10.3.23 Union workers, Waterford residents debate plan for data center

Union workers, Waterford residents debate plan for data center
October 03, 2023 7:22 pm • Last Updated: October 03, 2023 7:41
pm
By Daniel Drainville Day Staff Writer
d.drainville@theday.com
Waterford ― At Monday night’s Representative Town Meeting,
residents and unionized construction workers disagreed over a
proposal by NE Edge LLC to build a data center on the Millstone
Power Station property.
While residents reiterated their concerns about noise and the impact
on the environment, union workers applauded the jobs it would
create.
William McCoy, attorney for NE Edge, also provided a status update
on the project.
First Selectman Rob Brule signed an agreement in March that calls
for NE Edge to pay the town $231 million over 30 years to
construct two two-story data center buildings, supplied with energy
from Millstone, that would provide 1.5 million square feet of
storage for cloud and data centers.
Keith Brothers, who heads the Connecticut State Building Trades
Council, told the RTM on Monday that his union has signed an
agreement with NE Edge in which it has agreed to use local union
workers and contractors.
“This project is going to generate over a million man hours for the
construction industry,” added Joseph Toner, the union’s executive
director. “One out of every four construction workers on this project
is going to be from Waterford.”
Toner said noise concerns about the project are disingenuous
because “every project is completely different.”

“Let’s do the due diligence on the studies, and then everyone will go
and look at that,” he said.
While residents acknowledged the importance of construction jobs,
they were not convinced.
“This is not, and I repeat not, about temporary union jobs. This is
about the health and safety of the residents of Waterford,” resident
Lynn MacMorrow said.
“If you go forward with this, you need to understand that it’s going
to impact the hearing of everyone around us,” said Judith Leary.
She claimed that data center noise would radiate 2.5 miles from the
facility.
McCoy refuted Leary’s claims, cited misinformation over the
project.
“Concerns matter, but concerns unsupported by fact are just
concerns,” he said.
McCoy would not deny that there are noisy data centers, but
claimed they are a result of poor design.
“You spend enough money, you can make that building quiet. And
ultimately that’s what we’re committed to doing because that’s the
standard we have. We can’t build a building that puts out 95
decibels. It’s not proper under the host fee agreement,” he said.
McCoy said he is committed to having further discussions with
residents but pointed out that it will be the town’s land use boards
that will decide on the design of the buildings.
The town’s ability to oversee the project still hinges on a decision
currently before the Connecticut Siting Council that would allow
Millstone owner Dominion Energy nuclear Connecticut, Inc., to
make room for the data center.
McCoy said he is prepared to come back to the RTM in December
with a “reasonably solid plan.”

d.drainville@theday.com