by Dave Williams | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A citizen activist from Fayette County asked state lawmakers Thursday to carefully consider the effects a wave of data centers is having on local communities.
Diana Dietz, a retired public health nurse, told members of a state House subcommittee “giant industrial poles” associated with a massive data center under construction in the county southwest of Atlanta are removing trees from what used to be scenic residential areas.
Project Excalibur, being built on a 615-acre site by global digital infrastructure leader QTS, is among a growing number of data centers springing up across Georgia primarily to serve the increasing demand for power artificial intelligence technology is placing on the nation’s electrical grid.
“This is not anti-AI. This is not anti-data centers,” Dietz said. “But you truly need to see the impact that is happening.”
House Speaker Jon Burns formed the Special Committee on Resource Management last January to develop a plan for meeting the anticipated effects of a growing demand for energy and water supplies in Georgia. Data centers use massive quantities of both resources.
While Burns, R-Newington, said the committee would not focus exclusively on data centers, the huge warehouses filled with servers are the most high-profile manifestation of the need for additional electrical generating capacity.
Both Dietz and Mark Woodall, legislative chairman for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club, complained that local development authorities are helping to underwrite the construction of new data centers through tax breaks without providing sufficient transparency or opportunity for public input.
To meet the increasing demand for electricity, Atlanta-based Georgia Power is asking the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to certify 9,900 megawatts of new generating capacity environmentalists including Woodall say would rely heavily on harmful fossil fuels.
“This invasion of data centers is killing our progress toward clean energy,” Woodall said Thursday.
Woodall said producing that additional generating capacity would cost an estimated $15 billion.
“We think consumers need to be protected from that $15 billion,” he said.
Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president of strategic growth for Georgia Power, told the special committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, the utility has put mechanisms in place to make sure “large-load” customers including data centers don’t pass on the costs of the power they need to residential ratepayers.
The PSC adopted a rule in January that requires Georgia Power customers using more than 100 megawatts of electricity to pay the transmission and distribution costs incurred as construction of their projects progresses.
“We’re ensuring (new) large-load customers are covering their costs,” Mitchell said. “Existing customers are protected.”
After Dietz complained that the Fayette County Development Authority and QTS haven’t been sufficiently forthcoming with details on Project Excalibur, Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, the special committee’s chairman, suggested she bring those concerns to local elected officials.
