By Nicole Eastman, Yadkin Riverkeeper
A photo taken by Edgar Miller during a SouthWings flight of the Davie County site, pictured on the west side of the river, and the Davidson site, on the east side of the river.
Watersheds across the state are grappling with proposed data center expansion. In the Yadkin River watershed, there are at least three data center proposals that are requesting or have already received a rezoning approval. Those are in Statesville, Rural Hall, and Salisbury. There are several more locations community members suspect developers are considering for these facilities. Counties and towns are responding to the attempted proliferation of these hyperscale data centers with moratoriums. Davie County passed a one-year moratorium on data centers last week.
Community groups are organically coming together to organize in opposition of these data centers, and Yadkin Riverkeeper is supporting their efforts by speaking at county commissioners meetings, submitting comments to local boards, and participating in community events. On July 21 at 5:30pm at the Forsyth County Central Library, I will be participating on a panel with environmental advocates and health professionals to discuss the potential impacts of data centers on Forsyth County.
This week, Davie County community organizers held a “Community Celebration” to commemorate their commissioners passing the moratorium to allow for the development of ordinances that would place specific requirements and restrictions on data center development. I spoke at the meeting along with our colleagues, Crystal Norford from Clean Water for North Carolina and Juhi Modi from Appalachian Voices, at this event to explain the connection between these data centers and the two proposed methane power plants on the Yadkin River in Davidson and Davie counties.
Duke Energy has admitted to “24/7 recruitment” of data centers in North Carolina to justify the methane gas plant buildout. The two proposed methane power plants are expected to draw about 600,000 gallons of water from the Yadkin River daily and discharge 400,000 gallons back to the river. The other 200,000 gallons would be lost to evaporation. The water discharged back into the Yadkin River will likely be warmer than the river, resulting in thermal pollution. Warmer river temperatures could contribute to longer and more harmful algal bloom seasons downstream in High Rock Lake. The wastewater should be treated for chemical additives prior to being discharged, but the chemical composition of the water will be altered compared to typical river water.
A map created by Crystal Norford with Clean Water for North Carolina.
The power plants are proposed at two Duke-owned properties, the Perkins Game Land in Davie County and agricultural land off of Giles Road in Davidson County. The development of these two locations will turn a beautiful, wild stretch of the Yadkin River State Trail into an industrial corridor. If a methane power plant is developed on the Davie County side of the river, it would require a mile-long pipeline across the entire Yadkin River causing further degradation. This section of river is also part of the Daniel Boone Heritage Canoe Trail and has historical importance with the Cooleemee Plantation, fish weirs, and some of Daniel Boone’s home sites being located in the area.
Yadkin Riverkeeper and partner organizations are meeting with community leaders in Davidson and Davie counties to discuss outreach strategies to raise awareness of the historical, environmental, and health impacts of these facilities on the surrounding communities and river. A priority of this opposition campaign is to prevent the rezoning of these two properties from agricultural and residential to industrial. This will require the Davie and Davidson County Commissioners to deny Duke Energy’s rezoning request. Please sign this petition created by CWFNC to tell the Davidson and Davie County Commissioners that you do not want this polluting facility in your community.
If you have any question or would like to get involved, please contact me at nicole@yadkinriverkeeper.org.