At the meeting, residents expressed concerns<\/a> about how these data centers will affect the neighborhood, worries over the cost of power being passed down to consumers, how developers will mitigate pollutants<\/a> emitted by these facilities and whether developers will commit to treating contaminated water on-site. Diesel generators used by data centers emit harmful chemicals such as nitrogen oxides and toxic air contaminants that can cause lung issues and cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Linda Hutchins-Knowles, co-founder of environmental justice group Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, said she wanted environmental and public health groups to have equal time to present their concerns about air and water quality, water use, artificial light, noise and impact on wildlife in a future meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed that in tonight\u2019s presentation, we have the industry here putting the best spin they can on this,\u201d Hutchins-Knowles said at the meeting. \u201cThere\u2019s many, many concerns and frankly to me how it looks on the outside is the least important as a mother of kids in this community. I don\u2019t understand how you can consider diesel generators ever low emission \u2014 that is a lot of air pollution in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Menlo Digital is planning to build a 444,400-square-foot data center in South San Jose on Charlotte Drive, between Lexington Avenue and Raleigh Road. It would use 99 megawatts of power, enough energy to power 99,000 homes. It will also include an on-site substation and backup generators. The project is located near residential areas.<\/p>\n To limit the amount of water it uses to cool equipment, the\u00a0facility would use an air-cooled, closed loop system that recirculates water through pipes.<\/p>\n Prologis is developing another project in South San Jose at 5977 Silver Creek Valley Road. The proposed 516,000-square-foot data center would also use 99 megawatts of power and have an on-site substation and backup generator yard.<\/p>\n Koo said the company will incur the full costs of any infrastructure\u00a0the data center requires, including power transmission cables.<\/p>\n \u201c(PG&E collects) all the money from us to pay for that upfront, and if the project somehow doesn\u2019t go forward, that money is kept by PG&E so that infrastructure cost is not passed back onto the ratepayer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Koo added\u00a0PG&E estimates data centers can reduce customer bills by 1% for every 1 gigawatt of data center usage.<\/p>\n Another resident asked whether the developers would commit to treating leaks from diesel generators on-site, which can spill harmful chemicals into the soil and groundwater.<\/p>\n Prologis Vice President Courtney Bell said the question was outside of her technical expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to get back on that,\u201d Bell said. \u201cBut in terms of any sort of equipment malfunction or things that need to be repaired, that absolutely will follow all the standards. In terms of the water quality monitoring, that\u2019s also something that I know that the city is looking at, and so we will be compliant with what they come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell said the company has a website to keep residents up to date on the Prologis Silver Creek project<\/a>. Koo said Menlo Digital will have a website up soon for the project on Charlotte Drive.<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790990772_173_interactive-321838904008.png\")
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