Editor:

Much has been reported regarding Stream Data Centers’ proposed project in Genesee County’s STAMP business complex. Unfortunately, the majority of it hasn’t been accurate.

Non-local opponents have traveled from far and wide to spread fear and misinformation. Using old industry data – and ignoring the cutting-edge technologies and best practices being employed – they’ve claimed it will damage the environment, increase residential energy rates, and result in the region “losing money” due to economic incentives.

None of that is true.

The truth is, Stream Data Centers will bring more than a half a billion dollars in property tax payments alone to the Town of Basom, Genesee County and Oakfield-Alabama School District over 30 years. This is over and above the thousands of construction jobs which will be filled over the project’s muti-year buildout, the money those workers will spend and sales tax they’ll generate, the 125 permanent jobs whose average annual salaries will exceed $100,000, and the dozens of additional contractors and vendors who will do business with Stream once they are operational.

Stream has already invested $130,000 in the district, working with school leaders to identify initiatives to best impact students and families. This includes the rebirth of its after-school program, paid agricultural summer internships, new high school CAD lab machinery, and new exercise equipment to enhance the district’s health and wellness.

They’ve also committed to operating their facility with rigorous environmental responsibility. Once their cooling system is filled, it requires no additional water; thus, its daily water use will be similar to a typical 125-employee office space, with standard sink, toilet and daily dishwasher use.

Speaking of dishwashers, that’s how quiet the facility will be. Stream has engineered this project to guarantee no more than 45 decibels of sound emanating at night – on par with a quiet residential dishwasher. During the day it will be not exceed 65 decibels, akin to normal human conversation.

There will be no problematic air or light emissions and their operations won’t harm local wildlife or habitats. Their designs incorporate eco-friendly lighting and windows, along with landscape architecture that will ultimately add native vegetation to the acres of currently abandoned farmland.

Moreover, Stream is not asking us to take their word for it. Members of the Alabama Town Board and Planning Committee have toured existing Stream Data Center complexes. Those representatives witnessed quiet, clean operations and asked whatever questions they wanted to employees – along with unscheduled visits to neighboring residents, who assured them of their unobtrusive presence, with several having no idea they lived near a data center.

Then there’s the project’s site: not on pristine, undisturbed lands, but on an established campus, in between a 17-acre, nearly complete electrical substation under construction since 2022; and the 50-acre Edwards Vacuum facility on Crosby Road which took nearly three years to complete. Some insist the construction will cause wildlife to leave the area. Yet, if construction has been happening for years – and none of it has left yet – why would it now if something is built between these established facilities?

Lastly, there’s the issue of energy, which is effectively already in place. Dedicated, high-power electrical lines pass through the property, forming the backbone of Upstate New York’s electric power grid. These lines are purpose-built for reliable, large-scale power delivery to major industrial users and operate separately from local lines that serve residential customers.

Stream has worked with utilities, state authorities and the state grid operator to ensure its thoughtful integration into the grid without impacting residential supply or rates. Stream is paying for the infrastructure to deliver this existing power to its facility. Moreover, it is subsidizing the remaining 100 megawatts in the STAMP park for future business projects. That’s enough electricity to power nine more projects the size of Edwards Vacuum – another proactive community investment.

It’s time we stop letting outsiders tell us what’s best for our community. Stream has come to Genesee County with an excellent reputation and a decades-long commitment. They’ve been open and fair neighbors at every turn. It’s time we welcome them – not fight them. Let’s sit down and have a rational discussion to discover how else Stream might benefit our community. Because the only way our region will lose money from this relationship is if we turn them away.

Thomas Snyder

Attica

Energy Systems Engineer and Genesee County landowner

Editor:

It’s nice to be in a small community where people support one another and share ideas and goals.

It is an eye-opener to see how a new industry, Data Centers, would seek to take advantage of our ideal setting and exploit our resources. I never thought it might be happening here—or close by—near the Orleans County line.

I encourage you to become aware of the dangers posed by the planned Data Center. Learn about it and ask questions. Will it substantially affect our electric bills? How will it impact our water supply? Wildlife habitat is likely to be affected adversely.

Public officials should support the will of the people and what is best for our cherished community.

If you would like to know more about this Data Center and ask questions, attend the Green Orleans information session on Thursday, May 7th at the Hoag Library in Albion beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Thanks for your interest,

Gary Kent on behalf of Green Orleans

Albion

Editor:

In the continuing dialogue between citizens and the proposed data center, another factor to throw in the mix: In Europe and especially Ireland, Finland and Sweden, Microsoft and Google are recycling waste heat from their data centers to warm homes and businesses.

What if the data-center company was able to provide free heat to Orleans and Genesee County homes. Could that be something to negotiate? It works in Europe, why not in New York State?

Jack Capurso

Ashburn, Va.

Member of Albion High School class 1960

Editor:

In a recent Daily News article about the proposed data center at STAMP in the Town of Alabama, GCEDC Director Mark Masse gave an electrifying account of the economic benefits. Underneath this buzz, though, is the need for closer examination of the economic returns.

