Data center proposed in northern Callaway County
Haley Swaino
FULTON, Mo. (KMIZ)
Stakeholders are in active talks about a possible 800,000-square-foot data center in Callaway County.
Western District Commissioner Christopher Scott told ABC 17 News that Crusoe, a Denver-based artificial intelligence company, would build the 14-acre center somewhere in the northern Callaway area. It would be a private land transaction, and he said it is not his information to share the exact location of the proposed site.
The non-partisan group Missouri Protest Organization, Inc. held a meeting at the Callaway County Co-Op Monday night to discuss the data center. Scott said the focus of the forum was water usage.
The event was an opportunity to start conversations with members of the public about the proposed project and share possible concerns. Experts in water testing and quality were also in attendance and gave input, Scott said. The county does not have planning and zoning commission.
“Planning and zoning does allow for a little more enforcement of environmental rules and things,” Scott said. “It’s more difficult to try to put that in place without, and we are looking at whether there’s some safeguards we can try to negotiate with the builders regarding environmental concerns.”
The data center would use about 1.4 million gallons of water per year for cooling. But Scott said while talks are still in the very early stages, he said he is thankful a closed loop system with a glycol mix is being planned. That means the mixture would circulate through sealed piping and not be exposed to the outside environment.
“What if it spills? What if they have to discharge it,” Scott said. “Those discussions have already been started with the sewer district as well, who would assist in disposing of and cleaning up any discharge or any fluids that would need to be expelled. Some data centers you may have heard about are being built with their own water treatment plant on site. That has not been proposed here.”
A request has been made to connect to the Callaway 2 Water District and Callaway Electric Co-Op, according to Scott.
“As passed last year in Missouri Senate Bill 4, they [Crusoe] have to pay all the upfront connection costs to connect to the water district, to connect to the electric co-op. So they’re still working with those groups to identify what all those costs are, what they’re going to take, and whether or not those entities can service them,” Scott said.
There are a few steps that need to be handled before a construction timeline can be discussed. Scott said Crusoe needs to get approval from the water district and electric co-op and negotiate connection costs. The company also needs approval from the commission on a tax abatement plan.
“These developments are very large. They’re putting billions of dollars into their buildings. They’re putting billions of dollars into the hardware that goes in them. So the tax base is very large. And that’s part of the reason why they come in and ask for tax abatements as a bulk user,” Scott said.
Cursoe has yet to share who their “end user” will be.
Amazon announced Monday that it’s investing about $10 billion to create a data center in Montgomery County. The facility will be built on about 1,000 acres north of Interstate 70 between New Florence and High Hill.
“Loop systems aren’t going to use nearly as much water as evaporative systems. Montgomery is getting one of each,” Scott said.
Missouri Protest Organization, Inc. is set to host another public meeting on the data center on June 29, according to Interim Director and Co-Founder Khyron Cooper. More details should be released on the group’s Facebook page.