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Residents deliver petitions and warnings about proposed data center; commissioners say item not on tonight’s agenda
Summary
More than a dozen residents and local officials urged the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners on May 4 to oppose a proposed data center development, citing air and water quality concerns, drought impacts and requests for local accountability; the board said the project was not on the meeting agenda and took no formal action.
Multiple residents used the public‑petitions segment of the meeting to press the board on a proposed data center that opponents say could harm local air and water quality and strain scarce water resources.
Joan White Grenigge (speaker 17) said she lives near the Howard Avenue extension to Kingsborough and told commissioners she fears the air and water quality in a neighborhood made up largely of senior residents could worsen if a data center is built nearby. "We're the ones she's talking about," Grenigge said of seniors on her road, adding, "I'm afraid that if that data center comes out that way, the quality of our air is going to change. The quality of our water is going to change."
Joanna Rudder (speaker 18), who said she lives downstream in Martin County and is interning with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, told the board that data‑center impacts cross county lines: "Air pollution, water pollution doesn't really stick within county borders," she said, and urged more public education and accountability.
Janice Bullock (speaker 10) told the board she had presented signatures from more than 1,000 citizens opposing the data center and said residents "welcome industry, but we want it to be the right type of industry" that will not be detrimental to health, incomes or water access. Brianna Storm Baker (speaker 19), who said she is a Kaneda town commissioner, provided a town resolution opposing data‑center development and highlighted local drought impacts and water insecurity for households that depend on wells.
Chair Leonard Wiggins noted the board had not placed the data center on the published agenda for the night and told petitioners they may address the board at any meeting when the item is officially scheduled. No formal county action or vote on the data center was taken at the May 4 session.
