Ohio's PORTS-Pike data center raises pollution concerns | Opinion
An opinion article argues that the PORTS-Pike data center under construction in Piketon could produce significant air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions because it is expected to rely on a large methane gas plant. Author Melinda Zemper also raises concerns about fracking, water contamination, public-land drilling and calls for stronger regulation or data center moratoriums.
The PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Piketon, Ohio, is described in the opinion as a potentially massive data center development powered by a 9.2-gigawatt methane gas plant. Melinda Zemper, a board member of Save Ohio Parks, cites projected greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, along with health research linking fine particulate matter and gas production to respiratory disease, cancer and premature death.
Zemper connects the project to the legacy of the former Portsmouth uranium enrichment plant, fracking on Ohio public lands and concerns over water contamination from drilling waste. She argues that Ohio should require data centers and their technology investors to pay for environmental and health impacts or use renewable energy, and says communities have been pushed to seek data center moratoriums in the absence of stronger federal and state protections. Google’s renewable-energy projects in other states are presented as an example Ohio could follow, but no specific regulatory decision involving PORTS-Pike is reported.