Photo courtesy of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Tucker County residents and supporters from across the state gathered outside the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters in Charleston, where an air quality permit appeal hearing with the West Virginia Air Quality Board took place Wednesday and Thursday.

CHARLESTON — Both sides are still waiting for a decision after a two-day West Virginia Air Quality Board appeal hearing this week dealing with an air quality permit for a proposed natural gas power plant and data center in Tucker County.

Protestors rallied outside the hearing on both Wednesday and Thursday. The Board now has up to 60 days to rule on the appeal.

Fundamental Data has proposed the construction of a plant and data center that would be in close proximity to the towns of Davis and Thomas. Tucker United, the West Virginia Highland Conservancy, and the Sierra Club filed an appeal in September that challenged the state DEP’s approval of the permit.

Davis Mayor Al Tomson was one of several witnesses who testified on behalf of the three groups appealing the permit.

“All of the witnesses did a great job,” Tomson told The Inter-Mountain Friday. “In particular, I think the expert witness that they had for power plants was phenomenal. He was so knowledgeable, articulate, and he wouldn’t let the lawyers get one up on him.”

Tomson said the biggest point witnesses for the advocacy groups were trying to make was that Fundamental Data’s application was filed as a minor permit application, when it should have been a major permit application.

“We are challenging, in particular, the fact that Fundamental Data is claiming they are a synthetic minor permit application,” Tomson said. “Our side thinks they should be a major permit application, which would require much more testing and much more insurance (to ensure) that the plant would operate safely.”

“The testimony over the past two days shows this permit was issued without the most basic information the public needs to understand the risks of this project, and that the emissions estimates simply don’t hold up to scrutiny,” Olivia Miller, program director at the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy said in a press release Friday afternoon.

“Our expert explained that the plant’s real emissions will fluctuate dramatically outside the assumptions DEP accepted, and without real measurements, this permit is nothing more than guesswork. Communities in Tucker County, and anyone concerned about similar projects across the state, deserve a process grounded in science and truth, not secrecy.”

Nikki Forester, a spokesperson for Tucker United, also commented in the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy press release, saying, “We are confident in our legal team’s smart, technical, and well-informed comments demonstrating that the facility should be reclassified as a major source of pollutants.

“We are heartened by all the support we’ve received from West Virginians as well as people outside of the state who are invested in this fight. Tucker United and all our allies will continue organizing across the state to fight power plant and data center complexes that will harm our communities.”

Tomson said he’s unsure what the state Air Quality Board will decide in the next 60 days, but stressed that the three groups that are spearheading the campaign will continue to fight.

“There are a number of issues that have been challenged, so I think they will actually make a determination on each of the issues separately,” Tomson said.

“It’s really hard to say at this juncture what they are going to do exactly and how it is going to come out. I do know that if we are not successful, we will probably appeal it to a higher level of court.”