I grew up in Ashville. I graduated from Teays Valley, named after the ancient Teays River, that has flowed for millions of years. This land has always had its history of water. Ancient water that billionaires and corporations now want to take from us. I have written about the rural landscape, about Ashville. My books, filled with the pages of small-town life, have been featured in Vogue, Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, People, and Entertainment Weekly. I have collaborated with studios including Paramount and been published in countries around the world. The rural landscape and Ashville has traveled to all those places, too. It’s that quiet life that I write about, and if this data center comes in, the new Ashville will bear no semblance to the one I have written about all these years because that town will no longer exist.
This landscape, this way of life, is rare. It is fragile. It is home. The small farms that line our roads, the trees that anchor our horizon, the rivers and streams that feed our land. These are not amenities. They are inheritance, memory, the pulse of a community that thrives because of it.
It is this character that is threatened by the proposal to bring a massive AI data center to our community. This is more than development. It is a matter of identity, environment, and heritage. Small businesses, local farms, and the cultural fabric that make Ashville special will be overshadowed by industrialization, traffic, noise, and an impact to health and the environment.
This data center will be huge. A massive scale. And its consumption of power and water will transform not only our land but the soul of this place. The gentle rhythms that shape our days. The slow mornings, the community gatherings, the quiet that inspires reflection and creativity, cannot be measured in dollars. Once lost, they cannot be reclaimed.
We cannot ignore the unknown risks of a project this large. Long-term effects on human health remain uncertain but are being documented nationwide. The impact on local wildlife is unpredictable and potentially devastating. And the strain on our water supply, already precious, will have consequences for generations. Moving forward without fully understanding these risks is reckless.
The promise of jobs is misleading. Any employment opportunities will be temporary and limited, while the long-term consequences will affect everyone for years to come. This is real-time data based on the communities where data centers have moved in. What we know is that this project will not bring new jobs or residents to our town. Instead, it risks pushing out the very people who have made this community what it is. You are risking turning Ashville into another industrialized area in decline. One of Microsoft’s own attorneys admitted that “nobody really wants a data center in their backyard.”
The comments were made by Lyndi Stone, principal corporate counsel at Microsoft, who was speaking on a webinar hosted by law firm Norton Rose Fulbright titled “Data centers: Construction, contracts and debt.” The law firm quickly removed the webinar, but the video was copied, shared, and the comments left to exist in their truth. Including when she said, “I don’t want a data center in my backyard.” Stone also touched on concerns about jobs, saying that “data centers, once they are operational, don’t bring a lot of jobs. They do on the construction side, but not really getting a ton of that community benefit from having a data center really, truly in your backyard.”
Not even the billionaires building these centers want to live near them. They push them onto rural communities because they view us, as they always have, as expendable and disposable. While they get wealthier, we are left to foot the bill with our health, our land, and our money. There is a reason that communities across this country are rallying together and pushing back against data center construction. No one wants them. Any leaders in Ashville who approves this data center will leave a legacy of ignorance. Your names will forever be linked to the data center that destroyed Ashville, its soul, and the surrounding towns.
Offering financial “assistance” in exchange for this project is not generosity. It is a bribe. If this was such a great deal, they would not need to offer us carrots at the end of the stick. We would be rolling out the red carpet for them, begging for the center’s construction. Instead, EdgeConneX, which is worth billions, is attempting to buy us. To buy Ashville. No sum of money can compensate for the loss of clean air, quiet nights, flowing rivers, and a community shaped by generations. WE ARE NOT FOR SALE. Our futures are not sale. Our people, our water, our legacy is not for sale.
To Ashville’s leadership and council, every time a resident opens their electric bill and sees it higher than before, they will think of your names. Every time someone struggles with water shortages, they will think of your names. God forbid a resident is diagnosed with a serious health condition linked to this data center, and it will be your name that they remember when they hear that life-altering diagnosis. The decisions made here are not abstract. They will be deeply felt by the people. Don’t sell this town out. DON’T SELL US OUT.
If the council and mayor proceed with this deal for personal gain, they risk tying their names to a decision that future generations will remember with regret. Choices made for profit over preservation will not be forgotten. The legacy of those who put private interests above Ashville will be a cautionary tale. Long after the hum from the AI center has settled, long after the bills have piled up, long after the water has run dry, the wildlife disappears, and people suffer, you will carry the weight of this choice. And your names will be said on the ripples of regret in this community long into the future:
Bert Cline
Roger L. Clark
Chad Noggle
Jesse Burke
R. David Rainey
Mayor Steve Welsh
Selling people out is something you can never truly get over, no matter how much money they offer.
Beyond environmental and cultural costs, the data center will bring relentless noise and light into our quiet town. The hum of machines, constant activity, and bright artificial lights will pierce the natural rhythms that define Ashville’s nights and mornings. These are not minor inconveniences. They are the erosion of serenity that makes this town a home. Real time data show an increase in heart attacks, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases for those who live near a Data center. California alone have seen health impacts tripled in four years according to the University of California. And these negative outcomes are expected to increase another 72% by 2028. This is a gamble no one should be asked to take with their health, wellbeing, or their happiness.
Any decision you make today will follow you for the rest of your public life. If this data center moves forward and our community faces illness, rising electric bills, or water shortages, it will be your names the community remembers. Public memory will not distinguish. It will remember who opened the door. And that legacy, once written, cannot be undone.
We do not need a massive data center here. Our small town is alive because of its people, its environment, and its character. Not because it can host a gigantic industrial project. I urge the council to reconsider this proposal in light of the very real, long-term horrors it would impose on our community. Horrors that will always be linked with the names of the people who make this deal.
Why This Data Center Threatens Our Community and Wildlife
• Water stress: Massive water use for cooling will cause shortages for residents, farms, and local rivers.
• Energy strain: High electricity demand will drive up utility bills for everyone.
• Noise and light pollution: Continuous hum and bright lights will disrupt daily life and natural rhythms.
• Health risks: Long-term exposure to industrial emissions, noise, or unknown chemicals will affect residents.
• Environmental contamination: Spills or runoff will bring harm soil, streams, and drinking water.
• Loss of wildlife habitat: Forests, fields, and wetlands cleared for construction will threaten local species.
• Displacement and fragmentation: Animals will lose safe corridors for movement, breeding, and feeding. • Climate and heat effects: Cooling systems will alter local temperatures, impacting sensitive species.
• Traffic and road hazards: Construction and delivery trucks increase danger and road wear.
• Loss of community character: The town’s quiet, small-town charm and cultural heritage could be permanently altered, opening the door for further centers and industrialization.
• Misleading economic benefits: Jobs are temporary and limited, while long-term consequences will affect generations.
Ashville deserves leadership that protects its residents. I am asking the mayor and council to stand with the people they represent and deny this project. Ashville, its residents, its community, is worth defending against the power and bribes of a billion dollar corporation. Ashville belongs to its people, and we shouldn’t hand it over to a developer on the doorstep with a briefcase of cash, a slick smile, and nothing else but empty promises.
Sincerely, Tiffany McDaniel
