By DAVID BERTOLA
dbertola@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1621

A 160-acre parcel of land in Somerset near the AES power plant is on Verizon's short list of possibilities for a new data center.

Spokesman John Bonomo said the company has about 250 data centers worldwide for such things as customer service, the company's internal use or to manage networks.

He would not disclose how large the proposed data center would be or its construction cost. He also said it's not known how the new site, wherever it gets built, would work among existing facilities.

Eventually, however, an estimated 150 to 200 people could work there.

"When it's fully developed, but not at the outset," Bonomo said, adding that Verizon has a lot to consider before choosing a site.

"Things like taxes and the cost of power need to be weighed in to the decision-making process. One of the things we are looking for at this particular location is cooler temperatures. When you employ a lot of equipment in a center, good, cool temperatures lower your overall costs," he said.

Hindering the project may be a bill winding its way through the state Legislature, he said, adding, "It is particularly troublesome to us."

The bill requires companies such as Verizon - if they sell, merge operations or start a joint venture - to return 40 percent of the proceeds of a sale or merger to the state.

"That would have a dampening effect in our operations in the state," Bonomo said.

"We are trying to defeat the legislation, and the Partnership opposed it from the time it was proposed without it being specific to any project," said Craig Turner, vice president of Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

The region recently saw the ribbon-cutting for the Yahoo! data center in Lockport, and new legislation would kill a potentially larger project, he said.

"This is a job-creating project we want to have here in Western New York," Turner said of Verizon. "Other states are competing for it, and New York state wants to put limiting legislation on it, which is detrimental to any type of progress we want to make."