Bow residents are requesting a town-wide vote on an ordinance that would pause data center permitting and construction for at least a year, halting a plan to convert the closed Merrimack Station power plant into a server hub.
Protect New Hampshire from Data Centers, a new advocacy group, said that over 800 Bow voters signed a petition in support of the vote, which the organization delivered to the town’s planning board on Thursday.
“If we don’t have a moratorium, aren’t we more susceptible to being approached by a data center?” Bow resident Sue Moore said to the planning board.
Speakers argued the one-year pause would provide much-needed time for further study, citing potentially adverse health effects on humans and animals, the impacts of noise and damage to the environment.
After a discussion between planning board members and public commenters, the board unanimously voted to discuss and refine the ordinance put forward in the petition, and open the measure for a public hearing at the board’s Dec. 3 meeting.
Protect New Hampshire’s action comes on the tail-end of residents’ September protests against a potential data center in town. In September, Granite Shore Power, which owns the shuttered Merrimack Station, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to discuss connecting a 350-megawatt project to the regional power grid.
While no developer has submitted a formal application to the planning board, Bow residents stressed the need to be proactive in shielding their community from possible harm.
Kip McDaniel, chair of the Bow Board of Selectmen and planning board member, reasoned that if one town institutes a moratorium and another allows data center development, some might take advantage of the additional tax revenue, while passing off the “negative externalities” to neighboring municipalities.
“It should come at the state level, so every town is on the equal playing field, and you’re not pitting town against town trying to entice development,” McDaniel said.
Despite the chance of uneven enforcement, residents expressed satisfaction that their petition will move through the town government process.
“They were very gracious in listening to us,” Moore said in an interview.
“It’s small town Bow. You know, these are our neighbors,” added Barbara Bennett, another Bow resident. “When we were collecting signatures, you would see your neighbors coming up in the voting line, so obviously we’re friends with each other. That makes it a little easier.”
The dueling desires to boost the town’s tax base and keep out a certain type of development may prove contentious.
“I think they were aware that there’s a lot of tension about the possibility of having that data center,” said Bow resident Joanne Jenks. “People are very unhappy about that.”