There has been concern for some time that the generative AI boom may actually be a bubble that will someday burst.  According to a recent article in The Atlantic, during the 1990s, when it was thought that increased usages of PCs and the Internet would warrant them, there was a large build-out of fossil fuel-powered energy plants. When that demand failed to materialize, many energy projects were abandoned or went bankrupt. Well, guess what. The same article continues:

“The generative-AI boom, too, could prove to be a bubble. The technology remains extraordinarily expensive, largely because of the cost of advanced computer chips, and no AI firm has presented a convincing business model… And if AI doesn’t turn out to be as transformative a technology as experts predict, swaths of data centers could be left unused or unfinished—ruins from a future that never came to pass.”

What if this is the case for the $19.46 billion STREAM project and the undisclosed future operator? Is there any protection for the Town of Alabama, Genesee County or the GCEDC if the project is started but abandoned? Has the project been bonded for performance or payments or are there other safeguards to protect local entities? Does the Town of Alabama or the county have the capacity to maintain or to demolish a 2.2 million square-foot building or to take care of residual pollution?

GCEDC claims that Genesee County can expect $283.9 million in PILOT/Host payments over a 30-year period and $9 million annual in sales tax revenue from electrical usage, for a total of $270 million over 30 years.

Realistically, the average lifespan of these facilities is currently 10-15 years, with massive data centers like the one proposed at the STREAM site too new to be known. Because technology changes so rapidly, any prediction about an industry or tax benefits over a 30-year period is conjecture.

The public is increasingly skeptical of data centers, with a February poll showing 70% of Wisconsin residents now believing that the costs outweigh the benefits, a microcosm of what is happening elsewhere. In at least 14 states and dozens of local municipalities, governments are introducing legislation to slow or stop data center development.  In Virginia,  an area that’s referred to as “Data Center Alley,” voters have turned sharply against building more, with only 35% of people now comfortable with a data center in their community (69% in 2023); a proposed 1,700 acre campus near Manassas was recently dropped. In addition, Virginia voters have turned abruptly against tax breaks for these centers with 56% now strongly opposed (31% in 2023), an opinion that has shaken up local elections.

Data centers are unifying people across the political divide and garnering strong bipartisan resistance. In addition to environmental concerns, people are worried about higher electricity prices and lower home values, and they take exception to major corporations quietly arriving in their communities and setting up colossal and secretive deals affecting taxpayers.

Here in Genesee County and the GLOW region, resistance is mounting as people see the consequences of the dangerous environmental impacts along with the economic gamble.

Leslie DeLooze

LeRoy

Editor:

In response to the Albion Village budget increase of 2.5 percent after last year’s devastating 11 percent budget increase.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. In Albion, 46% ($2,268,000) of the village budget is the police department. Medina’s at $1,277,000 is about half that. And Medina has a higher population count.

We do not need 13 full-time police officers making more than most county sheriffs. Now you know why your village tax is higher than your school or county tax. And how are the village taxes so high when you lost the fire department? Fire department expenditures went from $174,000 in 2023-2024 to $50,000 in 2026-2027. Give me a break.

Mike Clemons

Dansville, NY

Former Village of Albion resident

Editor:

Despite profound public resistance reaching all of the way to Governor Hochul, the massive STREAM Data Center Project in the Town of Alabama continues to inch forward.

While on the state level, both the senate and legislature have introduced a bill that would enact a three-year moratorium on data center permitting (Senate Bill S-9144, Assembly Bill A-10141), state reps continue to take a “not my circus, not my monkeys” approach when asked by so many of their constituents for help. Some take even less of a stance in that they take no stance at all – refusing to publicly promote or condemn the project.

The latest example of this is State Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R), representing Assembly District 139 which includes all of Orleans and Genesee counties, and portions of Monroe and Erie counties. Just last week Mr. Hawley mailed out postcards warning of impending energy crises, rising utility bills, an unstable utility grid, and his great plan to save us all. And yet, no mention of the STREAM Data Center project.

What could be more dangerous to an already unstable grid than adding a massive Data Center that requires 500 megawatts to operate? What could cause already rising utility costs to increase even further? (cough, a 500 megawatt data center).

One way or another, we deserve to know where he stands. If he really means all that he claims on this latest postcard it would only make sense that he would also be against this project.

We’re waiting.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Thompson

Batavia

Editor:

“We’re proud of the positive impact our projects have on our communities.”

This statement comes from the website of STREAM US Data Centers, which is trying to build a massive data center complex at STAMP in the Town of Alabama. But on a recent weekend, local residents experienced the opposite from STREAM – even though the project has not been approved and STREAM does not yet own any land at STAMP.

At 9 a.m. on April 18, the peace and quiet of our local area was abruptly disrupted by the start of intensely loud industrial noise. The noise lasted all day and began again the next day.

