Dove Creek Tells Beacon Data Centers to Go Elsewhere

A crowd of several hundred showed up for Beacon Data Centers' public meeting on their proposed Dove Creek Technology Campus project.  Virtually all were in opposition, including Tom Green County Commissioner Shawn Nanny.

Four56 Church hosted the meeting and their pastor shared information about the church and the kind of behavior decent people show one other.  

Beacon's representatives led with their intention of being a good steward.  Mark Attinger of The Attinger Group and Attinger Construction served as the local face for the project.  

Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Origination Joseph Shovlin was the Irish voice of Beacon, an affiliate of Nadia Partners.  

They stated their intent to be involved in the community and fund important infrastructure projects/local organizations.  They also made it clear they wanted to hear community concerns so the project could take those wishes into account early in the design phase.  And then they opened it up for questions.

The first question arose around noise levels.  EVP Shovlin said they were not prepared to discuss specifics at this stage in the project development as they had not even determined the size of the project or where it would be sited on the property, which is a large tract at the corner of Highway 67 South (between San Angelo and Mertzon) and FM Road 2335.

  

At that point attendees got the impression that few actual details would be shared in the major concern areas of noise, traffic, electricity, water, wastewater treatment, impact on property values, local economy, emissions and infrastructure needs.  

And they were mostly correct in that conclusion, however the following notable items were shared:

Water - At this stage they believe their water needs will be met from the existing water rights to several hundred acre feet from Spring Creek, dam reconstruction, mesquite eradication and rainwater harvesting.  They said their are no plans to utilize groundwater.  Surface water means the Concho River Watermaster and TCEQ.  Apparently there are two diversion points, one on each side of the creek of the existing property.

I spoke with Vice President of Corporate Affairs Lauren Armstrong after the meeting and shared the vagaries of surface water dependability in West Texas.  We lose creek flow completely due to upstream irrigation.  The irrigation stops and the creek flows again.  And we are far closer to the headwaters than Beacon's site.  That said, there are springs up and down the creek but many spots are dry for months at a time upstream of the Dove Creek Technology Campus.  She said they would haul in water for their daily needs if needed.

"We are not for sale." 

Power - The Beacon model is 100% natural gas turbine power generation.  They need to tie into a natural gas pipeline and that is part of the project's feasibility assessment.  

"Go away."

Wastewater - There would be a wastewater treatment facility onsite.

"We don't want you."

Traffic - There would be no access to the property down 2335.  The entrance would be just after the railroad tracks and new roads would be built within the property to meet their construction and operating needs.  They floated a reworking of the dangerous curve at 67 & 2335 as a public benefit of the project.

"Please leave us alone." 

Beacon will complete their environmental studies over the next four months (traffic, noise, emissions, water, wastewater) and share the results.  

Meanwhile they will take into account the information shared in the community meeting, all except "go away."  After all they are developers and Texas officials have said the state is open for business.

Update:  ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on the meeting.