A data center developer is considering a site near Sanford in Lee County, and might even pursue fracking to fuel the facility — a first for North Carolina. Monday night, a crowd of concerned citizens wearing anti-fracking buttons packed Sanford’s McSwain Center to push for a data center moratorium.
Brooks Rainey, from the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the commission that a moratorium would give the county time to update local ordinances and zoning to regulate data centers.
County Commission Chair Kirk Smith did not question Rainey on the moratorium proposal. Instead, he asked about her personal beliefs on climate change.
“Do you believe humans are the cause of global warming?” Smith asked.
“I don’t think my personal beliefs are relevant at all to this commission meeting,” Rainey said.
Smith questioned Rainey for a couple of minutes on historic climate phenomena, although this was not mentioned during Rainey’s presentation to the commission. Rainey said afterward that she found Smith’s questions “inappropriate.”
The commission voted 6:1 to draft language on a data center and fracking moratorium to review during its April 6th workshop. Smith did not support the motion.
