The Daily Independent

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EastPark board addresses questions
By Aaron Snyder
The Daily Independent
EASTPARK A few residents showed up to the July Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Authority board meeting Monday to listen and ask questions regarding TeraWulf’s plan to construct and operate a 1-gigawatt data center at EastPark Industrial Park.

The group, which is also referred to as the EastPark board, is still under a non-disclosure agreement on some details, said board member Alan Gillum, but they were able to answer most questions posed during the two-hour meeting.

The board is comprised of Gillum, David Michael, Hunter Boyd, Marion Atkins, Joe Dillow and Jeff Elswick. Don Yates is the board attorney. Each county of the FIVCO region — Boyd, Greenup, Elliott, Lawrence and Carter — has an appointee, with Greenup County and Boyd County on a rotation for the sixth spot. Michael is from Lawrence County, Gillum from Elliott, Boyd from Boyd and Atkins from Carter. Dillow and Elswick are both from Greenup.

Each member serves purely as a volunteer. The judge-executive from each county makes the appointment, which must be approve by each county’s commission. The judges-executive, while welcome to attend meetings, do not serve on the EastPark board. The board is tasked to manage the industrial park.

On Monday, Judges-Executive Bobby Hall (Greenup County), Phillip Carter (Lawrence County) and Myron Lewis (Elliott County) were present. All three had to leave to tend to other business prior to a public comment portion, which was carved out especially for this meeting since they anticipated residents to appear.

As recorded in deeds in both Greenup and Boyd Counties, the EastPark board approved a purchase of land — that has been vacant for 28 years — to Industrial Equity Partners, which orchestrated the acquisition for a company ultimately revealed as TeraWulf.

When EastPark’s board unanimously approved the acquisition, it was known that it would be a data center, but TeraWulf had not yet been revealed as the operator of the facility.

Yates explained covenants were put in place with IEP in the details of the acquisition. If covenants are not followed, Yates said legal action may be pursued. He was responding to a question by Russell resident Bren Martin.

“It’s no different than with any other industrial property,” Yates said.

If there are environmental issues, state and federal entities would be involved, he said.

Gillum said what he and the board didn’t want was another decade of desolation.

“What we did not want is for somebody to buy the land and sit on it for 10 years and do nothing,” Gillum said.

If the NDA hadn’t been signed, he said, the suitor would have zero interest in locating at the industrial park.

Michael said there are always pros and cons with any potential project.

Michael said some details of the project were openly discussed in the early months of 2026, but once the NDA was signed, “we do not discuss the details of the project. Those would be referred to TeraWulf, the manager of the project.”

“If we decide to sell and they don’t put a building there, we have the option of buying it back, just like with Braidy, just like the aluminum plant; that came from the state down,” Michael later added.

Allorah Henson, an Ashland resident and a professor at Ohio University Southern, relayed a few questions from concerned citizens, she said. Henson is a write-in candidate for Boyd County judge-executive in November.

Boyd clarified with Henson the Northeast Kentucky Economic Development Authority, the Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Authority and FIVCO are all three separate entities.

“I know there’s been a lot of confusion with people you’ve talked to,” Boyd said.

Henson said she is aware of that fact, and she has conveyed that to others.

Ryan Hurst, of South Shore, asked if he would go to the Greenup County clerk’s office and search IEP, would he locate the deed? Yates affirmed.

The recorded deed is the same in Boyd and Greenup Counties.

Hurst asked who the custodian of open records request is for EastPark’s board. Yates said he is, and he’s responded to five so far.