50 signatures reached
To: Our Citrus County Commissioners
No Data Center for Citrus County
The Deltona Corporation is attempting to purchase additional property (a total of over 1300 acres) along Rt. 41 from Hernando to Holder to build a huge Data Center. A Data Center houses vast numbers of servers to provide critical IT infrastructure, enabling data storage, processing, and distribution for businesses and online services. They are necessary to support current and future demands for storage and processing of information, and they support global financial systems, cloud services, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. They also come with their own set of problems: demands on water for cooling, increased demands on electricity, particle emissions during build effect air quality, noise from the many servers, which run 24/7, and emergency backup generators can travel several miles, interruptions to the environment and animal habitats. Both St. Lucie and Palm Beach Counties have halted the development of their data centers. Builders are attempting to mitigate some of the problems, but don't be fooled, those problems and more still exist. Because of the square footage required to build a center, rural counties with ready water access have become prime locations. They are usually peaceful, rural communities, with higher poverty rates, lower income, and fewer people to offer objections. Do not allow Deltona and our county commissioners to inflict this imposition on the lifestyle of Citrus County. Please sign our petition and tell Deltona and the BOCC, NO DATA CENTER IN CITRUS COUNTY.
Why is this important?
You may hear arguments to the contrary, but data centers do increase demand for electricity, either at the center itself or passed on to local electric companies. Duke Energy along with FPL have already petitioned Tallahassee for rate increases. Some will argue that there is no demand on water yet the Southwest Florida Water Management District has declared a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage in effect from April 3 through July 1. Do we really need to put any additional strain on our water supply? A huge data center will completely disrupt the quiet, natural environment of our county. One of the biggest complaints about data centers is the noise they produce. Hundreds of servers operating together create a constant hum that can reach up to 96dBA. Think chain saw or rock concert. Cooling systems can produce low frequency drones that can travel several miles. Emergency backup generators create additional noise when in use. The noise is constant and can lead to hearing loss, headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness, and anxiety. This what this will do to the remaining wildlife in the area.