National state capitol protest on data centers: Franklin community fights back
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Saturday, across the nation, a state capitol protest was held against data centers.
A proposed set of data centers is said to be housed in Franklin, where community members are pushing back.
Riley Bright, owner of Brights Antique Mall, said his business properties are adjacent to the proposed data center’s land and says there are questions he has that are left unanswered.
“We’re just trying to get answers because there’s a lot of secrecy going on around here,” Bright said.
Bright is one of the founders of Franklin Citizens for Responsible Development. He said with all the speculation about data centers, there should be protection in place for citizens, crops, livestock and land.
“It’s all about answers. We’re trying to get answers to make sure there is code written to protect the land, and the people around and in our town,” Bright said.
Saturday morning across the US, there were state capital protests against data centers. According to the Kentucky Energy Planning and Inventory Commission, the state hosts 37 data centers across nine markets.
The report includes that there are more planned to come to the state.
In early June, Gov. Andy Beshear held a press conference about the medical cannabis program, in which we also made a comment about data centers coming to Kentucky.
“Any data center that wants to look at Kentucky is going to have to pay for 100% of its own energy and if it needs new means of production, it needs to pay for those too. any data center is going to have to pass every single one of our environmental laws and permitting and they need to be able to tell the community,” Beshear said.
Heather Crawford, a member of Franklin Citizens for Responsible Development, said the communities in the city are not being heard.
“It would be best if we could get answers to our questions before anything else goes forward because we just don’t know,” Crawford said.
Right now, TenKey Land Co. can only move forward with planning and permitting.
According to the Kentucky Energy Planning and Inventory Commission, the state of Kentucky is being studied for data centers due to low industrial electricity rates.
As for the City of Franklin, some community members still question the energy pull. They are also concerned about environmental risks.
“How do they suspect they are going to provide power if they start putting in these data centers? I’m a two-time cancer survivor, and the idea of adding pollutants to our environment that’s going to create more cancer risk, more respiratory illnesses, that just doesn’t make any sense,” said Tom Ottom, member of Franklin Citizens for Responsible Development.
July 20 is the court date for arguments between TenKey Land Co. and Franklin Citizens for Responsible Development.
