Richmond County Residents Raise Environmental Concerns Over Amazon Data Center Emissions
Residents of Richmond County, North Carolina, are expressing significant concerns regarding the environmental impact of Amazon's new $10 billion data center in Hamlet. Local community advocate Shaun Ingram, a Richmond County native, has been vocal about the potential increase in air pollution from the facility, which is currently under construction. The data center will require approximately 1 gigawatt of energy, exceeding the annual output of the Sharron Harris nuclear plant. To power the facility, Duke Energy will operate temporary 'bridge-power' generators for one year, and Amazon will use emergency backup generators during outages. State officials have approved air permits for a combined 645 generators. Ingram and the Richmond County Coalition for Justice and Black Empowerment argue that these operations will exacerbate existing health issues in a community already facing higher rates of heart disease and lung cancer compared to national averages. The community coalition has been a key source of inform...
