Tomorrow, the city is bringing a consultant to spread propaganda about data centers.
The consultant, a former Duke Energy executive, writes on his website that he helps, "large industrials work their way through the morass of Electric Utility operations, policies, and practices." He is an advocate of the corporations, not our communities. We, the actual residents, are the "morass", the obstacle to the corporations making massive profits at the expense of our air, water, and health.
Along with this, an additional company Terra Nexus Ventures is proposing a data center on Custer Avenue and has submitted plans to the city. Just like ESS, this data center will run on gas generation, which can release toxic gases that are linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and consume enormous amounts of water.
The overwhelming support of this petition proves that Fayetteville does not want these data centers in our community. They can pollute our air with toxic gases related to respiratory disease, raise our energy bills in an already tight economy, and strain our limited water supply. After all, many of us still live with the consequences of GenX contamination. We cannot afford a repeat of a corporation entering our community, extracting a huge profit with shady practices, and leaving us to shoulder the lasting health and environmental consequences.
Despite our opposition, our local government seems eager to proceed with these predatory data center developments. We must make our dissent known by calling or emailing our city council. You can find a list of contact information here and an email template and example call script here (bit.ly/faydatacontact).
We as the residents of Fayetteville understand what is best for our community and our future. We cannot allow the politicians we elected to take away our agency in pursuit of short-sighted decisions that prioritize corporate interests over our health and well-being. We put our leaders into office, and they are accountable to us. These decisions will be remembered at the ballot box.