CAYUGA, Ind. — Wherever you look online, there is chatter either for or against data centers, and there are several locals in Cayuga who are against the plans of Vermillion Rise.
On Monday, there will be a meeting at the Cayuga Community Center at 6 p.m. (Eastern) with the Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority (NeCDRA) and the Vermillion Rise Mega Park. The meeting was originally scheduled for May 27 and was cancelled the day of the meeting.
A move, Kimberly Ratcliff, a community member against the proposal, says, upset quite a few people.
“I ended up in tears last night when I got up there,” Ratcliff said about speaking up at the commissioner’s meeting. “I’m not good at public speaking, but I got, I got choked up, and I made other people cry, and I’ve heard all the emotions.”
She says they likely rescheduled in her opinion because the meeting held earlier this week, which County Commissioner RJ Dunavan called together, ended in shouting with another commissioner and audience members.
“A different commissioner got up and basically said ‘We [those against the data center] were trying to spread fear and misinformation,’ and so he left the podium being shouted down,” Ratcliff says. She also added that she saw Vermillion Rise board members at the meeting Dunawan organized and thinks that is why they rescheduled.
Despite that cancellation, around 10-15 people gathered in protest. Ratcliff says they plan to protest again this weekend.
There was also supposed to be a meeting with the Vermillion County Board of Commissioners on Monday at the same time. Due to the large public interest in attending the meeting concerning a proposed data center in Cayuga, the county commissioners have rescheduled their meeting to 6 p.m. on Monday, June 15.
Ratcliff says she lives incredibly close to the proposed site, close enough to the center that she can see the building complex from her house.
“I can see the fence line,” she said from her front yard. “We have like 300 acres here.”
And for Ratcliff her home is more than just a place to live.
“I’ve raised four kids here,” she said. “My husband’s great-grandfather built this house in 1918 and it’s been in the family ever since, besides during World War II, when eminent domain kicked them out so that generals and sergeants could live here during the war, since it was close to the ammunition plant.”
Ratcliff claims the site could impact endangered animals in the area, as she says there are endangered bats amongst other wildlife.
“I don’t know, it’s just, it’s just so upsetting,” Ratcliff says. “We have other endangered species in the area, but I know that one is the one that has really caused some pause in construction on things…”
Ratcliff said there is now a group formed on Facebook with almost 400 people against the proposed data center. She has also formed a petition gathering 59 signatures as of late Friday afternoon. The petition is asking local officials to review, “In regard[s] to land usage throughout the county to ensure rigorous safeguards are in place to protect citizens against energy exploitation and unsustainable water consumption and pollution (including light and noise) by any AI (or other type of) data center, crypto mining farm, or other industrial entities.”
Vermillion Rise was contacted by email and phone with messages left, and no response was received by the time of publication.
Previously, the Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority met at the Cayuga Community Center for a public hearing on April 16. On their website, they say the public hearing was regarding “for the purpose of conducting a public hearing regarding an amendment of the Reuse Plan to add two tracts of property to the Newport Chemical Depot Military Base Reuse Area and to consider such amendment.”