This year, the Foothill Conservancy has been closely tracking a proposal for the construction of a data center powered by an expanded biomass-fueled power plant in Buena Vista, Amador County has been announced.
Although no applications for permits have been submitted to Amador County, a private developer, New York GreenCloud, has proposed in news releases doubling the size of the existing Buena Vista Biomass Plant to 40 megawatts and building an onsite data center powered by the expanded power plant. That plant, which has been shut down since 2017, burned vegetation from forest clearing and other sources that was trucked to the site on Coal Mine Road, producing steam and electricity that was delivered to customers over the PG&E transmission system. The developer has purchased the power plant and is refurbishing it presently. Existing County permits for construction, operation and air emissions would need to be replaced, and environmental analysis and disclosure would be required, prior to any actions to expand what is now permitted.
The Foothill Conservancy has concerns about the environmental impacts of such a massive project. The increase in air pollution from the expanded power plant would likely degrade air quality, and the large increase in truck traffic trucks delivering fuel to the power plant would impact air quality and traffic safety and road maintenance costs to the county. Noise and lighting could affect residents, and water supplies could be affected. The Buena Vista proposal is unique and has its own issues. Such as the need to deliver large amounts of biomass fuel to the enlarged power plant, truck trips that will need to share a road with traffic to the Buena Vista Casino.
However, we have yet to see a concrete proposal in the form of a development application to Amador County. Until such plans are submitted, we cannot evaluate the impacts this project would have on neighbors or the larger region. How much more air pollution would result from the expanded power plant and increased truck traffic? How much water is used between power generation and the data center? How loud will it be? Until the application is made, we cannot answer these questions. But we are not content to just wait for a project to arrive.
On August 25th, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors approved a 45-Day Moratorium on data center construction in Calaveras County until a detailed analysis of impacts, costs and benefits can be completed. With our friends in the Calaveras Planning Coalition, we support this Moratorium, and the follow-on analysis by the Calaveras Planning Department to identify impacts, costs and benefits of data centers and develop a set of regulations for future data center projects in Calaveras County.
The Foothill Conservancy believes that Amador County should pass a one-year Moratorium on data center construction and related power plants during which time a fact based and thorough report of the impacts, costs and benefits of such projects to our region shall be completed. The Amador County report should include public review and list regulations required for any such facility to protect our environment, health and safety. We believe we need a one-year time period for the moratorium, to allow the Amador County to make a detailed study of the impacts, benefits, and regulations needed for large-scale power plants and data centers. Data centers and any new power plants that supply them have potentially huge long-term impacts and any evaluation of them should not be rushed.
We support the community group Amador Data Center Community Action which has recently been formed to ensure that any future project does not degrade our local environment or the health and safety of our rural community.
Thank you for your interest. If you have questions or would like to be more involved in the efforts to address data centers in our region, email us at FHC@foothillconservancy.org, or contact Amador Data Center Community Action at amadordatacenter@gmail.com.
Craig Baracco
Foothill Conservancy
Executive Director