CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – Gov. Patrick Morrisey says he is working with lawmakers and community leaders to plan the future of data centers in West Virginia.
The governor says House Bill 2014, which established the state’s oversight and development criteria for data centers, unifies the entire state and allows companies to get clear insight about regulation.
According to Morrisey, the state will fully oversee water asset protection and make sure the projects lead to tax relief for residents. He told Newswatch today that centers need to be built in a way that is mindful of the communities they are near. That means preventing noise pollution and electricity rate hikes.
“It’s important that we look at noise mitigation. You look at setback, so it’s not set too close to an area,” Morrisey said. “We’ve seen that in other states. We’re going to be pulling together an advisory committee about how to set those right standards so that people get comfortable with them. I want to make sure that electricity prices are actually going down, not up, and we’re not going to tolerate entities coming in and causing spikes in our electricity prices. We decided that it was important to put principles together for responsible data centers.”
The governor said his administration is working on water issues beyond data centers. He recently concluded a listening tour in southern West Virginia, where he heard from local leaders and residents in several communities.
He told Newswatch his administration has already spent $174 million in state dollars on water and sewer, and said more projects are coming. Part of the work is addressing long-standing issues.
“We’re going to take it step by step and try to make sure that we’re solving problems,” Morrisey said. “It could be leaks in Wayne County. It could be some of the challenges for some of the water tanks in another county. It could just be the overall need for connecting the water pipes from one community to another, whether we’re talking about Wyoming or McDowell or Mingo or Wayne or all the counties, [including] Fayette County.”
