Waterford neighbors opposing proposed data center say signs stolen from their lawns

People who live in the Millstone Point and Great Neck Road neighborhoods of Waterford say their lawn signs opposing a proposed data center have been stolen from their properties.

The grassroots group ‘Concerned Citizens of Waterford and East Lyme’ have been leading the charge against the 1.2-million-square-foot data center that would be built by NE Edge at the Millstone Power Station.

Judi Leary, a member of that group, designed the signs that say, ‘no data center.’

“Those of us that are concerned are concerned about our town and the future of our town and what it's going to look like,” Leary said. "If this goes forward, there's no going back."

Leary said they’re concerned about the impacts to the power grid, the environment, and their way of life.

"One of our concerns is the impact on the grid and the fact that, as has been proven in California, you will have brown outs,” she said. "There's the grid, brown outs, there's noise -- 2.5 miles in radius from the data center is noise that sounds 24/7 like a hairdryer in your ear.”

"If there's constant noise, which it's supposed to be a constant droning hum, we've researched and found that that's had some health effects on people in other places where there's data centers. From hypertension, to sleeplessness,” added resident Kathy Pavlick. “It's not only a big mistake for this neighborhood, it's a big mistake for the state of Connecticut.”

The area also has rich wildlife, and they’re worried species could be driven out.

“There's a lot of deforestation that will have to occur for them to come build, with a lot of habitats that will be upset,” Pavlick said.

Pavlick’s lawn sign was stolen after a neighborhood tag sale on June 15, she told NBC Connecticut. She said her neighbor’s sign was also stolen, and his security camera caught the thief shining a flashlight in the camera lens to block themselves from being identified.

"It looked like it was thought out beforehand and planned, and maybe even the route was planned where the signs were,” Pavlick said. "I think it scares some people. If they would stoop to this level, what else will they do to not let us speak?"

She said she hopes the chatter about the stolen signs at least gets people talking about the data center and educates people in the area.

There’s a lot of people in town that really didn't know what was going on until they saw the signs,” Pavlick added. "I just hope that this stealing of the signs makes more people aware of what we're up against and galvanizes us to work. They can't silence us, they can't make us not care.”

NBC Connecticut reached out to NE Edge and the town of Waterford for comment but haven’t heard back.