Residents fear negative impacts
Okanogan County asked for input about proposed restrictions on data centers — and got an earful.
Nearly 200 people submitted written comments, and dozens more packed a public hearing to provide testimony to the Okanogan County Planning Commission last week.
Almost everyone who commented warned about the negative impacts of data centers and similar high-tech facilities on the county’s economy and environment. A few people — most already employed in the high-tech sector — recommended definitions and policies that would allow some new development.
Most commenters were passionate about the negative impacts data centers would have on essential resources and quality of life.
“Basic community needs for water during this drought climate and mass of fires … my heart screeches NO! We can wait … data centers can wait. Let’s find solutions for the obvious problems BEFORE we waste $ and resources,” said one commenter.
“Okanogan County is not empty land waiting to be industrialized. People live here. People farm here. Families are raising children here. Wildlife depends upon these landscapes,” said another.
• “I needn’t relay to anyone already within this community the absurdity of installing a data center in a high-desert environment, whose water requirements far exceed what is sane to provide to them in our drought-heavy and fire-prone area,” added another.
Others link data centers with a high-tech industry run by billionaires and want regulations to rein in artificial intelligence and social media. “Reject all data centers, crypto mining and tech-bro BS,” said one.
Methow industrial zones
Okanogan County’s proposal restricts data centers to industrial zones. That could have an impact on the Methow Valley, since the only industrial zones in unincorporated Okanogan County are in the Methow, near the Twisp Airport. Most towns and cities, including Winthrop and Twisp, designate their own industrial zones.
While the area near the airport is zoned industrial, water availability is limited and any development there would require a water right, Okanogan County Planning Director Stephanie “Pete” Palmer said at the planning commission hearing.
Okanogan County is proposing these changes because interest in large-scale computing facilities has raised concerns about demand for electricity and water and about noise and compatibility in rural and residential areas, Palmer said. In addition to the zoning change, Okanogan County proposed definitions for data centers, high-intensity computing use, server farms, and cryptocurrency mining operations.
Amid the concern over environmental impacts, one comment about the Brewster Teleport, which has been in operation since 1966, stood out because it’s an existing use, Palmer said. Run by U.S. Electrodynamics, the teleport operates more than 100 satellite antennas that support government and commercial customers, including the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the company.
At the hearing, U.S. Electrodynamics General Manager Darryl White distinguished between data centers and earth stations. An “earth station” is a terrestrial station with facilities including satellite dishes. It could include other types of communication facilities, data processing and transmission of digital data, but the primary function is communication with spacecraft, satellites and/or terrestrial-based telecommunications, White said.
The county is considering an additional definition for earth centers as separate from data centers, Palmer said.
Another speaker who runs a small bitcoin data center in Oroville said his facility uses very little water and that the proposed definitions would destroy his business.
Nationwide pushback
Pushback against data centers has been growing nationwide, with three in four Americans saying they’d oppose one in their community, according to a recent poll. Many jurisdictions have issued moratoriums.
Okanogan County residents testifying to the planning commission were worried that the demand for water by data centers would exacerbate existing problems, with some wells already running dry. Heat from the centers would worsen global warming, others said.
Light pollution from the facilities would ruin our view of the night sky, and noise could cause health problems for people and interfere with bird migration, said others.
Several people said it’s wrong to expect the technology to bring jobs to the county. Once they’re built — typically by out-of-area crews — data centers require just a few people to keep them running, several people said in their comments. Others worried that allowing even one data center would open the door for other such facilities.
In November, the Okanogan County Public Utility District commissioners put a moratorium on electric-service applications for high-density loads including data centers and cryptocurrency operations. The aim of the moratorium was to give the utility time to study and plan for these demands and the sources of power on the market to service them.
The county planning commission will take the comments into account when making a recommendation to the county commissioners, Planning Commissioner Phil Dart said at the close of the hearing.
The Okanogan County commissioners have scheduled a work session on data centers with the planning commission on Monday, Sept. 14, at 1:30 p.m.
