Covington Data Center Power Plant Being Built without State Permits

Read More in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution:  Georgia's first data center 'pop-up' power plant is breaking rules, groups say.

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton Co-Founder & President

I wrote three weeks ago that "With Data Centers, What You Don't See Can Hurt You."  But drive down Hazelbrand Road east of GA-142 in Covington today and now you can see exactly what I meant.

​The exhaust stacks towering above the roadway are part of a methane-fired power plant being built to generate electricity for a data center.  But neither the energy company constructing the engines nor the data center operator next door have a state permit for doing so.

The federal Clean Air Act and Georgia's federally-approved State Implementation Plan (SIP) both require companies to obtain a preconstruction permit for new sources of air pollution prior to starting construction. While VoltaGrid has applied for a permit, Georgia law explicitly prohibits building "emission units" before the final air permit is issued. Per the process, EPD published a draft permit for the VoltaGrid project in February, inviting public review and comments through March 13.  In response, SELC submitted comments on our behalf, raising major issues with the permit, and Sustainable Newton sent a separate letter as well.  To date, EPD is still reviewing those comments and has issued no final permit.

After ground and aerial photographs confirmed illegal activity at the site, Sustainable Newton filed a complaint late last week, ​along with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and Altamaha Riverkeeper, requesting the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) investigate and commence an enforcement action against the Houston-based energy company VoltaGrid for constructing a 90 MW power plant in Covington without obtaining necessary preconstruction air permits.  The letter, submitted by our SELC attorneys, includes aerial photographs showing completion of at least eight of 33 reciprocating internal combustion engines the company plans to operate to power the adjacent Serverfarm data center on Hazelbrand Road.  The photos also show Serverfarm has installed 36 diesel engines to provide backup power -- also without a permit.

Ground-based photos taken by a neighbor on June 19 at the 10835 Hazelbrand Road site showed exhaust stacks and other equipment that cannot legally be constructed without a permit.  That prompted SELC to commission a drone photographer who took aerial photographs on June 25.  Those images show eight of the planned 33 methane-fired engines were completed, with the other 25 under construction. (All aerial  photos credited to: ©Michael A. Schwarz.)

Images of the adjacent Serverfarm data center at the same address reveal the owner has installed ​at least 36 of the 37 diesel-fired emergency generators proposed in the original application.  These too are unpermitted.

In public comments we submitted to EPD on March 13, both Sustainable Newton and SELC questioned whether the power plant described in the VoltaGrid application would comply with EPD’s air regulations as well as Georgia’s laws governing sale of electricity to independent entities. With those concerns still unanswered, there is no guarantee EPD will issue any air permit to VoltaGrid or that the permit will not impose additional safeguards. For instance, EPD could limit the number or location of engines to reduce risks to public health from ambient levels of toxic and carcinogenic formaldehyde, an issue raised in our  comments.  The unpermitted construction already taking place makes any new requirements more difficult and contentious to implement.

By jumping the gun, VoltaGrid and Serverfarm are ignoring EPD’s legal requirements and blatantly disregarding the public participation process meant to protect those living downwind of the facility.

As we noted in our earlier comments on the application and the subsequent draft permit circulated by EPD, this project sits in a highly sensitive area already stressed by other polluting activities, past and present.  Within a small radius from the VoltaGrid/Serverfarm site, there are multiple industrial facilities emitting pollution into the local air: Amazon is currently building a data center less than a mile away, while the two largest emitters in the county (General Mills and Pactiv Corp) are within two miles.  EPA has also previously warned about elevated cancer risks from the BD Covington sterilization facility less than two miles away, which was forced to shutdown temporarily by court order in 2019 after significantly elevated levels of the carcinogen ethylene oxide (EtO) were detected.

We anxiously await EPD's response and are hopeful both VoltaGrid and Serverfarm will be held accountable for their actions, made to comply with state and federal law, and required to operate transparently and in good faith moving forward.  But we also hope local governments in Newton County take note of this incident and recognize the extreme risks they must protect citizens from when AI data center hyper-scalers look to set up shop in our communities.

Both the City of Covington and Newton County have data center moratoriums currently in effect, while staff and planning commissions craft amendments to ordinances governing data center development. This VoltaGrid incident underscores why we must have  rock-solid laws and enforcement procedures that anticipate developers will not always operate in good faith, nor will they fully respect what is best for our community. In an AI industry obsessed with speed, money is no object and corners are routinely cut. In this case, VoltaGrid and Serverfarm have made the business decision that spending untold millions of dollars to pour concrete pads, run wiring and gas lines, and install and operate 33 methane-fired engines for only two years before Georgia Power can provide grid electricity is a sound business decision.

Officials with these companies are not thinking about what any of this means now or down the road for Covington and Newton County.  But local officials must prioritize those considerations above all others, think longer term, and put the health and wellbeing of citizens first.

To get a good feel for what's at stake, drive by 10835 Hazelbrand Road and see for yourself.  You can see it, and it will hurt you.