Part 7 of 13 in Thirteen Records. The long article, Data Centers Don’t Have an Environmental Record. They Have Thirteen of Them., rates thirteen kinds of environmental complaint against data centers. This series takes them one at a time.
I work at a local ISP in Northern Illinois and co-founded FD-IX, an internet exchange. I have no customer, vendor, or interconnection relationship with any facility or developer named here and no financial position in any of them beyond broad-market index funds. My industry grows with infrastructure investment in a general way, which is an indirect interest; the full disclosure is at the top of the complete article.
Before any generator runs or any fan spins, the trucks come. Construction is the environmental impact residents encounter first, raise most often at hearings, and, on a phased hyperscale campus, live beside longest. Project Cardinal’s agreement describes about ten years of build-out and calls the phasing plan “advisory only and non-binding.” [11x]
Most of this record is not a data center record. Dust, haul traffic, and construction noise come with any large project, and a loaded gravel truck weighs the same on Eldamain Road as it does in Saline Township, Michigan. What is specific is duration, and the two site-specific hazards, blasting and the loss of a tree buffer, that do not happen everywhere. This post rates three construction claims and ends with the conditions that belong in the approval instrument, in the right order, which is before the trucks start running.
How the ratings work. Each complaint below is stated the way it usually arrives at a hearing and rated on the scale the full article uses. Systemic: documented at compliant facilities across multiple geographies. Regional: real, but only under specific geographic or operational conditions. Isolated: documented at one or few facilities due to misconduct or atypical design. Exaggerated: the concern is real but the figures are permit ceilings or worst cases, not operating norms. Selective: a legitimate concern applied only to data centers, not to comparable land uses. Misattributed: the harm is real but the source, geography, or cause is wrong. Contested: a plausible mechanism exists but causal documentation at compliant facilities does not. Fabricated: no credible evidentiary basis exists. Where I say I found no record of something, that means a search of public sources through October 2026, not paid databases or records requests.
Construction
Claim: Building a data center disrupts the neighborhood for years. Tier: Systemic.
Construction is the impact residents encounter first, experience longest, and raise most often at hearings, and the pattern repeats across states. In Saline Township, Michigan, gravel haulers serving the Oracle and OpenAI campus drew complaints about speeding, noise, dust, and damage to newly repaved streets. [37] Near Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin campus, neighbors reported construction noise, dust, light, and truck traffic through successive build phases. [38] In Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania, residents reported a blast that shook a house across the road, despite pre-blast surveys and seismographs. [39] A Louisa County, Virginia homeowner sued Amazon in July 2026 over dump truck traffic, dust, and water discoloration. [40] In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, residents said tree clearing removed a sound buffer that had shielded them from existing noise. [41] Dust behaves the same in Illinois as in Michigan, and a loaded gravel truck weighs the same on Eldamain Road.
Duration is what changes the experience, and it attaches to large phased campuses of any kind, of which hyperscale data centers are one. Project Cardinal’s agreement describes a build-out of about ten years and calls the phasing plan “advisory only and non-binding.” [11x] Mount Pleasant residents are living beside phase three. The “temporary disruption” framing assumes an end date phased campuses do not offer. Yorkville’s settlement with a resident in the first Cardinal lawsuit, approved 5-1 on June 23, 2026, requires each construction phase to be substantially complete before the next begins, with exceptions for circumstances beyond the developer’s control. [11o][11k]
Claim: Haul trucks and dust are a data center problem. Tier: Selective.
Haul traffic, dust, and construction noise come with any large project, and warehouses, hospitals, subdivisions, and highway rebuilds are rarely treated as environmental questions for it. Blasting, well damage, and clearing an established tree buffer are site-specific and do not happen everywhere. Apart from those and the duration, most of the construction complaint is a large-project complaint.
Claim: Living next to a data center means dust and trucks. Tier: Misattributed.
Dust, haul traffic, and blasting end when construction ends. Describing them as what an operating data center is like conflates a build phase with a facility. On a ten-year campus the distinction is thin for the neighbor, which is why phasing conditions matter more here than anywhere else in this series.
What to ask for. Write the construction conditions into the approval. Designated haul routes that avoid residential streets and school zones. Delivery hour limits. A pre-construction road survey with developer-funded repair obligations. Dust suppression with a named enforcement contact. Pre-blast structural surveys with seismograph monitoring where blasting is planned, and a private-well baseline within a defined radius where excavation or blasting is near homes on wells, which is the subject of the water quality post. Phase-completion requirements, so a decade of building is not a decade of simultaneous activity; Yorkville’s June 2026 settlement with a resident requires each Cardinal phase to be substantially complete before the next begins, with exceptions for circumstances beyond the developer’s control. [11o][11k] Saline Township negotiated traffic enforcement after the trucks started running, which is the wrong order. [37]
The honest comparison. A warehouse campus, a hospital, or a highway rebuild produces the same dust and the same trucks, and they are rarely treated as environmental questions for it. What makes a hyperscale campus different is that its build phase can outlast a mortgage. Conditions that assume a construction end date are written for a different kind of project.
