Act Now: Tell Ohio NO on two polluting gas plants

Two major new gas combustion plants have been proposed to power data centers at the New Albany Business Park in Licking County. Please join us in telling the Ohio Power Siting Board not to approve them.

You can submit a written comment or testify at a public hearing — or both! Submitting a written comment is great, but testifying at the public hearing carries more weight on the legal record because it is sworn testimony.

The two gas plants are the NEO Power Generation Facility, a 500 MW gas combustion plant to power the Meta Prometheus data center, and PowerConneX III New Albany North, a 450 MW gas combustion plant to power an EdgeConneX data center campus.

NEO Power Generation Facility

If approved, NEO would be the fourth and largest gas plant to power the Meta Prometheus data center in the New Albany Business Park. Prometheus is the nation’s first 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) data center, using as much power as up to 1 million homes.

Three gas plants for Prometheus have already been approved: Socrates South (200 MW), Socrates North (200 MW), and Socrates the Younger (250 MW). Two were approved through the accelerated process with no public notice or public hearing.

These gas plants are not using efficient combined cycle turbines because those are on a multiyear back order. Instead, NEO would be powered by 27 simple cycle turbines which release heat and pollutants at 850 to 870 degrees Fahrenheit. It would also use four reciprocating internal combustion engines — like a gas car engine only many times larger.

According to its air permit application, NEO has the potential every year to produce:

• 3,471,813 tons of greenhouse gas pollution
• 197.1 tons of fine particulate matter
• 243.3 tons of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
• 172.73 tons of Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs)
• 189.1 tons of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
• 245.2 tons of Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• 40,200 pounds of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)

The Ohio Power Siting Board will hold a public hearing for the NEO Power Generation Facility on Tuesday, October 6, at 5 p.m. at New Albany-Plain Local Schools Annex Building, 79 North High Street, New Albany, Ohio 43054.

We will be meeting in Meeting Room 2 of the New Albany Public Library, 200 Market Street, starting at 3:30 p.m. on October 6 to go over any questions and rehearse testimony.

PowerConneX III / New Albany North

If approved, PowerConneX III (also called New Albany North) would be the third major gas combustion plants to power EdgeConneX data centers in the New Albany Business Park. PowerConneX I (120 MW) went through the accelerated review process with no public notice or public hearing. PowerConneX II (216 MW) went through the standard process.

As with data center gas plants across the country, the PowerConneX gas plants are not using efficient combined cycle turbines, which are on a multiyear back order. Instead, EdgeConneX is using fleets of reciprocating internal combustion engines — like enormous gas car engines — 30 for PowerConneX III.

According to its air permit application, PowerConneX III has the potential every year to produce:

• 2,026,706 tons of greenhouse gas pollution 
• 178.1 tons of particulate matter PM2.5
• 161.3 tons of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
• 218.8 tons of Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• 10.2 tons of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
• 243.9 tons of Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs)
• 63.8 tons of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs), including 23.7 tons of formaldehyde
• 214.2 tons of ammonia

The Ohio Power Siting Board will hold a public hearing for the PowerConneX III gas plant on Thursday, October 22, at 6 p.m. at New Albany High School, 7600 Fodor Road, New Albany, Ohio 43054.

We will be meeting in Meeting Room 2 of the New Albany Public Library, 200 Market Street, starting at 4:30 p.m. on October 22 to go over any questions and rehearse testimony.

Giving public testimony

Testifying at a public hearing may sound intimidating, but it is not hard. Here are a few pointers:

• Put the address for the location of the hearing in your maps app to find out how long of a drive it is for you – then add some time since you will be driving there during rush hour.
• Arrive early. People sign up to testify on a sign-up sheet at the venue, then speak in the order they signed up.
• You can say the same things in your testimony as you write in your public comment – but you may need to shorten it. If there is a large turnout, you may be given only three minutes to speak. Rehearse your testimony to make sure it falls within three minutes.
• You will be speaking to staff of the Ohio Power Siting Board. An administrative judge will conduct the hearing. Lawyers for the gas plant company will be there to listen. The judge or the gas plant lawyers could ask you a question, but that almost never happens.
• You will be asked to raise your right hand and swear that you are telling the truth.
• Then you may be asked a series of questions:
  • You will be asked to state and spell your name and give your address. 
  • You may be asked if you live or work in the project area. If you don’t, that’s okay. If you like, you can say you are an Ohio taxpayer concerned that the gas for this project will come from fracking public lands. 
  • You may be asked if you are an intervenor in the case. Unless you have filed to intervene legally in the case, you are not. The reason you are asked this is that people who have intervened legally cannot testify at the public hearing. They will have their own evidentiary hearing and testimony process at a later date.
• Speak clearly and enunciate. A court reporter will be taking down what everyone says word for word. You can also leave behind a written copy of your testimony.

That’s it! It seems a lot more intimidating than it actually is. Just prepare and take deep breaths. It’s over quickly – then you can either leave or stay and listen to the rest of the testimony.

Submitting written comments

Although giving public testimony carries more legal weight, it also helps to submit written comments. Here’s how:

NEO:
Case 26-0627-EL-BGN
Subject: Comment on Case #26-0627-EL-BGN 
Email: contactOPSB@puco.ohio.gov

PowerConneX III:
Case 26-0361-EL-BGN
Subject: Comment on Case #26-0361-EL-BGN
Email: contactOPSB@puco.ohio.gov

For both cases:

• Pick a few specific points to focus on
• Talk about the topic in your own words and relate it to your personal experience.
  • For example, if air pollution would make it hard to breathe, explain how the gas plant would affect your health.
  • If you enjoy our state parks and wildlife areas, explain that you don’t want to see them fracked for gas to power data centers.
• Sign with your real name and city, state and zip code.

Resources

Some resources to help you in testimony and comment preparation include:

Our Testimony and Commenting Toolkit

Our Testimony and Commenting Workshop:

Top photo: Simple cycle turbines lined up at the Socrates South gas plant, the first built to power the Meta Prometheus data center in New Albany, Ohio.