As data centers proliferate, conflict with local communities follows

(AP) ALEXANDRIA, VA Richard Andre Newman believed he would spend his final years in his peaceful, verdant suburban Virginia neighborhood. He grew up at Bren Mar Park, where kids play on their bikes and people greet each other.

However, as he gets closer to 60, he is thinking of selling his house in Fairfax County and relocating. The reason for this is that he will have a new neighbor: Plaza 500, a 466,000-square-foot data center with an electrical substation to be built nearby, just a few hundred feet from townhouses, a community center, and playgrounds.

There’s nothing Newman can do about it.

He said, “Until this came up, I planned on staying here until I died.”

The large, windowless warehouses that contain the rows of fast servers that power practically everything people do on computers and phones are becoming more and more commonplace in American towns, cities, and suburbs.

The explosive expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing in recent years has increased demand for data centers, and local governments are vying for lucrative contracts with large tech firms. Concerns about the economic, social, and environmental well-being of their communities are causing some locals to rebel against the most powerful corporations in the world as data centers start to encroach on more crowded neighborhoods, bordering houses, schools, parks, and leisure facilities.

According to Tyler Ray, a leading opponent of the Virginia project and outspoken opponent of data centers, the incentives provided are insufficient to offset the negative effects of constructing a facility so near to residential areas.

“All we are requesting is that the county try to generate revenue from this data center in a manner that doesn’t force residents to leave their homes,” he added.

Northern Virginia’s highlands are scattered with

Over 300 data centers are scattered throughout the undulating hills of the westernmost counties of Northern Virginia. The data centers that occasionally flank cyclists on the well-traveled Washington & Old Dominion trail are visible from the Metro to the thousands of commuters who enter the nation’s capital every day.

According to Newman, the head of a local homeowners association, Plaza 500, one of the most recent plans in the area, is intruding on neighborhoods like never before.

The billionaire Barry Sternlicht’s private investment company, Starwood Capital Group, made a pitch to Fairfax County officials that included hundreds of temporary construction and electrical jobs to build the facility, as well as a substantial property tax boost and permanent jobs in the data center itself.

In 2022, Tyler Ray and his spouse relocated to the Bren Pointe neighborhood in an effort to strike a balance between their need for open space and their closeness to Washington.

However, Starwood Capital started looking at a nearby commercial property as a potential site for the Plaza 500 project soon after the couple moved there.

In an attempt to halt the development, Ray and his neighbors raised awareness of their concerns through media attention, rallies, and frequent county meetings. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors stated in September that all fresh proposed data centers must follow stricter zoning regulations, but the Plaza 500 project will be grandfathered in under the previous regulations, indicating that their efforts were mainly in vain.

Ray is concerned that additional data centers in the region would jeopardize the already overburdened electrical grid: In 2023, data centers accounted for more over 25% of Virginia’s total electricity production; if data center growth keeps up its present rate, this percentage might increase to 46% by 2030. Concerns regarding water costs are raised by estimates that indicate a mid-sized data center uses the same amount of water each day as 1,000 households. Ray is also concerned about the purity of the air because the enormous diesel generators that power the data center’s technology release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.

A representative for the company declined to comment for this article.

According to Ray, I’m not sure how a regular citizen, even one who has been actively involved in a particular problem, can possibly compete with the data center sector.

Data centers are a financial bonanza, according to local leaders.

Bringing data centers to their communities benefits local governments financially: Virginia’s current data centers generated $1 billion in tax income in 2024, according to Governor Glenn Youngkin, which was more than the $750 million in tax cuts provided to the tech businesses who owned them in 2023.

Data centers typically have less than 100 direct jobs available for average-sized facilities. Google recently revealed that just approximately 150 direct jobs were created by its two data centers in Loudoun County, which is home to about 440,000 people. However, proponents of data centers contend that the projects are valuable due to the quantity of indirect jobs created, such as construction, technical support, and electrical labor. Google claimed in the same release that 2,730 indirect employment were created as a result of their investment.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ vice chair, Kathy Smith, voted in support of the Plaza 500 proposal because she believes that Fairfax County should benefit from the inevitable rise of data centers in the area.

Smith stated that it is my duty to take a step back from our work and consider the wider picture. Data centers will continue to exist.

Some people in Oregon County welcome Amazon data centers.

Across the nation, in Morrow County, Oregon, Amazon Web Services has constructed at least five data centers around the 4,200-person town of Boardman, which is surrounded by the Columbia River and sprawled across acres of farmland with wind turbines and mint patches.

Following a $66 million tax reprieve, Amazon-owned AWS paid about $34 million in property taxes and fees as required by the agreements last year. In 2023, the business additionally donated an additional $1.7 million to local charities and made two one-time payments totaling $10 million to a community development fund.

The about 12,000-person county has benefited greatly from the funding, which has been used for a variety of purposes, including a new ladder fire engine, a school resource officer, police body cameras, and $5,000 awards for homeowners.

Nonetheless, some locals have doubts about the scope of tax break offers. When three former elected officials allegedly owned stock in a company that partnered with AWS to supply fiber optic connections for the data centers, they allegedly assisted in approving data center acquisitions, which sparked suspicions years ago. They each paid $2,000 in June to resolve an ethics complaint.

Those officials have left their positions. However, some people are still suspicious of the company’s ties to local authorities and have expressed concern over one of the most recent data center agreements that provides AWS with an estimated $1 billion in tax incentives over 15 years to construct five new data centers.

Jim Doherty, a former county commissioner, recounted meeting with AWS representatives at a fancy Boardman restaurant with big windows overlooking the Columbia River shortly after he was elected.

What Doherty hoped to achieve as a commissioner was the question posed by the AWS representatives. “Tell us about your dreams,” they said. Tell us what you require. Doherty recalled, “Tell us what we can do for you.” Similar encounters have been reported by other former officials. Doherty claimed that although AWS made no requests in return, the interaction made him uncomfortable.

According to Kevin Miller, AWS Vice President of Global Data Centers, “We interact with stakeholders in every community where we operate globally, and part of that outreach is to better understand a community’s goals.” This helps AWS be a catalyst for communities to achieve those goals, and reflects our ongoing commitment to being good neighbors.

Doherty and another former county commissioner Melissa Lindsay said they pushed unsuccessfully in 2022 for AWS to pay more in taxes in new data center negotiations. They also lobbied to hire outside counsel to negotiate on their behalf, feeling outgunned by the phalanx of AWS-suited lawyers.

We didn t want to blow it up. We didn t want to run them off, said Lindsay. But there were better deals to be made.

Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer and Police Chief Rick Stokoe say their direct line to AWS allows them to get the most out of the company.

This road right here? Wouldn t happen if it wasn t for AWS, said Keefer, riding in the passenger seat of Stokoe s cruiser, pointing out the window at construction workers shifting dirt and laying pavement. Both Keefer and Stokoe have been in positions to vote on whether to authorize tax breaks for AWS.

These companies would not be here if they weren t getting some kind of incentive, Stokoe said. There wouldn t be any money to talk about.

___ The Associated Press receives financial assistance from the Omidyar Network to support coverage of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org

The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.

Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!