ADAMS COUNTY, Ohio — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit last month to enable a data center project near the former Stuart power plant in Adams County, even as voters circulated petitions to block the project.
The Nationwide Permit No. 39 comes with “special conditions” to protect endangered bats, mussels and butterflies. It also establishes a 100-foot buffer zone to keep construction crews from disturbing three cemeteries near the site.
The Feb. 18 permit, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request by the WCPO 9 I-Team, came as a surprise to data center critics who circulated and signed petitions Monday at the West Union Walmart.
“How is that possible when nobody got a question or an opportunity to say ‘We don’t want that near us?’” asked Manchester voter Amy Crumley. “That’s what that means to me. Somebody’s just streamlining things.”
Watch: How multiple different groups are trying to restrain the growth of data centers in Adams County
The petitions call for an Ohio constitutional amendment that would ban data centers statewide and ask Adams County commissioners to establish “rural zoning” that could make data centers harder to build. A third petition directs Sprigg Township Trustees to rescind a Jan. 26 resolution that signaled “no intent” to change zoning at the former Stuart power plant.
The increased voter activism coincides with the opening of a new tourist attraction in Adams County that could tip the scales toward tighter restrictions on data centers.
“What concerns me is not data centers. It’s how they’re implemented,” said Dieter Moeller, who spent millions to bring state-of-the-art telescopes to a 900-acre site near the former Killen power plant.
Moeller is concerned that light pollution will keep amateur astronomers from using his equipment to see distant planets, stars and galaxies.
“There’s no need to light up the night sky,” Moeller said. “You can light up a parking lot. If they do that and they use the right colors, they can do it in a way that’s minimally disruptive.”
The Moeller Observatory uses red lights at night to minimize light pollution, as its powerful telescopes scour the skies for specks of white light from distant galaxies.
Red light has longer wavelengths. It allows humans to maintain their night vision and is less likely to scatter into the atmosphere.
Red lighting and light caps that direct brighter lights downward would be among the restrictions he’d like to see on data centers.
“The big thing in astronomy is light gathering,” said Moeller, owner and chairman of RH Aero Systems in Mason. “Large optics are used to both gather more light and provide more resolution.”
The WCPO 9 I-Team has been tracking data center developments in Adams County since Feb. 5, when Economic Development Director Paul Worley confirmed that companies were exploring data center projects at the former Killen and Stuart power plants.
He described the plants as “ideal” for data centers because of their access to power and water. He said they might be able to replace some of the 700 jobs lost when the plants closed in 2018.
DP&L’s parent company, AES Ohio, disclosed in a Feb. 3 regulatory filing that a data center “in the vicinity” of the Stuart plant would require 1300 megawatts of electricity by 2032. That would make it one of Ohio’s largest data centers, consuming 31 times the annual power consumption of Adams County.
Ohio EPA records show the Buck Canyon site could hold “twelve light industrial buildings, internal access drives, five stormwater management basins and utility infrastructure” by 2028. It would cause “unavoidable permanent impacts to approximately 0.74 acres of three low-quality isolated wetlands” on the site. To address those impacts, 68 Yards LLC asked the EPA to approve its purchase of wetland mitigation credits from the Red Stone Farm Mitigation Bank in Pike County.
In its initial letter to the Army Corps of Engineers on Nov. 26, 68 Yards LLC said it expected to clear “approximately 320 acres of forested habitat” for the Buck Canyon project, which would provide “service the southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky region.”
The permit was “verified with 11 special conditions,” wrote Lee J. Arco, a regulatory archaeologist for USACE’s North Branch, in an email response to the WCPO.
Those conditions include a requirement that crews “cease all work” if “previously unknown historic or archaeological sites or human remains are uncovered” and install temporary construction fencing around the Boone and Davidson cemeteries and permanent fencing around the Rogers Parr cemetery.
The conditions also say new restrictions could be imposed “if new information reveals impacts of the project that may affect federally listed species or critical habitat in a manner not previously considered.”
Moeller also has ideas about restrictions that should be considered for Adams County data centers.
“Ark of Appalachia is over a 20,000-acre nature preserve. It’s just right over the next ridge,” Moeller said. “There’s a lot of great ecotourism business that’s going on. And it’s a wonderful thing for the local economy. That can all be destroyed by having data centers go in that don’t do things in a responsible way.”
Moeller has taken some preemptive steps to guard against light pollution. He spent more than $3 million to acquire roughly 900 acres surrounding his observatory. That includes 347 acres on the former Killen plant site, according to Adams County property records.
Moeller’s ownership of an aerospace company and degrees in physics and computer engineering give him a unique perspective on data centers. He thinks they can bring about positive change by advancing the use of artificial intelligence.
“I think the productivity we’re going to see is unlike (what) we’ve seen throughout any of the major evolutions in the history of humanity,” Moeller said. “And I’m excited for what that’s going to do. Data centers are an important part of that.”
But that doesn’t mean he wants data center developers to pay no taxes, cause environmental harm or fill the night skies of Adams County noisy generators and glaring, white light.
“Data centers can be a home run for the area through taxes. Or if it’s not handled correctly, (they) can be a disaster,” Moeller said. “The whole idea of data centers being a replacement for jobs is farsical.”
Adams County leaders have repeatedly said they have received no formal proposal from a data center developer. But they did receive a November briefing from Argus Growth Consultants, Ltd. showing what data center tax breaks might look like, based on similar deals in other parts of the state.
Monroe Township trustees passed a March 2 resolution to establish a zoning commission to regulate development in its 27-square-mile jurisdiction, which includes the Killen plant. Trustees in Sprigg Township, home of the Stuart plant, passed a one-year “voluntary moratorium” on data centers, also on March 2.
But Adams County voters aren’t leaving things to chance.
“So many people have said, ‘Oh, this has been in the making for three years now, four years now. It’s a done deal,’’ said Emily Harper, who staffed a signature gathering station at the West Union Walmart Monday. “When you have commissioners saying, ‘It’s not a done deal,’ it offers hope that maybe we can channel this in a certain way that benefits our community the most.”
