Deadline should be extended for people to comment on incentives for data center

Editor:

On Thursday, March 19, the GCEDC held a public hearing on the request from STREAM US Data Centers and Apollo Global Management for $1.46 billion in taxpayer subsidies for their proposed 2.2 million square foot, 500 MW data center complex at STAMP. GCEDC would earn $146 million in fees from the deal.

The hearing started at 7 p.m. and lasted until 12:30 a.m. At least 300 people packed into the Town of Alabama Fire Hall. All but two speakers – both of whom work for organizations that stand to benefit financially from the deal – spoke in powerful opposition.

It’s clear: Genesee County, the GLOW Region, and WNY say “No” to the STAMP Monster Data Center. The hearing provided an opportunity for much-needed truth telling about the data center, GCEDC’s failures over the years. We built community and solidarity in that hearing.

But there were some issues:

• Not all members of the GCEDC Board of Directors, which will vote on the incentive package, seemed to be present for the entire hearing. This is unacceptable.
• Because the hearing did not begin until 7 p.m. on a work night/school night, many individuals left before they had a chance to comment. Additionally, that meant that those individuals did not hear their fellow community members who spoke after they left – and that most members of the media had left long before the end of the hearing.
• Neither STREAM nor GCEDC answered questions from the public.
• Commenters raised serious issues about gaps and inconsistencies of information in the materials shared publicly by STREAM, as well as about its financial backer, Apollo Global Management. Many of these gaps and inconsistencies have also been flagged by GCEDC’s own paid consultants.
• GCEDC uploaded a highly edited videorecording of the hearing that distorts critical aspects of the event and public response. If this video is supposed to serve as the public record of the proceedings, that is a big problem.

GCEDC does not plan to hold additional hearings, and set March 31 as the deadline for written comment on the data center proposal. This is unacceptable.

We demand:

• GCEDC must hold additional public hearings, at a range of times that accommodate people with varying schedules;
• The Board of Directors must be present at these hearings;
• GCEDC and STREAM must publicly answer questions from the public about the data center proposal;
• GCEDC must upload the full, unedited videorecording of the March 19 public hearing asap;
• Given that GCEDC’s own staff and consultants have flagged numerous inconsistencies and gaps in STREAM’s application materials, GCEDC must ensure both that final application documents, once submitted by STREAM, are provided to the public, and that the public then has the opportunity to comment, before the Board makes any decision on this application, financial, environmental, or otherwise;
• Thus, GCEDC must extend the deadline for comments on the data center proposal until the above demands have been met.

The stakes for our community are too high. The people of Genesee County and the GLOW Region deserve a robust, meaningful, transparent public process for decision-making on the data center plan.

Sincerely,

Gina Schelemanow, Batavia

Alyssa Beuler, Oakfield

Adrienne Yocina, Pembroke

on behalf of Allies of Tonawanda Seneca Nation