Letters to the editor
Let your voice be heard
South Strabane Township is working on an ordinance regulating any data centers that might be built in the township, including one on property owned by CNX along Zediker Station Road, a quiet, wooded area of steep hills and woodland creatures.
CNX is promoting the area as a potential site for a hyperscale center of 46 buildings, including some directly across the road from Community Park and its walking path, ball fields, and playground equipment. Data centers handle massive amounts of data in the cloud and AI computing, and are being built and disputed by the public throughout the U.S. Hundreds of Washington County residents already have signed petitions expressing their opposition to data here.
One of the most concerning aspects of data centers stems from air pollutants emitted by diesel-powered backup generators. These emissions, known as PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides, are fine particulates described as “silent killers.” Who would want their children playing near such pollution-emitting structures? People further away aren’t safe either; the pollutants can be carried hundreds of miles on the wind.
Lung disease, heart disease and asthma are among the health problems caused by these pollutants. According to a study by The University of California, by 2030, air pollution from the proliferation of U.S. data centers could contribute to 1,300 premature deaths each year.
Once built, data center construction jobs disappear and the buildings are maintained by a skeleton janitorial and security crew. IT jobs are usually done off-site. Each day, data centers suck up thousands of gallons of precious water and expensive electricity. In addition to the risk of rolling black-outs and water shortages, the backup rooftop coolers emit a constant hum that can be heard as far as two or more miles away and disturb domestic and wild animals as well as humans.
The public is urged to attend and comment at the very important South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, March 31, at 6:30 p.m. at the township fire hall on Oak Springs Road, when the proposed ordinance will be presented and discussed. The public is encouraged to voice their concerns about the ordinance. If data centers are built here, the beauty and appeal of South Strabane Township will be destroyed, perhaps forever.
Robin Richards
South Strabane
Let’s stick together
In 1986, Robert Fulghum published a writing entitled, “All I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.” I would like to offer some words from that piece: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Live a balanced life. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? – the roots go down and the plant goes up … we are like that. Honor the Golden Rule, and love, ecology, and sane living. And, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
As politics and big business attempt to assert the power of office and the dollar, we, the people, must insist upon basic decency. Our health matters. Our homes matter. Our families matter. Right and wrong are still just that, right and wrong. It is wrong to trade the health and well-being of a community for profit.
The Environmental Rights Amendment (Article I, Section 27 of our state’s constitution), ratified in 1971, affirms that “the people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment … As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
As data centers try to bulldoze our communities (with the encouragement of many of our elected officials), it is important that we stand up for our rights and the rights of the environment. Data centers are not good neighbors, nor do they care about the health of the people, the right to enjoy the outdoors, or even the necessity of restorative, quiet sleep. The pollution, the toxins, the constant noise and vibrations that extend miles, the exorbitant use of water and power all are a part of data centers, and we cannot allow our health and well-being to be traded for the advancement and profit of big business.
Write to local, state and federal elected officials and demand the basic protections provided in our state’s constitution be honored so that individual rights afford the protection intended. Attend the South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors’ public hearing on Tuesday March 31, to show that we support an ordinance that is protective of the people who call Washington County home.
Let’s all stick together.
Diane Ecker
Washington