Company wants to build five additional buildings at Project Zodiac site-Google’s request to build on protected wetlands at its $2 billion Project Zodiac data center campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been approved by the state’s Department of Environmental Management.
Per a report from local news outlet 21Alive, Google has been given the green light to fill more than two acres of wetlands in order to construct five additional buildings and associated infrastructure on land near East Paulding and Adams Center roads.
According to the application, which was filed by Hatchworks LLC, to compensate for the wetlands destruction, Google will purchase 2.48 acres of unforested wetlands and 1.58 acres of forested wetlands from The Openings Wetland Mitigation Bank.
The permit was issued on September 16, following a 30-day public comment period. The vast majority of comments were opposed to the application being granted, 21Alive reported, citing submissions that included: “Our ecosystems are on the brink, and Indiana has prioritized destroying these vital and fragile habitats. Protected wetlands should remain protected for not only the species that depend on them but the communities that also benefit from the resources they provide for clean water.”
Another responder wrote: “These data centers that have gone up around the country have destroyed the communities they’re in. Why should anyone rubber-stamp higher utility bills and less usable resources for actual residents of the area, let alone the destruction of important wetlands?”
Additionally, despite multiple requests from local residents to hold a public hearing regarding the application, no such meeting took place.
Google was confirmed as the company behind the Project Zodiac campus proposal in January 2024, after reports of a 12-building campus spanning more than 700 acres first surfaced in October 2023. The project –bounded by East Tillman Road, Adams Center Road, and the railroad track – was granted approval by Allen County in November.
The total expected capacity of the data center in its final phase is currently unknown. However, in July 2024, Google signed a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with renewable developer EDPR in a deal that will see the hyperscaler secure 100MW of solar power from a project situated within an Energy Community in Dubois County, Indiana.
Source: datacenterdynamics
