Environmental Concerns
Where to begin?
It starts with the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), which includes, among other things, a list of all hazardous chemicals used in the facility. The primary purpose of the SDS is worker safety, to make sure employees are trained in proper handling of hazardous materials. This also must be on file with the local fire dept so firefighters know what to expect in an emergency.
For the purposes of assessing potential environmental pollution, it gives us a starting point of what to test.
Different types of Baseline Tests
There are different types of tests, depending on the substances being tested. A common baseline will test for agricultural (Ag) chemicals and pesticides. An Ag test will not find most of the substances that a datacenter might spill or leech.
A more appropriate Baseline should test for the specific chemicals the facility is known to use, to make sure those toxins don’t escape into the environment.
Why is this testing important?
Obviously to protect our community from dangerous toxins in our soil, water and air. But there have been some specific incidents in other communities that we don’t want to repeat.
Baseline testing allows us to establish a “before picture” making it easier to prove the impacts that result from having a datacenter in our community.
Also, asking for this level of transparency has proven to be a successful way to scare off developers who know they will have a negative impact.
Morrow County, Oregon
Rowan’s other big client, Amazon settled a claim in Morrow County, Oregon for polluting the water supply and causing a rare form of cancer. Amazon denies the allegations but paid a $20 million settlement to end the lawsuit.
At first, Amazon tried to blame it on a local farm.
There was no baseline testing before the datacenter was built, making it difficult to prove if Amazon was fully responsible for the cancer.
The result was a $20 million settlement for ruining an entire county’s water supply, barely a slap on the wrist for a 2.56 Trillion Dollar company. Trillion not Billion.
This is why we need a Baseline Toxicity Test and regular testing every 60 days.
How much does this testing cost?
These tests can be performed for as little as $300.
The only reason this hasn’t been done is because someone doesn’t want it done.
Given the potential use as evidence in court, these tests should be performed by someone trained in evidence handling and chain of custody. The tests also should run through multiple independent labs to confirm results.
The City’s responsibility
At the Apr 16, 2026 City Council meeting, Mayor Tim Davis appeared to actually hear the environmental concerns for the first time. The agenda item on deck was voluntary annexation and re-zoning of land for the Rowan Ranger project. This would have been the perfect opportunity for the City to delay the request and ask for an independent Baseline Toxicity Test.
The Mayor claimed the City Council does not have the legal authority to do this. They do not have the authority to protect the people of Temple? They most certainly have the ability to deny the request.
We don’t believe the Mayor’s interpretation of the law is correct and we are actively researching this with the help of lawyers on our team.
Rowan’s Testing
Rowan claims to have done their own initial testing but is not yet ready to release the details. They claim this is done for their protection. Even if they do release the information, it would be meaningless until verified by an independent lab.
There are a number of concerns here.
Normal practice in any kind of development project like this is a test called “ESA Phase I.” ESA is Environmental Site Assessment to establish the property is safe for the intended use, safe for employees to occupy, no nuclear waste, etc. It’s a very basic test and is not the same as the Baseline Toxicity that we are asking for.
As we have learned from FOIA document requests, Rowan has a professional relationship with Langan, an environmental engineering company. Both Rowan and Langan have some of the same large shareholders invested in both companies. While these are not “majority shareholders” or “controlling” a 49% investment is quite significant and more than enough to imply a conflict that might eliminate the claim of “independent.”
This is one of those cases where a court of law and the court of public opinion might strongly disagree.
Again, they have not released the details. It is merely assumption that Langan may have performed the assessment. It is a service that Langan offers.
What should we test for?
We are still in the process of obtaining the SDS with specific chemicals, but some examples may include:
Air
NO₂
PM2.5 / PM10
Diesel particulate matter
VOCs
CO
SO₂
Waste Water
PFAS (full panel)
Glycols
Biocides
Corrosion inhibitors
Heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium)
Nitrates (from cooling tower blowdown)
Soil
PFAS
Diesel range organics (DRO)
Oil & grease
Heavy metals
Fire suppressant residues
Groundwater
PFAS
Glycols
Metals
VOCs