DECLO, Idaho — Declo residents have a lot of questions following last month's announcement that 1,100 acres of farm ground was optioned to be the site of a data center.
A packed house had a lot of heated questions for TerraVolt's leadership about ways their proposed data center campus would impact the Magic Valley. Some folks came with questions, while others came to vent.
"What if we don't want you here?" one attendee asked.
The plan revolves around almost 1,100 acres of farmland that TerraVolt Holdings has optioned. This town hall-style open house gave residents a chance to hear directly from TerraVolt and ask questions about the proposal.
Kathy and Boone Schmidt would share a fence line with the project, and came to find out what impacts the construction and operation of the project would have on their daily lives.
"I like the idea that from what they're proposing that is very self-contained and environmentally friendly hopefully but I don't know enough to really make a decision, but I think we need them. I just didn't expect it on the other side of my fence," Kathy said.
"When we bought our property, when they put the gas line in, it already collapsed the well. So I'm worried about that, and if there's going to be a sound issue, and if there's gonna be lighting up there, that's gonna be lighting up our house like the Fourth of July in the middle of the night," Kathy added.
Concerns about energy use were also front and center. One speaker noted that 240 megawatts, when converted, is the same as 10,000 Hunter horsepower tractors running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Joel Stone is TerraVolt's CEO, and he knows data centers are in the spotlight with plenty of distrust.
"What we're proposing is around a 300-acre to 400-acre development, and so we have a lot of room for a wide buffers. The rest of the farm, the rest of the land could still be farmed," Stone said.
"Data centers take off the power, they use all the water, they operate in a veil of secrecy and they don't pay their fair share of taxes," Stone added. "We want to do everything different."
The plan would be a self-sufficient data center campus that TerraVolt would build and operate for a customer. It would generate its own power with natural gas generators and would use a closed-loop water cooling system.
Property owner Jesse Wickel said the online discourse about the proposal has been heated, and public backlash has affected his family.
"People have gotten kind of ugly, and that's sad, but that's life and we're big kids and we'll deal with it. I just hope that they'll come and actually learn what the facts are, not what Facebook or the Internet is saying the facts are. This is a different situation. This is a different build," Wickel said.
The next steps will be a land use permit application with Cassia County Planning and Zoning. I will continue to follow this project as it progresses.
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