Capito Favors Data Centers But Wants Better Communication 

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday she’s in favor of data centers in West Virginia – but said the entities behind them need to communicate clearly with local communities.  

“A data center basically carries all the things that you have on your phone. It also works with AI, which is a race to, really, efficiencies and the greatest and highest technological applications, whether it’s in health or defense or transportation or any education of many parts of our lives,” Capito said, speaking to members of the press from her office in Washington, D.C.  

“So I think the services that come with the data center are critical to our nation. I really believe this,” Capito said. 

With multiple data center sites proposed in West Virginia, local communities have raised concerns about local control and the impact on utility bills. Some companies, for example, will generate their own energy supply – but that hasn’t been communicated clearly to local leaders.   

“Whoever’s building the data center, they need to come into the community and say, number one, that they’re going to build the power behind the grid. In other words, they’re going to build their own power resources. It could actually maybe improve the situation, because there’ll be excess power probably created in those data centers,” Capito said.   

Another concern raised by local communities is use and possible contamination of the local water supplies. 

“I noticed that the data center that’s asking to locate in Putnam County has a guarantee that whatever water they take out of the Ohio, they’re going to replenish that water in the same amounts and more, and they’re going to clean it at the same time. So I think it’s really about communication,” Capito said. 

She acknowledged that data centers won’t generate large numbers of jobs for local communities. 

“But the property tax aspects can be used to build new schools and senior centers, improve roads, improve water systems, and so those are the things that I think we ought to really focus on,” she added.  

Capito also said the technological applications from data centers are critical to our nation’s future, impacting everything from health and education to defense and transportation.