H2 , Segment 1 - Spartanburg residents oppose a massive new data center project.

What this episode covers

Transcript Crowd (Pledge of Allegiance): I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (Cheering and applause) Singer (America the Beautiful): O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea! Donald Trump (Audio Sample): America is back. Charlie James: One step at a time, sir, one step at a time. Well, last night, Spartanburg County Council had a meeting regarding—well, it was their regularly scheduled meeting, but they were taking up the issue of data centers. And here's what gets me: when you find out exactly how your elected representatives feel about you, it makes me mad. Listen to this. Hold on, where to go, where to go, where to go... All right, here we go, want you to listen to this. Here we go. County Official (Audio Clip): ...remove them on your own as they speak, because we have to gather information and we can't do it when the mob is talking. Charlie James: "The mob!" The mob is talking. Well, somebody that was in that mob last night is Eric Allison, and he is with "No Data Centers in Spartanburg" over on Facebook. Eric, welcome to the program. Hope you're doing well. Eric Allison: Thank you so much, Charlie. Doing great. Hope you are. Appreciate you having me. Appreciate you having me. Charlie James: Yes, sir. So, how did that meeting go last night? I see it was packed. Eric Allison: It was standing room only. There were people that had to stand outside the chambers. You know, this is a hot topic. Residents are concerned. So that meeting, for people who were there and viewed it, it's very contentious between our representatives and the residents who come there. So the meeting was, yeah, it was heated at times, but it's important. And we're proud to see that residents of Spartanburg County showing up for their county council meeting, as they have every right to do. Charlie James: So, what was decided? I know that they were talking about—they had already passed a first reading of a moratorium on data centers. Would that include the one that they're looking at now? Eric Allison: So, this one that's being built right now on South Pine Street? Charlie James: Yeah. Eric Allison: They indicate that that one is exempt. However, residents spoke out last night wanting them to include that in the aspect of any further permitting if this thing wants to expand. They actually have a pending minor land development permit on the desk of the county right now. And so residents are saying, "You have the opportunity to include this in the moratorium that you're putting forward. We're not asking you to retroactively go back and deny any permits that have already been granted. Whatever has been approved, that's what they have. But if there's anything coming forward or something that's pending right now you haven't voted on, we request you put that in the moratorium for 12 months." Charlie James: Yeah. Now, this is a pretty big project, isn't it? Eric Allison: It's a massive, major project. This site, they're going to produce for their own energy 450 megawatts of power. That is a major utility-sized power plant. 450 megawatts can power up to almost half a million individual homes. And it's going to be all powered by natural gas turbines and generators. They're in Phase 1 right now. This next permit that they have applied for will allow them to build four additional buildings, which total almost another 500,000 square feet. It's a major project. Charlie James: It is a major project. And you got to wonder how much natural gas—how many cubic feet of natural gas are they going to be using a day? Eric Allison: It's massive. It will operate 24/7 around the clock every day of the week. Charlie James: So, what are the people in S ...

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