A divisive plan to build a new data center in Texas cleared a major hurdle, much to the chagrin of nearby residents who fear the facility will disrupt their livelihood.
What's happening?
The city council in Fort Worth voted 7-2 in favor of a zoning change that would permit the construction of a data center on a 120-acre plot of land near Tarleton State University.
According to the Fort Worth Report, this decision gave the owners and developers of the project a waiver that allows them to build a five-building data center on a property once designated for future residential and mixed-use properties.
It also directly opposes the sentiments of the city's zoning commission, which rejected the plans since it argued that a data center would not draw much in the way of employment or commercial activity.
City Council member Jared Williams, who voted as part of the majority decision, told the publication that the proposed facility would be one of the most taxable projects in the city at an estimated $750 million.
Travis Clegg, a representative for the owner and developer, also clarified what the data center would and would not bring to the community.
"This site is highly sought-after for a major data center investment, and that data center could process data for AI [artificial intelligence] services, cellphone connectivity, internet storage, clouds or cloud storage, and streaming services," he said. "But what it's not is a bitcoin operation."
Why is the construction of the data center concerning?
While the proposal still requires several approvals before coming to fruition, several locals in the nearby Panther Heights neighborhood voiced their frustration before the city council voted.
"The area is designed for a mixed-use development that could add restaurants and other retailers out here, which we need," Ericka Schwan-Ornelas said.
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She raised potential issues about traffic, light pollution, energy and water consumption, and noise, as well as the fact that the buildings may reach a height of 105 feet.
The concerns aren't unfounded, as the energy and water needed to cool and operate the facilities can take an immense toll on the environment.
"We're a small neighborhood compared to these monster developments," Kevin Schwan said at a previous meeting.
What's being done about the potential issues of the data center?
Clegg noted that the owners and developers met with the public multiple times to alleviate any apprehension.
He said that the data centers would generate sounds of up to 40 decibels — about 20 decibels lower than what the highway or gas wells produce — and would remain at this noise level since the facility wouldn't involve bitcoin mining.
Clegg also said that the data center would be 1,400 feet from the nearest homes and would include a space reserved for future commercial development and a public area with park-like amenities to "provide a buffer between the center and residences."
However, it's unclear what steps the data center will take to ease its burden on the grid in a state vulnerable to blackouts as a result of extreme weather events and energy-intensive bitcoin mining processes.
On that note, at least, most professional crypto mining companies have recognized that renewable energy off the grid is a smart investment to power their operations for several reasons, and the industry has begun shifting to solar, wind, and hydroelectric more frequently.
That, at times, may pull the power away from the grid, as in the case of a 112-megawatt wind farm in Texas that was purchased for bitcoin mining, but pro-crypto analysts say these investments should push things in a better direction over the long haul.
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