State regulators hosted a public hearing for Amazon’s proposed large data center project in Richmond County on Thursday. The state Division of Air Quality had requested public feedback on two air quality permits that would allow Amazon and Duke Energy to operate approximately 650 diesel generators to provide emergency power at the site.
Over 200 people attended the public hearing, with 36 offering testimony. A major concern raised by Richmond County residents is that state regulators are issuing two separate permits: one for Amazon’s nearly 600 backup diesel generators and one for Duke’s nearly 60 temporary generators.
“All of the generators that the Division of Air Quality has allowed Amazon and Duke to split into separate permit applications must be treated as one major source of air pollution,” said Shaun Ingram, co-founder of the Richmond County Coalition for Justice and Black Empowerment.
Caroline Cress, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said that by separating out the leased generators, the companies avoid more stringent modeling requirements for pollutants such as fine particulate matter.
“Because the bridge power project is included with Duke's permit rather than Amazon's, it is subject to a much lower annual emission limit,” said Russell Braswell, an engineer with the state Division of Air Quality.
Without nearby sensors, Cress said it’s impossible to know how the new data center will affect local air quality.
“The only way to get a sense of that is to do the modeling, which they're specifically getting out of,” Cress said.
Shawn Taylor, a spokesperson from the state Division of Air Quality, wrote that the diesel generators did not meet North Carolina’s requirements for a single permit, despite meeting two of the three criteria. They’re located on a contiguous or adjacent property and belong to the same “industrial grouping.” However, because Duke Energy will operate some of them, Taylor said state regulators could not combine the roughly 650 generators into a single permit.
DAQ maintains a statewide network of air quality monitors to ensure that the state meets Environmental Protection Agency requirements. More populous areas receive more sensors, and Taylor wrote that “the majority are sited in or near communities we classify as potentially underserved.”
“Our data shows that all of North Carolina has maintained compliance with all federal air quality standards for more than a decade,” Taylor said.
The nearest sensor is a PurpleAir monitor north of Rockingham, about 9.5 miles from Amazon’s construction site. The closest sensor that the state owns and operates is two counties over, about 45 miles away in Monroe. But many residents live much closer to the site.
“The campus is literally in our backyard,” Nellie Dumas said, whose family owns property in the vicinity of the tech campus. She mentioned concerns about air and water quality, though she said the smell has improved since Amazon purchased the land.
“We are not opposed to progress,” said Reverend G. Rebecca Warren, who serves as a pastor for Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, about a mile away from the construction site. “However, we believe progress should never come at the expense of the health, safety, and quality of life of the people who already call this community home.”
Warren said that while she understands the generators wouldn’t run unless there was a blackout or routine testing, she would still like to see more community engagement from the state and Amazon. In her testimony, she proposed conditions such as limiting generator testing during the church’s worship services and activities.
Today is the final day to submit public comments on the state’s draft permits. You can email comments to daq.publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject line “Amazon.25A and DukeRichmond.26C.”
“We appreciate the public comments we received on this topic and are reviewing,” DAQ spokesperson Shawn Taylor said.
