Richmond County Data Center Proposal Understates Air Pollution Impacts, Expert Finds
An analysis by a North Carolina State University professor found that Amazon Web Services and Duke Energy Progress significantly underestimated air pollution impacts from diesel generators for a proposed $10 billion data center in Richmond County, NC. The expert, Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, stated that the companies' separate permit applications obscured the cumulative emissions, which would exceed federal thresholds under the Clean Air Act. She recommends the state consider cumulative impacts and install local air quality monitors to protect public health.
An analysis by North Carolina State University professor Jennifer Richmond-Bryant revealed that a proposed $10 billion, 21-building data center in Richmond County, North Carolina, significantly understates its potential air pollution impacts. Developer Amazon Web Services and utility provider Duke Energy Progress submitted separate air quality permit applications to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) for over 650 on-site diesel generators. Richmond-Bryant's review found that by splitting the applications, the companies made estimated emissions appear much lower than they actually are.
Richmond-Bryant's research, which focuses on human exposure to air pollution, compared projected emissions to existing levels from Duke’s natural gas turbine in Hamlet. She concluded that the project's combined emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) would increase by 28% and volatile organic compounds by over 400%. She highlighted fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as a major concern, linking it to cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological health effects.
The professor emphasized that the two projects are on the same site and should be evaluated together. Their combined emissions would trigger a more rigorous review under the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program, which the separate applications avoid. Richmond-Bryant criticized the NC DEQ for maintaining that the applications should be reviewed separately, despite Duke operating temporary diesel generators for the same Amazon site.
She recommended additional comprehensive air quality analysis, including full dispersion modeling for all criteria air pollutants and the installation of Federal Equivalent Method monitors in or near Hamlet. Currently, the nearest monitor is 30 miles away, potentially missing localized pollution. Richmond-Bryant has also assisted residents in installing low-cost monitors, which indicate existing PM2.5 levels already exceed federal standards, further underscoring the need for state-level monitoring and a cumulative impact assessment.