This is part 7 of 13 in Thirteen Records, a series that takes the long article Data Centers Don’t Have an Environmental Record. They Have Thirteen of Them. one topic at a time. Previous: noise. Next: thermal effects, where Phoenix has a peer-reviewed measurement and Illinois has none.
Cover photo: Joseph Gage / Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Citations
[11o] United City of Yorkville, City Council Packet, June 23, 2026, agenda item EDC 2026-31 (Project Cardinal, Pioneer Development LLC). Community Development Director’s memo dated June 3, 2026, packet pp. 369 to 371: Utility and Infrastructure Agreement and Development Agreement approved March 10, 2026 by Ordinance No. 2026-23 (executed copy, Section 4.1: the City “will provide water” at 42,000 gpd average day and 71,400 gpd maximum day, overuse billed at twice the volumetric rate; Section 3.6: HVO or biodiesel for generator testing; no well provision; https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13590/Ordinance-2026-23—need-signed-agreements?bidId= (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025151443/https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13590/Ordinance-2026-23—need-signed-agreements?bidId=)); closing-notice deadline extension from July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027. Draft Memorandum of Understanding (Pioneer Development redline dated May 21, 2026), packet pp. 378 to 381, Section 4.1 Water Allocation: “The City acknowledges that the provisions of adequate amounts of potable water is essential for the development of the Project”; “(Average Day) 42,000 gallons per day (Maximum Day) 71,400 gallons per day”; penalty “equal to two times the then-existing volumetric water rate on the difference between the actual average day and the estimated average day of 42,000 gallons for the entire billing cycle”; for any day over 71,400 gallons, the same double rate “until compliance with the water allocation standards are met or further improvements to the water service system are completed at the sole cost of the Developer.” Same packet, City Administrator memo dated June 18, 2026, p. 233, and Conditional Settlement Agreement and Releases, Bryan v. Yorkville, Kendall County Case No. 2025 CH 000028, from p. 239. https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6803 (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025162608/https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6803). Adoption: Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the City Council, June 23, 2026 (as reproduced in the July 14, 2026 council packet): Ordinance 2026-43 approving the conditional settlement, roll call 5-1 (Corneils nay); Ordinance 2026-44 approving the first amendment to the annexation agreement, 6-1; Ordinance 2026-45 approving the memorandum of understanding, 5-1 (Corneils nay). https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6824 (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025162615/https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6824)
[11x] United City of Yorkville, Ordinance No. 2025-77, approving the Planned Unit Development Agreement for Project Cardinal, passed November 10, 2025 (7-0), signed by the mayor November 13, 2025, published November 14, 2025; city-posted executed copy, mayor’s signature and clerk’s attestation dated November 13, 2025, Pioneer Development signature and date lines blank. Section 2.1: vesting applies “Upon commencement of the Project within three (3) years of the Effective Date.” Section 2.2: “Section 10-4-10 of the UDO is reserved for additional regulations applicable to Energy Industrial Uses. No new or amended standards, code provisions, or special regulations for Energy Industrial Uses shall apply to the Subject Property during the twenty (20) year vested term from the Effective Date of this Agreement, unless Developer agrees in writing or to the extent required by state or federal law.” No reference to Ordinance 2025-53. Section 2.14: “seventy-eight (78) feet, inclusive of any rooftop mechanical equipment or appurtenances.” Section 3.5: water obligations “addressed exclusively in the Utility Agreement.” https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13587/Ordinance-2025-77—record?bidId= (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025151237/https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13587/Ordinance-2025-77—record?bidId=). Annexation agreement, Ordinance No. 2025-78: https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13588/Ordinance-2025-78—record?bidId= (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025151421/https://www.yorkville.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/13588/Ordinance-2025-78—record?bidId=). Packet version: City Council Packet, November 10, 2025 (ArchiveCenter Item 6499), Planned Unit Development Agreement between the United City of Yorkville and Pioneer Development, LLC (Project Cardinal), packet pp. 272 to 290. Section 2.1: entitlements “fully vested and protected from amendments and changes to City ordinances, codes, or regulations for a period of twenty (20) years from the Effective Date.” Section 2.2: “No new or amended standards, code provisions, or special regulations for Energy Industrial Uses shall apply to the Subject Property during the twenty (20) year vested term from the Effective Date of this Agreement, unless Developer agrees in writing or to the extent required by state or federal law.” Section 2.3: approximately ten-year build-out; Phasing Plan “advisory only and non-binding.” Section 2.4: “All data center buildings shall be at least five hundred feet (500′) from the nearest residential or commercial structure outside the boundaries of the Subject Property,” measured “from existing, occupied, residential or commercial buildings as of the date of PUD approval.” Section 2.10: 100-foot Transition Zone Type D buffer with a 12-foot berm facing residential properties and 8 feet elsewhere; “No additional berms or landscape requirements shall be imposed unless Developer agrees in writing.” Section 2.11: “the most appropriate location for Mechanical Equipment is on the rooftops; therefore, whenever practical, mechanical equipment shall be placed on the rooftops”; project subject to the City Noise Ordinance “as it existed when the PUD application was approved by the City Council.” Section 2.14: 78-foot maximum height including rooftop equipment. Section 2.17: “all primary power used for the data center campus on the Subject Property will be delivered from the Commonwealth Edison power grid” unless the City Council approves otherwise. Section 3.4: continuous noise monitoring devices at the onset of each construction phase, a preliminary report within 60 days after each building is operational, devices maintained for the life of the project. Section 3.11: operational testing of generators “during the hours of 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and not on any Holidays.” https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6499 (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261025154939/https://www.yorkville.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6499)
[11k] Shaw Local (Kendall County Now), “Yorkville close to reaching settlement on resident’s lawsuit over 1,037 acre data center,” March 21, 2026, and Yorkville Herald, “Yorkville Council to Consider Settlement in Project Cardinal Lawsuit,” June 19, 2026. Resident John Bryan filed suit October 28, 2025 alleging noise and property value harm; Pioneer Development LLC intervened as a defendant December 19, 2025; the June 23, 2026 council agenda included a conditional settlement requiring that “each phase of the project is substantially complete before construction of the next phase begins,” “with limited exceptions for circumstances beyond the developer’s control.” https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/2026/03/21/yorkville-close-to-reaching-settlement-on-residents-lawsuit-over-1037-acre-data-center/ (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260804170512/https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/2026/03/21/yorkville-close-to-reaching-settlement-on-residents-lawsuit-over-1037-acre-data-center/) and https://www.yorkvilleherald.com/articles/yorkville-council-to-consider-settlement-in-project-cardinal-lawsuit (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260908214340/https://www.yorkvilleherald.com/articles/yorkville-council-to-consider-settlement-in-project-cardinal-lawsuit)
[37] Planet Detroit, “Saline residents blast Oracle data center construction,” March 17, 2026, and FOX 2 Detroit, “Saline Twp. data center construction causing noise complaints, Oracle responds.” Resident complaints of speeding gravel haulers, noise, dust, and road damage; Saline Mayor Brian Marl met with contractor Walbridge and pledged additional traffic enforcement. https://planetdetroit.org/2026/03/saline-data-center-traffic/ (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261024150438/https://planetdetroit.org/2026/03/saline-data-center-traffic/)
[38] Wisconsin Public Radio, “Microsoft sued over noise complaints at new Mount Pleasant data center facility,” July 2, 2026. Residents near the operating facility and the phase-three construction site reported construction noise, dust, light pollution, and truck traffic. https://www.wpr.org/news/microsoft-sued-noise-complaints-at-new-mount-pleasant-data-center (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261016202631/https://www.wpr.org/news/microsoft-sued-noise-complaints-at-new-mount-pleasant-data-center)
[39] CBS 21 / local21news, “What’s it like living next to a data center construction site? Residents weigh in,” Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, April 28, 2026. Township-reported construction hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; contractors conducted pre-blast inspections documenting existing conditions in nearby homes and installed seismographs to measure ground movement. https://local21news.com/news/local/whats-it-like-living-next-to-a-data-center-construction-site-middlesex-township-acres-township-officials-country-club-road (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260820125637/https://local21news.com/news/local/whats-it-like-living-next-to-a-data-center-construction-site-middlesex-township-acres-township-officials-country-club-road)
[40] Virginia Mercury, “Brown water, dust and loud noises: Louisa homeowner sues Amazon over data center construction,” July 28, 2026. Allegations are unadjudicated. https://virginiamercury.com/2026/07/28/brown-water-dust-and-loud-noises-louisa-homeowner-sues-amazon-over-data-center-construction/ (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260730185048/https://virginiamercury.com/2026/07/28/brown-water-dust-and-loud-noises-louisa-homeowner-sues-amazon-over-data-center-construction/)
[41] Fox Carolina, “Spartanburg residents say data center construction is already disrupting their lives,” July 23, 2026. Residents reported dust and said clearing of several acres of trees removed a sound buffer. https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/07/23/spartanburg-residents-say-data-center-construction-is-already-disrupting-their-lives/ (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260902163554/https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/07/23/spartanburg-residents-say-data-center-construction-is-already-disrupting-their-lives/)