Here are some testimonials from residents:

• “It was so incredibly loud. I drove over there because the pounding was driving me crazy and was so loud.”
• “[It was] a booming noise. It was awful.”
• “I had to listen to that anxiety-producing pounding all weekend long… My nerves were shot.”
• “We have listened to that for 2 solid days… constant banging & pounding noise.”
• “We had windows open & ended up closing them because of the dust. The dust moved over us like a cloud. We saw it coming.”
• “There was so much noise from this you could hear it over on Casey Road at the Iroquois Headquarters.”

In fact, residents reported hearing the noise up to 7 miles away from the source. And what was the source? STREAM starting to demolish the Plug Power hydrogen spheres.

Residents received no prior notification that this was going to happen – from STREAM, from Plug, from the Town, or from GCEDC. We do not know if it is legal, if the Town permitted it, what safety measures are being taken. We do not know if the dust is toxic or how long the noise will go on.

We want the hydrogen spheres removed. They are an eyesore and a constant reminder of STAMP’s failures and broken promises. But we want this done in the right way. We want it done safely and with prior notification to residents, including the chance to ask questions.

We see what STREAM is trying to do. They have cut a deal with Plug to take down the spheres so they can make it look like this project is a done deal.

Well, it’s not. And their actions are only making us more committed to stopping them.

STREAM: You have already violated our trust and caused us harm. Before your project has even been approved, you have had only a negative impact on our community. Go away. You are not welcome here.

Local residents: call and email the Town of Alabama to express your concerns about the demolition. Then stay tuned for the rescheduled Town of Alabama Planning Board Site Plan Application Hearing. See STOP the STAMP Monster Data Center on Facebook for more info.

Signed,

Ariel Cieszki, Alabama

Cheryl Cordes, Alabama

Mark Cordes, Alabama

Lee Ann Mullen, Alabama

Sharon Larmon, Alabama

Gaye Drock, Alabama

Amanda Johnson, Alabama

Jim Joyner, Alabama

Amy Joyner, Alabama

Hillery Dennies, Alabama

Victoria Guite, Alabama

Judith Schilling, Alabama

Editor:

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney’s attempt to blame the poor economic conditions for farmers on Canadian policies shows Ms. Tenney’s incompetence.

This administration came into office and scrapped the trade agreement they had negotiated between Mexico and Canada, and arbitrarily and capriciously established tariffs, transforming a stable partnership into a contentious one.

Businesses cannot operate in an environment where one side discards the rules of trade on a whim. Canada, like any business, looks to do business with stable partners. As a Congresswoman, Ms. Tenney has the responsibility to oversee the use of tariffs and represent her constituents’ economic interests, including those of farmers in her district.

It is because of her actions as a Congresswoman that farmers in her district are suffering economically.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

I have not written waiting as the inevitable revealed itself.

Today I was in Canada. I felt embarrassed – dirty. The best thing I can say is that they’re pivoting  to ensure that economically, socially and geopolitically they don’t get sucked down the same sewer.

They voted for talent. We voted for a gangster and a braggart.

The coming question is what to do about those leaders who intentionally participated in this frightful absurdity for their own benefit or were so feckless they could not spot a forked tongue sales pitch.

Clearly one choice is to follow the road to autocracy and impoverishment of the majority.

The other lies with the free world which promotes modern capitalism so all can share based on their will to excel and skill.

The inevitable is to either keep sinking or put petty, old divisive ideas behind us and join the modern world.

That time is now. Throw the bums out. Start the rebuild. New and better.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Barre

Editor:

This is in response to Mr. Schmidt’s letter about the county legislators at the SCOPE meeting. Thank you legislators for coming to the meeting.

The meeting was going fine until a man in attendance spoke up and came off as rude, arrogant, condescending and the smartest man in the room. A cheerleader for the Legislature.

He went on to lecture and make all kinds of suggestions of what we should do, even donate money to the legislators. People were asking after the meeting who was that jerk. What were the legislators expecting? Adulation? Softball questions? Love letters?

They are in a room full of people that are rabid constitutionalists applying first amendment rights. Who believe that document is the law of the land. That do not trust government and apparently them. That have paid attention to what they are doing and not doing.

They want pushback from our local leaders against Albany. They are disgusted by the land that was purchased. They are appalled by the surveillance, taxes and a government that is more concerned with not laying people off than funding the DA’s office to prosecute criminals, and one question that was not asked was why is the CAO not an elected position?

One legislator blew off the very valid comments of one member as “we all know Terry” like what he says is some kind of joke. Then the question of dividing NY was pushed off on Steve Hawley. Dividing NY has to come from all the counties all getting together and refuse to enforce, pay, or obey the dictates of Albany. Never going to happen.

Our government does not have the rebellious fortitude anywhere of the founding fathers, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. So, what is expected of frustrated constituents? This is why people don’t vote.

Term limits would help but why would the wolves vote to relinquish their power? You can watch the meeting in full on YouTube then you can decide if the room was negative or hostile. Click here to see the video.

Paul Lauricella

Lyndonville