By: Paul Prager | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, TeraWulf Inc.
To the residents of Lansing,
This is a longer letter than I would ordinarily write. But what’s happening in Lansing deserves more than a sound bite or a list of frightening hypotheticals.
Your Town is considering a decision that could shape its future for decades. Jobs, tax revenue, environmental stewardship, community character, and financial sustainability are all at stake. Whether you support our project, oppose it, or haven’t made up your mind, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read this.
I’ve spent more than 30 years developing energy infrastructure. I’ve worked with communities that welcomed our projects, questioned them, and opposed them. I’ve also dealt with municipalities that failed to honor their contractual commitments or tried to change the rules after the fact. When that happened, I defended my company. I would do so again.
Because there is right and wrong. And whether you’re running a business or a town, integrity matters.
Our reputation depends on honoring our commitments. We don’t get to make promises, walk away when things become difficult, and expect the next community to welcome us with open arms. If we don’t deliver, we don’t earn the privilege of building again.
And building is what I love most. Putting people to work. Creating opportunity. Taking properties that have outlived their original purpose and giving them a productive future.
I understand that change makes people uncomfortable. I respect those concerns. What I cannot accept is misinformation presented as fact, commitments being mischaracterized, or the rules changing simply because someone doesn’t like the outcome.
A year later, what has changed?
Last October, we raised serious concerns about the Town’s proposed moratorium. Questions emerged about advice provided by Town staff and consultants, information shared – or not shared – with Board members, and the process that followed.
A year later, here we are again. Except this time, the Town is considering an outright ban.
At the October 21 Board meeting, several Board members openly questioned whether they had enough information to make that decision.
“We have not done our due diligence.”
“We have not hired consultants.”
“I do not feel like we are educated enough.”
“We have not heard any professional opinions.”
One Board member even described feeling “very defeated.”
The full Town Board has never had a presentation from TeraWulf. Not once. The Town’s Zoning Advisory Committee was not consulted on the proposed prohibition. And Board members themselves questioned the absence of professional technical review.
These aren’t accusations from TeraWulf. They’re concerns expressed by the very people being asked to make the decision.
How can the Town conclude that an entire category of development should be prohibited when its own elected officials acknowledge they haven’t done the work necessary to evaluate it?
When hypotheticals become headlines
At the same meeting, a list of 15 reasons to oppose data centers was read aloud by a town leader and distributed to select members of the audience. What was missing, however, was any supporting project-specific research or analysis.
There’s something deeply troubling about circulating a prepared argument against an entire industry while fellow Board members acknowledge they haven’t completed any due diligence.
We’ve prepared a separate Fact vs. Fiction addressing all 15 claims. I encourage residents to read it, challenge it, and seek independent verification.
A few examples deserve attention here.
Four hundred megawatts of diesel generators.
Residents were asked to imagine 400 megawatts of diesel generators operating “all the time” at Lake Hawkeye.
Our submitted plans contemplated 10 megawatts of limited-use backup generation, if required.
400 versus 10. A fortyfold exaggeration.
Why introduce a scenario forty times larger than what our plans contemplate? I have a pretty good idea.
What the board member didn’t mention is that the Cayuga site has three 115-kilovolt transmission connections. That’s rare, valuable, utility-grade redundancy, and one of the reasons this property is so important for Lansing. Those connections may eliminate the need for backup generation altogether.
Residents and small businesses could be denied electricity.
That’s a preposterous suggestion to make about NYSEG.
Think about what residents are being asked to believe: that NYSEG, a state-regulated utility responsible for serving homes and businesses, would simply stop providing new electric connections in Lansing because a data center moves into town.
That's not how the electric grid works. Large power users undergo extensive utility and grid studies precisely to ensure that new demand can be accommodated and necessary infrastructure upgrades are identified and addressed. A data center doesn't get to jump the line, commandeer the grid, or take electricity away from future homeowners and businesses.
If NYSEG were genuinely contemplating a halt to new electric connections in Lansing, that would be an extraordinary development with implications far beyond this project. Surely NYSEG or the Public Service Commission would have something to say about it.
Cooling chemicals will be flushed into Cayuga Lake every year.
No.
Our proposed closed-loop system does not discharge cooling fluid into Cayuga Lake. Major fluid replacement is anticipated approximately every 7–15 years, with appropriate handling and disposal by licensed contractors.
Let’s remember that the former coal plant once used up to approximately 245 million gallons of cooling water per day. Our proposed campus anticipates 30,000 gallons per day on average.
