Planning Commission grants conditional approval for Quantum Loophole campus substation
Sep. 13—The Frederick County Planning Commission voted 4-2 on Wednesday to grant conditional approval to FirstEnergy, which is working with Quantum Loophole, for an electric substation on Quantum Loophole's planned data center campus.
The site plan will receive final approval on the condition that the Maryland Department of the Environment approves a new environmental management plan from Quantum Loophole for its planned campus.
Commission Chair Craig Hicks and commissioners Joel Rensberger, Tim Davis and Sam Tressler III voted in favor of approval. Commissioners Carole Sepe and Robert White opposed.
During a meeting in August, the commission delayed voting on the proposed substation to continue discussion in September. Commissioners asked FirstEnergy to include a new approved environmental management plan, a sound study using multiple sources and an updated landscape plan in its application.
The proposed substation would be constructed on a brownfield where the former substation for the Alcoa Eastalco smelting site was built, according to Kraig Walsleben of Rodgers Consulting, who spoke on behalf of FirstEnergy.
Expansion, redevelopment or reuse on brownfield sites "may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Maryland Department of the Environment revoked approval for Quantum Loophole's original environmental management plan in May primarily due to the company not submitting required addendums to the department before conducting work and illicit dewatering activities.
The environmental management plan provided guidelines and rules on specific areas and procedures of the project, Quantum Loophole Chief Technology Officer Scott Noteboom said during a Frederick County Council meeting in June.
As of Tuesday, Quantum Loophole had not submitted a new environmental management plan draft to the department for approval.
The commission requested FirstEnergy present a new sound study that measured noise made by multiple substation transformers. The sound study in the August version of the application measured the noise made by one transformer.
The predicted sound levels at the property lines ranged between 47 and 53 decibels, which falls under the county's sound level limit of 70 decibels, according to the study.
The study also included a table of common sound sources associated with various decibel levels. Forty decibels is comparable to a farm field with bird calls or a light breeze, 50 decibels is comparable to a private office and 60 decibels is comparable to an air-conditioner condenser at 15 feet.
Walsleben said the application's updated landscape plan also replaced any plants not native to the county with native species.
Walsleben refuted public comments that suggested that if FirstEnergy is granted approval, it will begin construction immediately. He said that isn't true.
"This approval, again, is approving type, size and location of the proposed use," he said. "After we get this approval, we can then move forward with the improvement plans, construction documents, those things that discuss how we place these elements."
Steve Black, president of the Sugarloaf Alliance, spoke on behalf of the group during public comment. Black said if the commission grants conditional approval to the substation, it would be granting conditional approval on an environmental management plan draft whose contents the members don't know.
Black said the applicant should provide the commission with more specifics about what the potential environmental and ecological consequences of the substation and its development are, given that the substation would be built on a brownfield.
"This is not the same as putting a gas station in on the street corner somewhere. It's not virgin ground. It comes with baggage, and you should have a working knowledge of that baggage," he said.
