On Monday, one candidate for West Virginia House of Delegates stood on a street corner holding up his campaign sign, typical for candidates before an election. This candidate had an assistant who held up a “No Data Center” sign.

There are currently no plans for a data center in our community like in other places in the Shale Crescent USA region. If a data center was planned for Elkview, I would be concerned. I know data centers are essential to our everyday lives and national security. “No data centers” anywhere is irresponsible and dangerous. This candidate was defeated.

Ways need to be found to coexist like we do with other things. Automobiles are dangerous and kill thousands every year. We don’t ban them. We set up regulations and laws on how and where to use them.

After the pandemic started, I was a guest on the University of Colorado’s student radio station discussing why the pandemic showed us “made in America” is now essential. The student host told his audience, “We don’t like gas wells or petrochemical plants. But we like our skis, cars, cell phones and climbing ropes. If we are going to have those things, doesn’t it make sense they are made in the USA under our environmental laws and provide jobs for us?”

The young host understood a bigger picture than many adults. People in the European Union did not quit buying plastic products, cars, cell phones or medical devices when they chose to create strict environmental and carbon regulations. They just bought the products from other countries like China whose environmental law was weaker than the EU’s.

The EU gave up the jobs created by producing those products. Sending manufacturing to China did not help the planet. Americans use products and information from data centers every day, whether they realize it or not. We need to figure out how we can have data centers and avoid the problems associated with them.

A good place to start is knowing what a data center is and why they are important. A data center is a facility that houses networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure. They are the backbone of the internet, cloud computing and AI. When we send a photo or file to “the cloud,” it is going to a data center (not a real cloud in the sky).

Data centers enable streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. They make email and AI possible. The USA currently has over 3,000 data centers with more planned because of the rapid growth of AI. When we do a search on Google, Safari or other platforms we are using AI. When I finish a Zoom call, AI summarizes it.

AI is essential for our military. Data centers are considered critical infrastructure for AI application in battlefield simulations, target identification and logistics. All branches of the military are planning data centers on military installations. Our military understands winning the AI race is critical because it produces unmatched decision-making speed, autonomous weapon coordination and enhanced battlefield awareness. This is sounding like “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.”

The Ukraine and Iran wars show us what extensive use of drones in warfare looks like. Soldiers control drones today. What would happen if through AI, drones were given a mission and made their own decisions autonomous of external human control. Sounds like a “Terminator” movie. I am concerned and don’t have solutions. It appears we need AI to protect us from those who would do us harm.

How can we minimize the downside of data centers? We can avoid siting data centers on prime farmland or prime river industrial property. Data centers need flat land, lots of electricity and usually water for cooling. Abandoned strip mines may be good sites or flat land further from a river.

Data centers should pay their own way like other industry. As a utility rate payer, I don’t want to pay for upgrades to the power grid to accommodate a data center or subsidize their power.

Data centers need 24/7/365 power. Loss of power means loss of data. Data centers must plan for backup power if their primary source fails.

Some data centers want “green” power. They can use wind and solar as part of their energy mix but the actual electrons keeping the data center operational at night or during an ice storm will come from baseload power sources like nuclear, coal or natural gas. Data center companies are beginning to realize the most dependable and economical electricity is produced on site by having their own power plant. Typically, natural gas.

For economical dependable power, data centers need to consider locating where energy is produced. Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are energy exporting states. Places like Virginia and North Carolina are energy importing states, getting their coal and natural gas or electricity from the Shale Crescent USA.

One major company bought property in North Carolina to build a data center and plans to build their own natural gas power plant on site. Before buying the property, they never considered that North Carolina does not produce natural gas. They are hoping to get gas from the Mountain Valley Pipeline which carries natural gas from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

There is a big problem building a pipeline across the Virginia-North Carolina state line. This involves the federal government. Environmental groups are fighting the project. Data center companies can lower costs by building on top of their energy.

Other than for construction, data centers don’t create very many jobs. Shale Crescent USA is working with manufacturing companies looking for 10-20-acre sites requiring dependable, economical power, some creating over 200 jobs each. If data center sites with power plants are built large enough, we can attract the high-wage manufacturing jobs needed for long-term prosperity.

Just saying “no” to data centers is not a solution. With effective communication and a little creativity, we can have a clean environment, high-wage manufacturing jobs and the data centers we need.

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Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and more than 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker and author of four books and many published articles.