A small community in Mason County, West Virginia recently made local and national headlines as during construction on a trend-setting data center, a fence broke and flooded out a neighborhood; causing thousands upon thousands in damages. Many in Mason County are claiming this is simply adding insult to injury as the data center is being forced upon them with no say, no forewarning, and absolutely no promises on what type of job prospectus the new development will have for the area.
After hearing about the floods I wanted to first dive into that, the piece needed to go deeper and cover the whole story and not just the sound bytes so I spent a few days there, toured multiple sites with locals, attended a community meeting, and have put together a comprehensive journalistic piece that I hope properly reflects the residents of Mason County, and the fight they are enduring.
