annual tax revenue.