By Lydia Crawley, The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS, W.Va. — The Parsons Revitalization Organization, PRO on TRAC, a 501c3 organization focused on revitalization of Parsons, hosted a Town Hall with West Virginia State Senate President Randy Smith Thursday, November 6th at the Tucker County Senior Citizens Center in Parsons.
Smith said that data center projects are multi-billion dollar projects that can range from $1 Billion to sometimes $5 Billion to complete. According to Smith, large companies are searching for new areas to place these centers due to a lack of power in Virginia where they had been placing data centers in the past and had exhausted the State’s supply of energy.
“Virginia doesn’t have anymore power,” Smith said. “They can’t put anymore data centers in so these companies like Apple and Amazon and Facebook and them are looking for other areas…and these aren’t small projects.”
According to Smith, the interest in the State stems from the State’s energy status as a net exporter of energy. Smith said that the State produces an excess of energy and other areas are running out of that energy. Smith said that the State exports that excess energy to its surrounding area. He went on to explain that he feels that it would be better for the State to utilize that energy within the State. Smith said he believes that this produces a more substantial tax base for the State.
“They got an interest in West Virginia and an interest in Tucker County,” Smith said.
Read more: https://parsonsadvocate.com/news/pa-top-stories/headlines/smith-shoots-straight-in-parsons-town-hall-talks-ridgeline-project-hb-2014/
Image: Courtesy of The Parsons Advocate
