by Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
September 2, 2025

WHARNCLIFFE, W.Va. — When Sheila Miller sat down at a picnic table at Wharncliffe Park last Thursday, she was armed with a notebook, a pen and numerous questions.

She wanted to know what the environmental and health ramifications would be for two off-grid methane power plants, a data center and an ammonia plant that are proposed to be constructed at the old Twisted Gun Golf Course a few miles from her home.

“I don’t know much about this at all and that worries me,” Miller said. “I like my peace and quiet and now I’m hearing this could really change things. I would have liked to be more informed by the government or the company or whoever else should have informed us so I could know what those changes would be.”

The proposed development — called the Adams Fork Energy project — comes from TransGas and would create the largest natural gas-fueled ammonia plant in the world. The two power plants onsite — which would operate as “microgrids” — would power two new data centers: one at the golf course in Wharncliffe and another near the Mingo-Logan county line at the Harless Industrial Park.

Currently, the state Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing air quality permit applications from TransGas for the development of the two off-grid power plants. The permit to construct the ammonia plant is already in place.

On Thursday, Miller was one of about 50 residents from Mingo and Logan counties who attended an unofficial community meeting to learn more about the proposed projects. Tyler Cannon, the Climate Alliance Coordinator with West Virginia Citizen Action Group, led the meeting, which was casual and mostly based on group discussion as well as questions and answers.

Cannon, whose parents reside in Logan County and who has personal ties to the region, answered what he could. But several of the residents’ most pressing concerns couldn’t be addressed because of redactions made in the air quality permit applications filed with the DEP.

“It’s possible there are some things in there that could help us understand more about how [these facilities] will be built and what their actual environmental impact will be, but if that does exist, it’s redacted,” Cannon told community members. “They are saying these are proprietary secrets, meaning we the public aren’t allowed to know.”

The redactions in the air quality permits aren’t unusual. In Tucker County, where a different company is attempting to construct a natural gas power plant to provide electricity for another data center, a heavily redacted air quality permit — now approved by the DEP — has left hundreds of residents with similar concerns.

There, residents only found out about the proposed project — which would be a massive complex when completed — when someone saw a public notice posted in a local newspaper. The community started organizing to find out more information. Despite these efforts and an outpour of public comments against the development, they couldn’t learn much more and the DEP ended up approving Fundamental Data’s request.

For Miller and other residents who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, the lack of public outreach in the coalfields — as in Tucker County — felt intentional.

“It’s not surprising, I suppose, that they didn’t tell us,” Miller said. “It does feel like it was on purpose. Like they didn’t tell us more so we couldn’t do anything about it. Although it probably wouldn’t matter; [the people in power] are always going to let these corporations walk all over us down here.”

Gilbert resident Pam Surber said she’s spent the last few months talking to people in the community whenever possible about the proposed project. When she goes to the store or stops by the gas station, she brings it up to cashiers or others in line. Rarely, she said, is someone aware of what she’s talking about.

“I can’t tell you how many people have not heard a word about this,” Surber said. “They don’t know what’s about to happen and they don’t know how it could hurt them.”

‘We’ve had enough devastation’

At 79 years old, Miller has lived by Left Fork Bens Creek, in Mingo County, her entire life. Life there has been pleasant, she said. She knows all of her neighbors — she watched several of them grow up — and loves living so close to nature. 

But through her decades living in the region, she’s already seen the environment and landscape around her change drastically. She’s seen and experienced firsthand the consequences that can come from living so close to extractive industries.

“Our health, our environmental health, is already real bad down here,” Miller said. “We’ve had enough devastation from coal mining, from strip mining, from logging, from fracking. Our people are already sick. We don’t see the birds or the animals here like we used to.”

According to the air quality permit applications, the facilities would have the capacity to produce more than 2,400 megawatts each. If approved, the two TransGas facilities would be the third- and fourth-highest power-intensive industrial sites in the state, behind the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County and the Harrison Power Station in Harrison County.

Each facility would house 117 engines powered by natural gas, with 114 of those running full-time. If no gas is available, the engines would run on diesel that is stored in 40 tanks on site. 

Annually, per the applications, each facility would have the potential to emit up to 206 tons of carbon monoxide, 194 tons of nitrogen oxides, 118 tons of volatile organic compounds and 188 tons of fine particulate matter, or soot.

These kinds of emissions are known to negatively affect air quality in surrounding areas and contribute to climate change. People at risk of developing respiratory problems — including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, black lung or other illnesses — are particularly vulnerable to negative health impacts from emissions.

Residents at Thursday’s meeting were particularly concerned about the impact of air pollution. Already, the state’s southern coalfields suffer from some of the highest rates of black lung disease due to the concentration of coal miners.

During the meeting, Wilma Steele asked those in attendance to raise their hands if they knew someone who was living with black lung. Almost 40 hands immediately rose.

“We all know folks who are already sick, with COPD, with black lung, with cancer,” someone in the crowd said. “Why would we want something that can hurt us even more?”

Cannon said the new power generation is almost certainly going to have negative health and environmental impacts. What’s frustrating, he said, is the inability to know how bad it actually could be because of the lack of information.

TransGas alleges that the facilities will have technology allowing them to sequester more than 99% of the carbon emissions produced. But the permit filed with the DEP doesn’t specify how.

