{
  "id": 3229550,
  "title": "Data Centers: The Latest Thing to Destroy Beautiful West Virginia",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/data-centers-the-latest-thing-to-destroy-beautiful-west-virginia",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-25T09:08:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Literary Hub",
    "slug": "literary-hub",
    "url": "https://lithub.com/data-centers-the-latest-thing-to-destroy-beautiful-west-virginia/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "West Virginia, a place often ridiculed for its backwardness, is actually rich in natural resources. Its vast public mountain land provides ample opportunities for recreation and sustenance. The Monongahela National Forest and Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge are some of its prized landscapes, offering a range of experiences from hiking and fishing to bird watching and photography. The area has a rich history, with generations of families living off its bounty and preserving its secrets through each season. However, the recent arrival of a data center in Canaan has sparked controversy. The governor, a Republican from New Jersey, has been pushing for more data centers, positioning himself as the most pro-data center governor in the country. He has bypassed local zoning rules and public opposition to attract these facilities, leading to concerns about environmental impact, job creation, revenue sharing, and rising electric rates. Despite the opposition, the local community remains steadfast in their efforts to protect their land and way of life.",
  "summary": "The data centers have been speaking to me lately, in the form of ChatGPT slop. The spam offers to market my new novel for a fee, perverting the language I’ve written about a place the data centers promise to destroy:",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}