News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman continues to invest time and energy into the first wave of data center proposals in the Tar-Pamlico watershed.

Since November, Katey has been participating in a growing community movement opposed to the construction of data centers. The first was proposed in Tarboro; the second in Kingsboro, spurring the creation of the Edgecombe Neighbors for Data Center Accountability (ENDCA).

On Friday, Katey met up with the group at a second meeting to strategize how to approach a potential $19 billion, 900-megawatt data center that Energy Storage Solutions have posed to Edgecombe County commissioners.

There, subgroups from the first meeting gave updates, plans to create a website and financial infrastructure for fundraising were made and reservations about sitting on the same county-created advisory board as those with financial interests in a data center were discussed.

“It was a good meeting. There’s still lots of momentum,” Katey said.

Previously, Katey was asked to sit on the data center advisory board by Edgecombe County Manager Eric Evans, along with Oak Grove Retreat owner Kevin Wilson, Freedom Org CEO Marquetta Dickens and ENDCA co-founder Jo Rutter.

Monday night, ENDCA members attended Edgecombe County’s Board of Commissioners regular meeting to speak up during the public comment period in what’s becoming a regular appearance.

“It’s still not on the agenda to vote on the sale of the land, but four people from the group spoke,” Katey said.

Edgecombe County has not yet received a formal proposal from Energy Storage Solutions, but until, and after, it does, those questioning its construction plan to continue speaking out, according to Katey.

Some issues revolving around data centers include: water quantity (how much water the data center will require and whether the Tar River and Rocky Mount’s water treatment facilities can accommodate the increase); water quality (whether contaminants such as PFAS and heavy metals will be present in the wastewater discharge from the data center); and cost (areas where data centers are operating have seen an increase in the cost of utilities).

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