Davis Mayor Al Tomson (at right) addresses a crowd of about 290 attendees in person, with 100 more attending via teleconference, at an April 13, 2025 meeting at the Davis Volunteer Fire Hall in Tucker County to discuss a Fundamental Data LLC state air quality permit application.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has allowed developers of what it identified as data center projects to keep substantial project information confidential in pending air quality permit applications, including one for a project in Tucker County that has raised environmental health concerns.
The DEP backed down from its questioning confidentiality claims made by the Tucker County project developer days after it objected to that questioning, asserting its significant prevalence of redacted information in its permit request qualified for confidentiality protection under state rule.
The DEP also signed off on a Mingo County developer’s proposal to revise its claim of business information in two air quality permit applications as confidential after the agency questioned its claims of confidentiality.
Both companies’ pending air quality permit applications were submitted in March.
The state’s green light for keeping significant of redactions throughout the permit requests comes less than two weeks after first-year Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed into law House Bill 2014 aimed at fast-tracking data center development — legislation he pushed as the centerpiece of his economic agenda.
The law provoked opposition from local government leaders and advocates by prohibiting counties and municipalities from enforcing or adopting ordinances, rules or regulations that limit creation, development or operation of any certified microgrid district or high-impact data center project, heightening the stakes for DEP consideration of project permit requests.
DEP had put developers on notice late last month
The DEP late last month issued letters to New York City-based TransGas Development Systems LLC and Purcellville, Virginia-based Fundamental Data LLC. In those letters, the DEP indicated the agency’s Office of General Counsel wants the companies to further justify their claims that information is confidential in their pending air quality permit applications for respective facilities in Mingo and Tucker counties.
In an April 25 letter addressed to Fundamental Data “responsible official†Casey Chapman, DEP General Counsel Jason Wandling said hundreds of public comments regarding that company’s proposed project, which has drawn heavy opposition among Tucker County residents and officials, had triggered a review of the company’s confidentiality claims.
Wandling said in an April 28 letter to TransGas president Adam Victor that “a public comment†regarding the company’s proposed project also had triggered a review of TransGas’ confidentiality claims.
Wandling told both companies there is “concern†the confidentiality claims may not meet eligibility requirements under state legislative rules.
Both companies’ air quality permit applications were heavily redacted, omitting information regarding air pollution planned at the sites in copies made available electronically by the DEP.
In a May 7 response to the DEP, Fundamental Data representative Casey Chapman wrote that the DEP’s suggestion that the company may have gone too far in claiming information as confidential “appears inconsistent with applicable administrative procedures.†Fundamental Data said the agency had an unredacted version of the application before it that it should continue reviewing without pause.
Chapman contended redacted portions of its application pertain solely to specific equipment and its system configuration, which it asserted don’t constitute emissions data.
The DEP had determined information Fundamental Data claimed as confidential may not qualify for that status because it fell under the state’s definition of types and amounts of air pollutants discharged.
Fundamental Data contended it had provided all required information and defended what Chapman called “robust measures to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets.â€
Chapman said Fundamental Data “understand[s] that public interest in the project has increased†and that the public “should not assume that redacting information from the public version of our application is an attempt to hide relevant data.â€
In what he called an attempt “to provide some comfort to the public,†Chapman said the planned “Ridgeline†facility:
Doesn’t plan any consumption or use of water resources from or discharge of wastewater to local rivers, streams or municipal systems
Is sited in a lowland area surrounded by hills that should “substantially limit†visibility of the plant from public roadways or populated areas
Is expected to operate at noise levels below the threshold requiring hearing protection under federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration protections and is over one mile from the nearest occupied structure
Chapman wrote that Morrisey and the Legislature “should be commended for their foresight†in enacting HB 2014 and called Fundamental Data’s project “a strategic investment in national and economic security.â€
“If the State cannot protect confidential business information in a manner consistent with its laws, the State will chill investment and drive away businesses [HB 2014] intends to attract,†Chapman wrote.
How the DEP green-lit Fundamental Data confidentiality
In a response to Fundamental Data Monday, DEP Office of Legal Services Chief C. Scott Driver said information claimed as confidential by the company satisfied requirements to be deemed confidential and will be maintained as such.
The DEP determined there are nonconfidential alternatives that result in a “practically enforceable method†of determining emissions from the proposed facility, including through emissions monitoring or sampling and parametric monitoring, which is monitoring of control equipment that doesn’t directly measure pollutant concentration.
