By Mike Tony
Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia officials are taking public comments on a planned rule support-ing a highly controversial law the Legislature passed in April, pushed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, aimed at attracting data centers to the state at the expense of local government control and funding.
House Bill 2014 prohibits local jurisdiction over “high-impact” data centers and diverts most of any property tax revenue they would generate away from local taxing bodies, a move estimated to cost counties and school districts millions.
HB 2014 prohibits coun-ties and municipalities from enforcing or adopting ordinances, rules or regula-tions that limit creation, development or operation of any certified microgrid district or high-impact data center project.
That ban has fueled widespread criticism from community and environmental\ advocates fearing adverse air, water and noise pollution impacts from expected data center operations proposed for Mason, Mingo and Tucker counties.
Data centers, server- populated warehouses that power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, typically are power- hungry and often require massive amounts of water, mainly for cooling.
HOW TO COMMENT
The public comment period expires at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 10.
Comments may be emailed to A. Garner Marks, Department of Commerce general counsel, at garner.marks@wv.gov or mailed to
A. Garner Marks,
1900 Kanawha Blvd., Building 3, Suite 800, Charleston, WV 25305.
The slated rule is available at bit.ly/ HB2014rule.
HB2014 is available at bit.ly/HB2014law.
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