Faith Leaders Urge Microsoft to Pay Its Fair Share Amid Community Concerns
Local faith leaders in St. Joseph County, Indiana, are calling on Microsoft to create a community benefits agreement for its data center, which they claim would help address cost-of-living and environmental concerns.
The leaders, who represent dozens of community organizations, argue that the data center's operations have had a negative impact on the area, including noise levels, air-quality contamination, and water use. They point to the recent Senate-Enrolled Act One as an example of how cuts have affected the community, citing the reduction in services and elimination of bus lines by South Bend Transpo.
According to Pastor Heather Ghormley, Tree of Life Anglican Church, 'One example of that rising hardship is the area of low-cost transportation. Gas and vehicle prices are up.' The faith leaders want a binding agreement between Microsoft and the county, with a fund that would be a percentage of Microsoft's annual costs going back to the community.
Amy Drake, St. Joseph County Councilwoman, sees the benefits in giving the money directly to taxpayers: '... rather than pinpoint a program that the government decides, or some other people decide of how that money will be spent, let's give it to the taxpayers themselves and decide how they spend it.'