Fundamental Data’s planned Tucker County facility would be powered by gas-fueled turbines equipped with heat recovery steam generators, but the turbines may need to use diesel as a backup fuel source during gas pipeline failures. The facility, planned for a location off U.S. 48 near the city of Thomas, would have three diesel storage tanks holding 10 million gallons each. The application indicates there would be haul road activities and equipment leaks.
Operation startup is planned for 2027 or 2028 but subject to change depending on availability of equipment from manufacturers, according to the application filed last month.
The facility would have the potential to annually emit:
99 tons of nitrogen oxides, which can harm the human respiratory system and contribute to acid rain
56 tons of carbon monoxide, which can cause nausea, fatigue and other flu-like symptoms at very low levels
44 tons of volatile organic compounds, which can contribute to ground-level ozone and may cause cancer
Davis Mayor Al Tomson (at right) addresses a crowd of about 290 attendees in person, with 100 more attending via teleconference, at an April 13, 2025 meeting at the Davis Volunteer Fire Hall in Tucker County to discuss a Fundamental Data LLC state air quality permit application.
A meeting hosted by Davis Mayor Al Tomson at the Davis Volunteer Fire Hall in Tucker County on April 13 to discuss the Fundamental Data application drew more than 200 people in person and another 100 virtually. Attendees voiced concerns about the proposed development having adverse environmental impacts while realizing reduced property tax revenue benefits due to HB 2014.
Tomson told the Gazette-Mail in an email Tuesday he was “deeply dismayed†by the DEP’s determination to approve Fundamental Data’s confidentiality claims.
“This decision places the veil of industrial secrecy above the public’s fundamental right to transparency,†Tomson said. “By allowing a heavily redacted permit application, the [DEP] Division [of Air Quality] has denied the community the ability to fully understand—and question—the potential dangers these power plant emissions pose to our health and safety. The public has been left in the dark, and that is both unacceptable and alarming.â€
HB 2014 would divert most of property tax revenue generated by certified microgrid or high-impact data center projects away from local taxing bodies, a move estimated to cost counties and school districts millions.
How the DEP approved TransGas’ confidentiality claim
In a May 2 letter to Wandling, TransGas president Adam Victor proposed to revise TransGas’ confidentiality claims to cover company names for engine and control systems designers and manufacturers, including the engine model number which would identify the engine company.
But the remaining information claimed as confidential will be removed from TransGas’ confidentiality requests, Victor said.
Laura Crowder, DEP Division of Air Quality director, told Victor in a response letter dated Friday the agency’s Office of Legal Services had determined permit applications like those he indicated would be submitted would abide by state requirements for confidential information.
TransGas seeks air permits for gas-powered facilities
TransGas has applied for air quality permits that would support neighboring gas-powered facilities for data center campus operations proposed for rural Mingo County. The planned TransGas facilities are off-grid power-generating facilities that DEP spokesman Terry Fletcher said were more than 14 miles apart.
The construction permits would be for data center energy campus operations in Mingo County on 22 Mine Road near Holden, and on Twisted Gun Road near Wharncliffe, respectively, according to the applications. Construction is planned to begin after receipt of the Division of Air Quality permit and other regulatory approvals around Jan. 1, 2026, with operations to start roughly 12 months after construction begins, per the permit applications.
Ultra-low-sulfur diesel would be stored in 40 tanks on the property near the facilities, per the applications. Powerhouses would have one set of emission control fluid tanks for hydrous ammonia, caustic soda, sulfuric acid, sodium chlorite and sodium hydrosulfide. A natural gas pipeline would feed facility engines.
Those substances carry significant safety and health risks, according to data sheets included in the applications. Sodium hydrosulfide contains hydrogen sulfide, a highly toxic gas with a rotten egg odor. Sodium chlorite is very toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects. Sulfuric acid is carcinogenic to humans.
The facilities would have haul road activities and equipment leaks, according to the applications.
Each facility would have the potential to emit:
206 tons per year of carbon monoxide
194 tons per year of nitrogen oxides
118 tons per year of volatile organic compounds
The facilities would have the potential to emit 187 and 188 tons per year, respectively, of fine particulate matter, or soot, which can pierce the lungs and lead to asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death.
TransGas’ applications follow the DEP’s March 2024 approval of an air quality permit for an ammonia production site near Wharncliffe planned by the company, which applied for approval to build up to six 6,000-metric ton-per day ammonia plants on reclaimed surface mine land.
The process, according to DEP records, would be to “crack†natural gas into hydrogen and carbon components using proprietary autothermal reforming technology and to chill ammonia vapor to make liquid ammonia for storage and transport.
TransGas has announced plans to capture and store carbon dioxide underground as part of the production process in what it has called its “Adams Fork†project — a label also used for its proposed data center operations.
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