MASSENA – Several concerns were raised by attendees at an informational meeting regarding data center proposals held at the Massena Library May 27.

The presentation was led by Mohawks United in Safety and Health (MUSH), a group that opposes the establishment of data centers near their community of Akwesasne.

Two NCCS representatives were present in the audience and offered up-to-date information when needed.

MUSH officials reported New York State is currently home to 20 operational data centers, with an additional 36 proposed projects in the pipeline, including 11 that are targeted for St. Lawrence County, according to the New York Independent System Operator. NYISO is an independent organization responsible for managing the electrical grid in New York. They provide oversight of wholesale electricity markets.

Power usage concerns

In St. Lawrence County, the proposed data centers are requesting a range of energy use from NYISO, from 120 MW to 1,935 MW of power, for a total of 4,974 MW.

The first data center proposal from NCCS, currently being considered in Massena, is requesting an additional 200 MW, to be added to their currently allocated 435 MW.

In an energy forum held at Clarkson University in October, Dr. John Ortmeyer shared concerning news about New York’s energy use and shrinking safety net of available power..

He said 39,150 MW are required in New York with 40,955 MW available at any given point.  The threshold between the two has been shrinking since 2018, from roughly 4,500 MW extra to around 1,800 MW.  With their total request for 4,974 MW, the proposed data center projects would require New York to generate new power to meet the need.

MUSH representatives said there are four different types and scale sizes of data centers, including enterprise, edge, co-location and hyperscale. The least energy-consuming type, the “enterprise” data center, provides internal data needs of a single company.

 “The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, for instance, utilizes an enterprise data center to operate its IT infrastructure,” said Marina Johnson-Zafiris of MUSH. NCCS’s proposal qualifies as a “hyperscale” data center, the most energy-intensive of the four types. It would function as a “colocation” facility, leasing out their computing rack space, power, cooling and security to third parties and would have the infrastructure capacity to support generative AI, which both ChatGPT and Claude use.  

“Hyperscale generative AI facilities do not simply hold data,” Johnson-Zafiris said. “They generate new data from existing data. If you have ever asked ChatGPT to make a video of a dancing dog for example, you are relying on the power of a hyperscale data center, which requires massive amounts of energy to produce.”

Cooling and water concerns

During the meeting, Ronni Sunday of MUSH explained that generative AI not only consumes vast levels of energy, but water as well.  “Hyperscale computing produces enormous amounts of heat as a byproduct,” Sunday said, “which requires the need for massive cooling systems.”  NCCS recently changed their approach for cooling to a closed-loop cooling system, responding to public concern about using St. Lawrence River water to cool the servers.  In their new plan, water will be imported from an outside source and the wastewater, known as blowdown, will be exported out to a water treatment facility. It’s unclear who will provide the water or handle the waste product.  

“Closed loop cooling systems are often pumped with cocktails of additives,” Sunday said. “such as corrosion inhibitors, biocides, and antifreeze blends to keep the water from rusting and growing microbes, and to continue cooling the servers.”  Due to its evaporative efforts, which release heat from the servers into the air, water in a closed-loop can only be recycled a few times, after becoming too concentrated with harmful nitrites, heavy metals and poisonous forever chemicals to reuse.  It must then be removed and replaced with new, clean water, MUSH representatives said.  

“While they are no longer taking water from our river, the water is still coming from someone else’s river. It is still being discharged onto someone else’s land,” Sunday added.

Building on discussion around thermal pollution, Johnson-Zafiris showed satellite imagery of the NCCS thermal footprint from its onsite bitcoin mining operation at full capacity in 2022, and another image of its operation in 2025. She is a computer and information Ph.D. student at Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in data science and machine learning.

The NCCS bitcoin center uses an open-air cooling method for its 54,000 servers, releasing its excess heat into the air.  “The difference in air temperature between the facility and the surrounding, undeveloped area is consistently 20°F,” Johnson-Zafiris noted. “Thermal discharge is a real type of pollution,” she added.  “What does this temperature change do to the flora, the fauna, and the river’s ecosystem?” she asked.

NCCS also sits on a Superfund site with legacy contaminants still present. She said high congener PCBs are pooled nearby in cold lagoons to keep them dense, but when exposed to heat, become more volatile.  "Through a tree bark research study, we are already seeing an increase in PCB-4, a volatilized PCB, which is a neurotoxin.” she said. “This begs the question, what will happen when thermal heat emitted from NCCS’s hyperscale data center heats these toxic legacy contaminant sites to an even greater degree?”

Noise concerns

Also discussed was noise pollution.  The cooling system itself will generate noise, but the larger concern is for the 115 backup diesel generators onsite, which will be tested on a continual basis.   After Sunday said that 20 of NCCS's backup diesel generators will be tested at a time, Carter McLean, a NCCS representative, corrected the information.

“We will now only be testing up to six of these backup diesel generators at any one time, each for a one-hour duration, during business hours,” he said.  “It has been reported that these diesel generators can reach up to a noise level of approximately 75 decibels,” Sunday said, “and wildlife stress responses begin at noise levels of approximately 40 decibels.”

Jobs and safety?

NCCS is promising the creation of 200 new jobs at its data center. During the question-and-answer period, Ginger Storey-Welch told the crowd about the conditions that her son endured for over a year while working at the bitcoin plant run by NCCS.  Steve Welch worked there in 2022, while the operation was still owned by Coinmint.  In a separate interview, he explained that after overheating on the job, he collapsed from heat stroke in the building and needed to be rushed to the hospital. 

 His doctor cautioned that people who suffer from heatstrokes are more susceptible to further strokes.  Additionally, he reported coming home after work each day covered from head-to-toe in black soot.  “The water in the shower would be pitch black flowing off of you, and when you blew your nose, black phlegm would come out.”  Welch’s job was to keep the servers running. He was paid $17 per hour. Welch said NCCS never identified the dust.  After seeing a pulmonologist for increased trouble with breathing, his doctor raised serious concerns about the dust in his lungs.

“These are not quality jobs,” Welch’s mother said.

Protecting local interests

In response to concerns raised by attendees, Raul Carvalho, another NCCS representative, said the organization would be happy to provide intervenor funds to stakeholders, including the county and/or MUSH.  “We want to do what we can to be good neighbors,” he said.  As part of the development process, developers may offer intervenor funding to protect the interests of residents and municipalities impacted by the data center projects.  The funds allow everyday citizens to hire attorneys and consultants to ensure their interests are protected throughout the process.

This story was edited by North Country This Week News Editor Jimmy Lawton.