We welcome independent review of municipal water capacity, peak demand, water-quality protections, and enforceable operating limits.
Seems like a reasonable thing to undertake, doesn’t it?
Suggesting that cooling chemicals will be flushed into Cayuga Lake annually is simply irresponsible.
The promised tax benefits could disappear.
We’ve committed in writing that we will not seek property tax abatements or sales tax exemptions. Full stop.
Residents have every right to scrutinize our projected tax revenues and the assumptions behind them. We welcome that scrutiny. But the discussion should be grounded in the commitments we’ve actually made, not speculation about incentives we’ve expressly ruled out.
Noise, wildlife, and the environment.
Noise can be modeled and measured. Wildlife impacts can be assessed. Environmental protections can be required. Compliance can be monitored. And violations can carry consequences.
What we should not do is substitute anecdotes about unrelated facilities for evidence about the actual Lake Hawkeye proposal.
Three Town officials visited our operating Lake Mariner campus. Their firsthand observations could help inform this discussion. I suggest you ask them.
I wonder if the water quality seminar attended by a board member addressed what New York State's own environmental regulators have identified as the largest contributor of phosphorus to Cayuga Lake: agricultural runoff.
Here's what I find curious. We have a former industrial property, a private company willing to invest substantial capital in its redevelopment, and an opportunity to discuss environmental improvements that go well beyond what's required by law.
If protecting Cayuga Lake is really the priority, shouldn't we also be discussing how this investment could help make it healthier?
Instead, much of the conversation has focused on hypothetical environmental problems from a project that hasn't even been built, while opportunities to address problems we already know exist receive far less attention.
There is a difference between identifying a legitimate concern and using an alarming hypothetical to frighten people.
What Lansing stands to gain – and what it risks losing
TeraWulf is an energy infrastructure company. We develop, own, and operate the land, electrical infrastructure, buildings, cooling systems, and facilities that support advanced computing.
Our Lake Hawkeye proposal would redevelop part of the former Cayuga coal-fired power plant site.
This is an established industrial property with existing electrical infrastructure. It is not farmland being converted to industrial use.
We anticipate more than 1,000 construction jobs, approximately 100 permanent TeraWulf positions, additional employment opportunities with our customers, substantial private investment, and ~$9 million in annual property taxes at full development.
At peak construction, approximately 2,500 union tradespeople have worked on-site at Lake Mariner in a single day. We’ve emptied union halls throughout the region to meet that demand. Those are people earning good wages, supporting families, buying homes, eating in local restaurants, and spending money in surrounding communities.
I don’t know how anyone can look at that and not see something worth considering.
We’ve been asking to be heard
Councilmember Laurie Hemmings suggested that TeraWulf had previously been given an opportunity to present its site plan to the Town Board.
That is false.
We’ve requested countless meetings, offered presentations, submitted information, invited Town officials to visit our site in Barker, and organized our own public info sessions. We’ve continued to show up despite considerable hostility directed at our company and its professionals.
Apparently, the one thing the Town hasn’t considered studying is the actual project.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. Or like me. But disagreement is not bullying, and defending our property rights is not a threat.
Public ridicule, personal attacks, and creating an atmosphere where people are afraid to express a different opinion are not healthy civic engagement.
When elected officials express uncertainty or ask questions, they should be encouraged, not made to feel isolated or “defeated” for doing their jobs.
Intimidation is not leadership. And silencing people is not public engagement.
Lansing deserves better than this
A year ago, the Town considered a moratorium amid serious questions about its process. Today, it’s considering a permanent prohibition while Board members are again acknowledging they haven’t completed their due diligence.
What has changed? What have we learned? And why is the Town prepared to make a more consequential decision without first answering those questions?
I believe Lake Hawkeye represents an extraordinary opportunity for Lansing, and we are not prepared to walk away. We remain committed to this project, to engaging with the community, and to addressing legitimate concerns. We will continue to show up, answer the hard questions, and make our case on the facts.
But that commitment must be met with a fair process. We have invested substantial time, resources, and capital in developing a proposal under the Town's existing rules. We are entitled to have that proposal evaluated on its merits, not dismissed before it has been fully considered.
We would much rather work with Lansing to realize the potential of this property than spend our time debating whether we should have been given a fair hearing in the first place.
Consider the facts before deciding the outcome.
Paul Prager
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
TeraWulf Inc.