We may be dating ourselves, but how many remember Crocodile Dundee??
Well, we have a new tale to share about the “Down Under” experience!
Imagine the Australian Embassy INVITES the Coalition to be a participant in a data center round table conference, and we accept on July 20th.
Subsequently, the Australian Embassy CONFIRMS our attendance, along with the other guests, by sending out an email on July 28th, 5:37 PM with “OFFICIAL” in red at the top of the email.
We realize, for the first time, as we imagine all the OTHER participants did as well, that the Coalition to Protect Prince William County is the ONLY non- profit participant that will be offering a different perspective. But hey, the odds still look good at 8-1, ensuring critical facts can play a key role in the conversation. We are up for the challenge!
HOLD ON! Not so fast.
Remember that children’s game “One of these things is not like the others?” Well, it only stands to reason, the OTHER industry leaders saw the same thing we did, that the one outlier with a seat at what they thought was THEIR table, is a very successful, albeit teeny tiny, grassroots organization.
What do YOU think happens, within less than 24 hours of that email communication? On July 29th, at 4:29 PM the Coalition is UN-INVITED!
Our participation CANCELLED.
Do you know what we said in reaction? What. A. Bunch. Of. Cowards.
The Australian Embassy was on the right path, ensuring all viewpoints would be heard and discussed. Did the data center industry bully them into rescinding their invitation?
Seriously. No one believes our invitation was cancelled because of “capacity constraints,” unless capacity equates to the willingness to discuss the real impacts that are happening to our water, our power grid, our air, and our communities.
We are not afraid to challenge the industry on these harms that are happening now, and into the future.
But to be fair, if WE were Vantage Data Center, we might not want our dirty laundry, or rather dirty “air” discussed out in the open either.
Video Pirio recorded at 1:40 a.m. Friday captures the generators roaring through the night. He says the sound registered 60 decibels at his property line, above Loudoun County’s 55-decibel nighttime limit. The fumes, he says, were worse — bad enough that he left home at dawn to stay with his daughter in Vienna, 15 miles away.
“What it was like was I had to leave,” Pirio said. “I had to go to my daughter’s house because it was hurting my lungs.”
The generators ran during a Code Red air quality alert, when smoke from Canadian wildfires had already degraded the region’s air. Vantage’s air permit allows generator use in emergencies, and the company says that during Code Red or higher air quality days, its generators “would only operate in an emergency, not for routine testing or maintenance.”
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–> NOTE: We have NEW yard signs: 
As well as many other different yard signs and t-shirts advocating to protect our communities. Order one today, and start spreading the word to your neighbors!
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