ALABAMA, N.Y. — A public hearing drew a packed room Thursday evening as residents and members of the Seneca Nation voiced strong opposition to a proposed $19 billion data center project in the Town of Alabama.
The Stream Data Centers complex, known as “Project Double Reed,” would be built on approximately 130 acres within the Genesee County Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park.
GOING IN-DEPTH ON THE PROJECT:
The development would feature a 2.2 million square foot data center campus consisting of three two-story buildings. About 90 acres would be used for permanent development and 40 acres for temporary construction use. The project would receive nearly $1.5 billion in tax breaks.
Developers say it would create 125 permanent jobs, in addition to significant construction employment. However, many residents expressed concerns about environmental impacts, particularly water usage and power consumption.
One attendee questioned the accuracy of the project’s water usage estimates. “You say they will use 20,000 gallons of water — is that per building or in total? And the sewage, you said it would generate 3,700 gallons of raw sewage a day — from people using toilets? I don’t think so. It’s a lie. I think you need to promise that this data center will never expand,” one resident said.
Mark Massey, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, addressed some of the concerns. He said water usage estimates on the application listed 20,000 gallons per day, but engineering calculations put it closer to 13,000 gallons per day.
“As far as the power goes, we spent the better part of five years working with the New York Independent System Operators, the NYISO, with a request for 600 megawatts to draw down at the site. We got approval for those,” Massey said.
Massey said there is a lot of misinformation circulating about the project. But opponents believe the misinformation is coming from the Economic Development Center itself.
OPPOSITION VOICES:
“The misinformation is mainly on their side. And when they say it’s 45 decibels — it’s per unit, not 66 running at once,” said Jim Joyner, who lived near the proposed project site for about 35 years. Another neighbor also raised concerns about the project’s proximity to Seneca Nation land.
“The data center would be very near the border of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. Huge hot noisy reminders to the Native Americans that after 250 years the insults to them and their lands continue,” the representative said.
The Economic Development Board said it will be categorizing all the questions it received tonight and would get them answers once public comment ends.
Originally, the Town of Alabama had a Planning Board Public Hearing on April 20th but cancelled it on the 15th due to “the inability of the Town’s independent sound consultants to complete their peer review of the applicant’s sound study in sufficient time for the results to be made available to the public prior to the hearing.”
The Alabama Town Supervisor said the town will continue to follow the law, complete a thorough review and take into consideration the input from meetings like Thursday’s. No timeline has been given yet on when a decision will be made.
VIEW FULL STATEMENT FROM THE SUPERVISOR BELOW:
From the beginning of the proposed project in Alabama, it was important for the Town’s decision makers to see operating data center facilities firsthand. With a project of this size, it would not be a proper complete review if we did not take the time to understand how these facilities actually operate.
March 26 and 27th, members of the Town Board and Planning Board visited three data center facilities in Texas. Two were in the Dallas area and one was in San Antonio. The purpose of the visit was to better understand how facilities of this scale operate and fit within surrounding communities as part of our ongoing review of the proposed project at STAMP.
The facilities were selected by our Town engineer for several reasons, because they were relatively close in proximity to each other, they were in various stages of development from being under construction to recently opened to fully operational and they were also as closely related to the design of the proposed data center at STAMP.
During the visits, we met with Stream representatives for informational purposes only, including company leadership, project development staff, and on-site personnel. Also participating in the visits were two leaders from the Town’s Fire Department, along with the Town Attorney, Town Engineer, and a representative from County Planning.
It was important to see how these facilities operate in the real world. Observations included building scale, layout, and general operations. We also visited nearby neighborhoods in close proximity to the facilities to better understand how they are situated in relation to surrounding residential areas. The trip was strictly informational. No decisions were made and no conclusions were reached.
There has been a lot of public interest in this project, which we understand. The Town will continue to carefully and thoughtfully review materials submitted by the applicant, independent consultant review, public meetings, and information gathered at the public hearing.
To keep that process fair, decisions have to be based on the formal record developed during the review, consistent with applicable law and state guidance. That requires those involved in the review to remain impartial and avoid forming or expressing conclusions outside the formal review process. For that reason, there will not be individual opinions or conclusions offered outside of public meetings.
The Town will continue to follow the law and complete a careful, thorough, and deliberate review based on the full record developed through the review process. The compilation of that record includes detailed review by the Town’s engineer and consultants, input from public meetings and a public hearing, and input from involved agencies. Any final decisions will be based on that full record.
Robert CrossenTown of Alabama Supervisor4/15/2026
According to Massey, the site has been in development for nearly 20 years, dating back to 2008 when Yahoo first looked at the location. Yahoo ultimately built a data center in Lockport, about 22 miles away, which now spans more than 400,000 square feet.
“Data center was included in the zoning when that was rezoned back in 2012,” Massey said. The development underwent an environmental impact statement from 2010 to 2012.
VISIT HERE FOR SITE PLANS ON THE PROJECT: STREAM US Data Centers LLC – SEQR Development Application – February 18, 2026 – III C – Site Plans
FOR MORE FROM THE GCEDC ON THE PROJECT: Projects :: GCEDC
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