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Residents raise health, safety and financial concerns as Jefferson County explores data center rules
Summary
During public comment, residents voiced diverse concerns about data centers — from health and surveillance fears to battery-fire risk and potential costs to ratepayers if developers withdraw after utilities invest. Speakers asked for transparency in committee appointments and stronger remediation guarantees.
At the committee meeting, a range of residents used the public-comment period to flag potential harms they said the county must address before approving regulatory language for large data centers.
Several speakers emphasized public health and safety. Nancy Withington asked that the county consult the health department and invited lay participants to accompany officials on site visits to existing facilities; Alan Lederbrand, a local firefighter, warned that large battery-storage systems are difficult to extinguish and urged that data-center owners pay for any required upgrades to emergency services. "These batteries, if they catch fire, are really hard to…
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