Pipelines and Data Centers: The Connection Explained
In addition to upcoming public opportunities to speak in support data center moratoriums (see dates below), we have updates and calls to action around the fossil fuel infrastructure that is making this buildout possible!
Next up: Alamance and Guilford County Data center public hearings, both on August 17th!
Show up in Alamance and Guilford to ask local leaders to pass effective moratoriums against hyper-scale data centers with commitments to public input and strong regulations! Email aidan@hawriver.org and emily@hawriver.org for information on what to ask and how to ask it. Details below:
Monday, August 17, at 6:30 PM: Alamance County Board of Commissioners - Business Meeting on Data Center Moratorium (Location: Alamance County Historic Courthouse, 1 Court Square, Graham)
Monday, August 17, at 4:00 PM: Greensboro City Council - Work Session for Public Input on Data Center Moratorium. (Lcoation: Katie Dorsett Council Chamber at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro)
Fracked-gas pipelines and hyperscale data center development are two sides of the same coin: corporations prioritizing profits over community safety. Here are some recent stories about the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality just issued an enforcement action regarding violations of the Virginia State Water Control Law during SSEP construction, including failure to notify DEQ of wetland crossings, perimeter controls missing along wetlands and streams, and erosion and sediment controls failing to be installed before stream disturbances. Now DEQ is requiring Transco to pay $179,068.50 in civil penalties and correction of its compliance issues. Read here for more information.
Horizontal directional drilling, 24 hours a day – for months???
This is what some residents along the Transco SSEP pipeline route are enduring as the project is under construction in Virginia and North Carolina. In one Oak Ridge, NC neighborhood, the path for that 42”, high pressure fracked gas pipeline is being cleared directly next to people’s houses. View this video and check out our Instagram for more
“The neighborhood is asking us what’s going on – no one seems to know what’s going on – and yet we just have to take it.”
North Carolina and Virginia are facing a massive buildout of methane gas infrastructure. Why? To meet the growing demand of data center development.
Along the routes of two new massive methane gas pipelines, the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SSEP) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate (MVPS), we are seeing growing proposals for data centers and gas-fired power plants. This is sounding the alarm that where the gas flows, the data centers follow.
Understanding the connection between the methane gas buildout and the rise of data centers is increasingly important as we continue working to protect our communities and environment from this harmful development. A strong way to highlight this connection is by keeping it in the media. One very important way to do this is by writing a letter to the editor to share your concerns.
Join environmental groups on August 25th to learn how the methane-gas buildout directly relates to the rise of data centers, and take action by participating in a "letter-to-the-editor" writing workshop to make your voices heard!
Tuesday, August 25th, 6:30-8pm
Virtual on zoom
(link sent ahead of the meeting)
Take care of yourselves and each other,
~ Aidan Loretz (she/her, they/them)
Haw River Assembly Community Organizer & 7 Directions of Service Pipelines Campaign Manager
Communities Over Pipelines! Communities Over Corporate Profits!