News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman met with Edgecombe County Manager Eric Evans in Tarboro this week to talk about a proposed $19-billion, 900-megawatt data center in Kingsboro.

Joining them was Scott Kaiser, director of Edgecombe County’s Soil and Water District.

“It was a good meeting. It went well. The purpose was, really, just to get to know each other,” Katey said. “I explained to them what Sound Rivers does, what I do, and my involvement with the Kingsboro community. I also shared our concerns about water quality and water quantity regarding the data center.”

A primary goal of the trip was to encourage county officials to host a public forum when Energy Storage Solutions submits its proposal, which had not been formally submitted at the time of her meeting.

“Basically, there are lots of questions about the project, and no answers, since they still don’t have the proposal from the company,” Katey said. “When they do get the information and proposal, it would be good to share that information and give the community the opportunity to ask questions.”

While Katey did not get a commitment on a public forum at the time, she was asked to be part of data center stakeholders group the county is considering creating. She also recommended that a representative from Edgecombe Neighbors for Data Center Accountability, which has hosted several community meetings about the data center, to be included in the group.

Concerns about data centers include massive energy and water consumption, straining local grids, increasing emissions and depleting water resources, leading to community conflicts, particularly in drought areas. The Kingsboro data center proposes the use of City of Rocky Mount water, flowing from the Tar River through a water treatment plant to the proposed data center. The water used to cool systems is super-heated in the process and is then cooled with gases known to contain PFAs. Whether the water will be treated to remove the PFAs — if that’s even an option — or discharged straight into the Tar River is another concern.

Edgecombe County’s Board of Commissioners was set to vote on the sale of the property in the Kingsboro Industrial Park at the Dec. 1 commissioners meeting, where several people spoke about the project’s potential harms during public comments. The community of Kingsboro is the home of Citizens for Responsible Zoning, which organized in 1995 to prevent an industrial slaughterhouse from being built in Kingsboro. A state historical marker memorializing that victory was dedicated last year.

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