AI’s Data Center Boom Keeps Finding Black Communities
Residents in Covington, Georgia, are opposing a temporary data center power plant developed by VoltaGrid for a Serverfarm data center. The project faces allegations of operating before permits were issued and potential violations of state utility laws, leading to a stop-work order and a legal petition with the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Covington, Georgia, a predominantly Black community southeast of Atlanta, is grappling with the environmental repercussions of a temporary data center power plant. The facility, developed by Texas-based VoltaGrid, comprises 33 natural gas-powered turbines intended to supply 90 megawatts of electricity to a nearby data center operated by Serverfarm.
Local residents and advocacy groups, including Sustainable Newton and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), contend that construction and operation, specifically of the generators for both the power plant and the data center, commenced before the necessary state permits were secured. This led the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to issue a stop-work order in early July. Critics further assert that the distinct development and ownership by VoltaGrid and Serverfarm could contravene Georgia's Territorial Electric Service Act and the Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act. In response to these concerns, SELC, representing Sustainable Newton, submitted a petition to the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), urging a ruling on the project's legality, while highlighting worries over air quality, the plant's proximity to residential areas, a nature preserve, and the county's drinking water reservoir.