Opinions and questions many and varied on data centers

A smaller yet information-hungry crowd attended the latest meeting of the Posey County Commissioners. The future of data centers in Posey County continues to be uncertain as strong opinions have been voiced on both sides. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray

By Lois Mittino Gray

Kathy Weinzapfel is annoyed by the low continuous vibrations given off by humming grain dryers located about a mile from her residence at 6621 Mount Vernon Road. “Low pitch vibrations can cause nausea and bad sleep conditions. I am concerned what noise would be like from data centers. You took vibrations out of the UDO Ordinance, but how frequently will other sound measurements be taken? Who chooses the acoustical engineers? What is a discreet tone?” she asked Commissioners.

Weinzapfel asked these questions as the first one up to speak at a public hearing opened by Posey County Commissioner President Bill Collins at the Hovey House on Wednesday morning, November 4. The hearing was to provide public comment on the county’s amended Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Weinzapfel thanked the Area Plan Commission and Commissioners for their hard work and partnership on the UDO, but warned them to be savvy in making last minute changes. “I’m sure the six figure attorneys have already found all the loopholes,” she wryly remarked.

Kristen Trombley, 4301 Joyce Lane, said she and her red-shirt group protesting the data centers were well educated by the county on the process involved in passing the UDO and participated therein. “We followed directions, attended meetings, and tried to be understanding and respectful citizens with rooms filled to capacity,” she said. “We were publicly filmed. We signed our names and emails and they were given to Amazon without our permission. 48 hours ago, the ‘public’ was cited with comments. It wasn’t us. Who are these people? Why not identify themselves like us? Is there local control?” she queried.

Penny Padgett, a geologist who lives on Country Lane Road, told Commissioners she felt the process was professional and was glad to hear the UDO establishes a five-mile radius to protect the bedrock aquifers. “Is this UDO for a data center to be put anywhere, not just ones you are aware of?” she asked. “Waterwell protection changes are site-specific and must be properly defined. That five-mile radius is a major change and must be put into the UDO.”

Jason Nab, 9650 Mount Vernon Road, also approved of the UDO water changes. “It is a lot easier to put a stipulation on well usage for potable drinking water. Large volumes of water for industrial usage should come from municipal sources. “

Steve Strupp, 9429 Boberg Road, commended the APC on making hard decisions on water and electricity and noise levels. “Noise can be an indefensible position as there is no level definition of ‘quiet’. Do we measure crickets chirping what? When it comes to mitigating constraints, what will the lawyers do? Are there lawyers hired for this? Is there a good budget for it? I say increase the budget—get the best lawyers you can!”

Wayne Peterson, 10600 Yellow Leaf Drive, urged Commissioners to not be in a hurry to pass the UDO. “I still think you should pause a year or two and place a moratorium,” he commented.

Justin Greiner, also an advocate for a moratorium, said this is the consistent, repeating question. “Do we know enough yet to regulate this? 70 percent of Indiana voters are opposed to data centers. I didn’t know seventy percent of Indiana voters could agree on anything!” he said flippantly.

“We need transparency! Where has Amazon been publicly at meetings for us all to hear? Why not open it to debate while this UDO was being developed? If they wanted to be here, they would’ve been here. It was not oversight. Instead, they relied on private one-on-one conversations with private answers. We need public answers, especially about the one issue that affects me the most, public health concerns!” Griener’s pronouncement was met with vigorous clapping.

Steve Strupp came back up with a different outlook on Amazon. “It seems they stayed out of all this while waiting for the UDO to be passed. Mr. Greiner encourages meddling in it. The goal is not to stop this process. The goal is to get an application, look into it, and we don’t have to accept it. I want to commend Amazon for not meddling,” he said to audience whispers and gasps.

Griener came back to say he was not opposed to devoplment. “ I’m just asking you not to confuse private conversations with public transparency. The public should all hear the same answers. If we want trust, invite scrutiny. Slow down. Demand more from Amazon, we citizens showed up to ask questions, so should they.”

Jake Mitchell, 2103 Ford Road N, spoke on the portion of the UDO dealing with battery storage . “Just a reminder that emerging technology can develop other batteries besides lithium. Sand batteries may heat water or steam turbines to potentially 600 degrees F. Consider everything.”

The three commissioners voted to approve the battery energy storage portion of the UDO as well as chapters 10, 2B-4, 2B-10.

Commissioner Eric Kosester said with the possible changes, he would make a motion to table the chapters of the ordinance dealing with data centers and noise levels until the next meeting on November 17. It passed unanimously.