DAVIS — Close to 400 concerned residents took part in Sunday’s public information town hall to discuss a proposed 500-acre natural gas power plant near the town of Davis.

Davis Mayor Al Tomson, who organized Sunday’s event at the Davis Volunteer Fire Hall, said he was both surprised and pleased with the turnout.

“The biggest thing is that it was very well-attended,” said Tomson. “We had about 300 people at the fire hall and we maxed out the Zoom at about 100 people. So we had about 400 people participate either in person, or online… I think this is one of the largest turnouts this area has ever had for any issue. The thing that I’m enjoying is that this issue is uniting the community.”

Despite inviting representatives from Fundamental Data — the company wanting to build the plant — to attend or send information to the meeting, no one from the company showed up, and Tomson received no literature to hand out to the public.

“They remain silent on that part,” Tomason said.

“Nobody came from the company and we didn’t have any state elected officials, either,” he added. “We had the county commission from Tucker County and Mayor (Jody) Flanagan from the City of Thomas and myself.”

Fundamental Data, a company out of Virginia, recently applied for an air permit with the state Department of Environmental Protection to build a proposed facility that would be just two miles north of Davis and Thomas, in close proximity to the Tucker County landfill. The facility would include a series of natural gas and diesel power generators, and all the electricity generated would be used on-site for a data center or similar facility.

Tomson said the plant’s proposed location was the item most talked-about subject during the town hall.

“I think the biggest concern people have is the proximity, or location where they are trying to build this facility,” said Tomson. “It’s in close proximity to the Town of Davis and the City of Thomas, as well as the fact there’s a middle school about a mile away from the facility. Many people would be in favor of the facility if it were located more toward where the Mettiki Coal plant is, more of an industrial area that’s not populated by any municipalities.”

Tomson said that newly passed House Bill 2014 takes control away from local municipalities and counties, paving the way for companies to do what they need to do when it comes to building data centers in the Mountain State.

“The biggest thing right now for me is that we are looking for a process where the state, the facility owner, and local government can come together and work as a team to find an effective solution palatable to the majority of the people,” Tomson said. “Because this is a local issue and right now, House Bill 2014 takes all local authority away from any municipality or county when there’s a microgrid that’s being planned.”

House Bill 2014 passed as the West Virginia Legislative Session wrapped on Saturday. HB 2014, known as the microgrid bill, aims to attract data centers to West Virginia and prohibits counties and municipalities from imposing local laws, ordinances, or regulations on microgrid companies.

“My biggest plan right now is to reach out to Gov. Morrisey’s office and see if we can get some time to see if we can talk about House Bill 2014, as well as the microgroup that is planning the project for Tucker County,” Tomson said. “This is a very doable project and we want to do the project in Tucker County, we just have to put it in an appropriate location.”

Tomson said he was surprised there wasn’t more of an outcry from environmentally conscious residents at Sunday’s meeting.

“There were a couple people against it, and will be no matter where they put it, but that was not a very large outpouring of opinion, at least from my sense of it,” Tomson said. “I think most people were saying that we need the jobs and the revenue that is associated with property values going up, but we don’t want it located where the proposed plan is right now.”

Tomson said no other meetings are planned at this time, but added he is working on putting another event together.