Letter to the Editor

EDITORIAL MUG: Letter art

Dear Editor,

We are part of the minority the gentleman mentioned in last week’s letter to the editor.

Our farm is next to the land where the natural gas plant is being built in the Barnard school district. When it is finished, we will have two million gallons of diesel fuel behind our property. Scale has applied for a permit for two 20,000-gallon aqueous ammonia storage tanks and those may be 2 miles from our farm. Prior to the substation being built, we were a quiet little retirement community with some neighbors building homes, enhancing our neighborhood. We like our neighborhood and no, we do not want a data center. Our thoughts are enough is enough. We were okay with a substation and the natural gas plant will help the grid, but now our area is beginning to look like an industrial zone instead of a farm community. Two years ago, the substation caught fire and smoldered for three days. Accidents happen, but this is a concern. I keep looking up things like, how far is the destruction area when 2 million gallons of diesel blows up and is 40,000 gallons of aqueous ammonia dangerous? Artificial intelligence probably has me on their No-Fly list by now.

We try to promote wildlife on our farm. Every time the landscape changes, we see wildlife disappear. We have heard stories of data centers driving away wildlife, of the hum causing cattle to lose weight. The moratorium will give us time to get answers and hopefully the elected officials will use this information to make a decision. I believe it’s their responsibility to do no harm and make the decision for the most part with the farming community in mind. Carter has around 7,200 names on his petition and the majority are from Nodaway County.

Nina Wilmes

Maryville