“Technically speaking, that’s impossible,” Cannon said. “No other [facility] anywhere has been able to do that, and because of the redactions we can’t really see how they plan to be different.”

Only one person in attendance on Thursday, Ernie Sammons, spoke in support of the Adams Fork Energy project. He told residents that he is strongly in support of the proposed projects because the area needs more jobs. Other places across the world, he alleged, are already undertaking similar kinds of developments. The environmental concerns, he continued, are largely overblown.

But — as pointed out by residents in the meeting — Sammons stands to personally benefit from the development. He said he owns the land for the Twisted Gun Golf Course in Wharncliffe and is the one selling it to TransGas for the development.

“But even if I didn’t stand to benefit financially here,” Sammons said, “I would support this.”

Per TransGas, a majority of the jobs created by the proposed development — about 5,000 — would be in construction, meaning they’d be temporary and would not necessarily be taken by locals. Once up and running, TransGas says 300 people would be hired to work on a “day-to-day basis.”

Surber, however, remains doubtful. Even if jobs were created, she told Sammons, she’s not sure the cost to the environment and residents would be worth the alleged gain.

“Are you comfortable with a child breathing this air? With anyone who is sick, who could become sick?” Surber asked. “All the money, all the jobs in the world are not worth the health of my family, of my neighbors, of my community. We can’t afford that.”

Residents struggle for clean water as TransGas requests access to underground source

Power plants and data centers need a lot of water to function, Cannon said. Some data centers can use up to 5 million gallons of drinking water a day. The consequences of this water usage are becoming clearer as communities across the country that are located next to new data center developments have been tapped dry or had their water contaminated.

Oftentimes, these new developments will tap into municipal water sources. As proposed in Mingo County, however, TransGas plans to tap into mine pools located underneath the golf course.

But while the source of the water is different — Mingo County Public Service District pulls most of its drinking water from the Tug Fork River — residents are frustrated.

Until several years ago, Miller and most of the residents in Wharnscliffe relied on private wells for their drinking water. Miller had two. But, likely due to mining activity in the vicinity, one ran dry and the foundation in the other cracked, leading to contamination underground. Others in the region experienced the same.

“When we have water, I don’t trust what comes out,” Miller said. “You never know what’s in there. Sometimes it has an odor to it. There are breaks and things that happen that we’re not told about. It’s really frustrating, and it’s scary.”

Now hooked up to the Mingo County PSD, water service outages are the norm.

Last winter, Miller said her water was out for days and sometimes weeks at a time. She would drive to a friend’s house in Gilbert to shower, do laundry and more.

Several residents at Thursday’s meeting said they’ve contacted the Mingo County Commission about tapping into the underground mine water to service their community in order to avoid these outages.

They haven’t heard any progress on that front, they said last week.

But now, that water — which will have to be treated to remove minerals and potential contaminants before being used by the data centers and in the power plants, the same process that would be used for drinking water — will be committed to TransGas under its current applications.

Cannon said the company will have “no cap” on the water it is allowed to pull from the mine shafts.

“They can pump as much from these water tables as they want,” Cannon said. “None of that will go to residents.”

This was especially upsetting to community members.

“Everyone, how many of you have had your water destroyed in Mingo County, ever?” Steele asked those in attendance on Thursday.

Every hand under the camping shelter shot up.

“Water failure and access to clean water has been a longstanding issue in Mingo County,” Cannon said. “Now, it’s like they want to hand this potential fresh water resource to this private company to have unlimited access to the water table when residents don’t have access to clean water in their home themselves. How does that serve the people who live here?”

Surber said she’s used to seeing industry exploit the resources and people in West Virginia’s southern coalfields. 

It’s been the norm for the people living there since the coal industry was booming. Every few years since then, political leaders come in claiming to have a new industry or sector that will revive the struggling region.

But that revival has never happened. Logging hasn’t addressed the region’s struggles, nor has manufacturing or fracking or strip mining. Tourism has yet to revive the economy. 

Surber, Steele and numerous other residents present Thursday said they doubt that data centers will be the silver bullet those in charge claim they’ll be for their communities.

“There is nothing that I can see about these data centers that will be good,” Surber said. “The people who want to do this aren’t speaking to us, too much is being kept hush-hush and we don’t know what’s at risk because they won’t tell us. None of this is worth it.”

The DEP has extended the public comment period for TransGas’ two air quality permits until 5 p.m. on Sept. 19. A final in-person public meeting will be held by the DEP between 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Sept. 18 at the Harless Center in Gilbert.

Those wishing to comment on the proposed power plants can do so then in person. Written comments can be emailed to Jerry Williams at Jerry.Williams@WV.gov with “TransGas Development Comments” as the subject line, or by mail: WVDEP — Air Quality, Attention: Jerry Williams, 601 57th Street SE Charleston, WV 25304. Click here for more information.

This article was updated to clarify Tyler Cannon’s background.

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post ‘Enough devastation:’ Mingo, Logan residents worry about proposed power plants, data centers in WV appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content leans center-left as it emphasizes environmental and public health concerns related to industrial development, highlights community opposition to corporate projects, and critiques government transparency and corporate influence. While it presents some economic arguments in favor of the project, the overall tone favors environmental protection, community rights, and skepticism of large industrial developments, which aligns with center-left perspectives. The article does not exhibit extreme partisanship but advocates for greater accountability and environmental justice.