The Chestnut Grove Caught in the Middle of A Years-Long Data Center Fight
A planned 2,250-acre Nscale data center campus in Mason County, West Virginia, has triggered opposition over its potential impact on a historic American chestnut grove, streams and wetlands. State officials say the trees may be relocated, while experts warn that transplanting them could result in their deaths; a second campus by Starwood Digital Ventures is also planned nearby.
A historic grove of American chestnut trees in Mason County has become a focal point of opposition to Nscale's planned 2,250-acre Monarch Compute Campus, an AI data center project whose construction is already underway. The project has also drawn scrutiny after stormwater controls failed during heavy rains, flooding a nearby neighborhood and prompting an order to strengthen the controls.
The grove is located on land subject to a planned purchase agreement, although both Nscale and Starwood Digital Ventures, which is developing a separate campus nearby, say it is not on land they currently own. West Virginia officials have announced plans to move the trees, but experts say relocation could kill them. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture said the trees are already declining under current conditions and that careful relocation could improve their health, though some losses are expected. Environmental documents also identify permanent impacts to thousands of feet of streams and more than 27 acres of wetlands across project permits.