GCEDC says Orleans opposition to data center review based on ‘sour grapes’

Retired DA Joe Cardone pitches his property in Shelby for massive project

File photo by Tom Rivers: A massive data center, totaling 2.2 million square feet, could be headed to the STAMP site off Route 63 in the town of Alabama.

 ALABAMA – The leader of the Orleans County Legislature is asking the state Department of Environmental Conservation to be the lead agency for an environmental review of a proposed data center at the STAMP site in Alabama, just south of Orleans County.

Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the County Legislature, said in her Jan. 16 letter that the Genesee County Economic Development Center would be “biased” in the review of Project Double Reed and it would be better to have the environmental impact review conducted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, not the GCEDC. Johnson sent the letter to DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton.

GCEDC has fired back with its own letter to the commissioner and also Regional Director Timothy Walsh, claiming the Orleans opposition is based on “sour grapes” because Orleans wanted the project in Shelby, not Genesee County.

GCEDC also said Orleans has been unable to secure larger-scale projects and tried to thwart Genesee County from running a sewer transmission line from STAMP to Oak Orchard Creek in Shelby to derail development of STAMP. GCEDC has decided to use the sewer plant in Oakfield, with the discharged water still ultimately going into the Oak Orchard.

Adam S. Walters of the Phillips Lytle LLP law firm sent the letter on behalf of the GCEDC on Monday, and cited several procedural errors in Johnson’s letter that should make it invalid. Among the five cited: the letter wasn’t sent by certified mail or other form of receipted delivery (instead by email).

The letter also didn’t have the backing of the full legislature because there was no formal resolution from the County Legislature, Walters said.

Orleans County also isn’t an “involved agency” for for the proposed data center as it “will not fund, approve or directly undertake Project Double Reed,” Wash writes. GCEDC considers Orleans County as an “interested agency” due to STAMP’s proximity to the Orleans/Genesee County line and sewer infrastructure planned to run from STAMP into Orleans County.

Walters said that Johnson’s letter “has no effect” since the GCEDC staked its claim to serve as lead agency more than 30 days ago and that “the NYSDEC itself did not challenge GCEDC’s declaration of intent.”

“It appears that the objections in the Johnson Letter do not stem from any legitimate environmental concerns but rather result from GCEDC refusing to push Project Double Reed to locate in Orleans County rather than at STAMP,” Walters said.

GCEDC first stated it would be lead agency for Project Double Read about a year ago. At the time the $6.3 billion project was proposed at 900,000 square feet and it would have paid $218.4 million to municipalities in revenue over 20 years. The data center now is proposed to be more than double that initial plan.

The initial declaration by GCEDC to be lead agency in the environmental review was rescinded when the project changed to a 2.2 million-square-foot data center consisting of three two-story buildings. It would be on approximately 90 acres at STAMP with another 40 acres to be utilized as temporary construction/logistics areas.

Johnson, in her letter, said no businesses are currently operating at STAMP despite years of public investment in the site. (Edwards Vacuum is building a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing site at STAMP, a $319 million project that is part of the semi-conductor industry.)

“Under GCEDC’s stewardship, STAMP has been nothing more than a series of unfulfilled promises, questionable allocation of resources and a series of environmental pollution events so significant that this Agency and the Federal government revoked its permits,” Johnson said.

GCEDC holds a “biased position,” Johnson said,  to “justify the fact that it has spent almost $500 million of taxpayer dollars is to jump start a project — any project — regardless of its environmental impact.”

Her letter said the data center would have a negative impact on air quality, energy usage, water usage and wastewater disposal.

GCEDC responded that Johnson is way off on claiming $500 million in taxpayer dollars for STAMP. The number represents the total investment so far at the site, and most of that has been private contributions, GCEDC said.

“Accordingly, the motivations for Orleans County’s objection appear to be based on so called ‘sour grapes’ regarding failed efforts to secure a multi-billion dollar project and past litigation defeats rather than an honest concern about GCEDC serving as lead agency,” Walters wrote in his letter.

Joe Cardone has proposed his 284 acres of land off Route 63 in Shelby be considered for a large-scale data center.

Walters, the GCEDC attorney, said Johnson’s letter may be an effort to steer the data center into Orleans County. Joe Cardone, the retired district attorney for Orleans, met with the GCEDC on December 18 to pitch his property for the data center. Walters said Cardone is trying to “poach” the project so it can be on his property.

GCEDC, in its letter to the DEC officials, included information provided by Cardone to the GCEDC on why he sees his site as a superior location.

Cardone said it would be away from the Tonawanda Indian Reservation and the wildlife management areas, sensitive sites that many detractors say make STAMP a bad fit for such a large development project.

Cardone, in his presentation to GCEDC, cited other benefits of the site in Shelby:

• “downstream” from all environmentally concerning areas
• not bordered by sensitive Native American properties
• only 5 miles due north of STAMP and 11 miles north of NYS Thruway
• closer to Niagara Falls hydropower plant
• close proximity to major utilities in Medina, including sewage disposal plant
• within 2 miles of industrial development facility in Orleans County (Medina Business Park)
• seismically stable property
• existing 100-acre excavated stone quarry to serve as cooling station for “closed loop” system
• located in sparsely population area
• limestone material ad concrete plant at location for construction
• access to facility on four roads (Route 63, Ryan, Blair and Salt Works roads)
• noise less of a factor with currently operating stone quarry
• minimal impact on environmental concerns or farming
• more amenities available with the village of Medina just comfortably 3 miles to the north
• results of reclamation of existing stone quarry
• elimination of disposal into Oak orchard Creek

GCEDC said Cardone’s land would be years away from securing the needed infrastructure and approvals to make the site a possibility for such a development.

Johnson spoke about the letter and response from GCEDC after today’s Legislature meeting. She said she supports the development of STAMP but doesn’t want the sewer discharges harming the Oak Orchard Creek, which is a valuable asset in the county, particularly for fishing, the county’s top tourism draw.

The buildout of STAMP would have many positive ripple effects for Orleans County, she said, bringing more residents to the area for housing, businesses and other economic activity.

She said she was aware Cardone was presenting his land as an option for the data center and she said that is his right as a landowner, but it hasn’t formally been presented to the board of the Orleans Economic Development Agency as an option.

Cardone said the land is Shelby is a better location for the data center than STAMP, which borders a wildlife refuge and wildlife management areas.