One of Tom Corbit’s top concerns in this year’s elections is the proliferation of data centers. He knows the issue well.
Corbit, 70, retired from the BMW plant near Spartanburg, South Carolina, as a data center manager.
The centers he managed for the automaker, Corbit said, were no bigger than the ice cream shop where he attended a town hall this week with Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews, who is running against Sen. Darline Graham (R) in a very tight race.
“They were not the humongous monsters they’re putting in today,” Corbit said.
Residents of Spartanburg County have been riled by plansfor a $2.8 billion data center that began construction before the public realized what the massive project was.
“I always saw them as good things,” Corbit said of his 30-year career working on data centers. “But the way they’re coming in is wrong. The people don’t have a voice in it, just the companies making money.”
Andrews has called for a two-year moratorium on data center construction in South Carolina, pitching the pause as a chance for public policy to catch up to the fast-growing, resource-heavy industry.
Graham, by contrast, has said data center expansion is necessary to compete with China and last week became the first beneficiary of a new political action committee formed by data center interests. The New York Times reported that the Building the Future PAC has contributed nearly $1.5 million in advertising on behalf of Graham.
That’s enough for Corbit. “Darline is all about it, jumping on board,” he said, ensuring that he’ll vote for Andrews.
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