They are coming from all over the world. They want our clean, clear water. They want our relatively cheap power and land. They want access to the massive fiber optic cables that run from all over the world, across the Pacific, and through the Tualatin Valley on their way East to I-5 and beyond. They want the tax subsidies that Oregon lavishes upon them. They bring construction jobs but, once completed, offer very few jobs per acre. Their value to the digital world is unquestioned. But their value to the people of Hillsboro, Oregon, needs to be.
I am speaking of Data Centers. If you are unaware of what they have done and are doing to our community, you must live under a rock. Anytime you want to know more, we can take a ride to the North edge of town and look. Then we can get out and listen. The cooling fans running on many of these behemoth buildings are so loud the birds no longer chirp, and the sounds of the once lush and peaceful Tualatin Plains have been forever silenced.
Let us call our valley what it has become as Hillsboro residents and leaders have sat by silently and watched.
Welcome to the Data Center Plains.
Let’s review what they bring and how they impact us locals:
- Based on their lust for land in our specific location, these companies have driven our industrial land prices up at least 200% in recent years.
- They are massive water users- and as they consume more, our water rates inexplicably keep rising!! Hmm….. We are seeing those records as we speak; as you can imagine, they are very hard to get.
- They use massive amounts of power—perhaps 3 to 5 times more than the people of Hillsboro use in a single day. Access to that data has been very difficult.
- Once completed, they offer very few, if any, local “high-paying jobs”- the one thing our State government demands when farmland is brought into the Urban Growth Boundary.
- Data Centers in Hillsboro have not only been the big story but also relatively the only story in the economic super engine of the State of Oregon. Intel’s big announcement to reinvest in the Ronler Acres Fab this year was one of the first positive job-creating news we have had in a long time.
- Here we are as a State screaming that “we have no Industrial land for the CHIPS ACT money for building more Semiconductors” to make the case for another massive land expansion onto more pristine farmland, and yet Hillsboro has squandered hundreds of perfectly good acres we had ready for INTEL and those industries—those companies that really do create high-paying jobs.
- Yes, they provide incredible speed to carry on commerce as a Nation. Please make no mistake: almost none of these server farms are needed for our local companies. Most are for consumers outside of our region and state. Sadly, a lot of it is so that the AI boom can put more and more of us out of work and, at the same time, make our lives easier!
So, let me ask you all the more significant questions: What do we get out of this? How does this specifically help Hillsboro and the surrounding communities in a way that is good for our long-term well-being? Are they really adding value to our lives, or perhaps are they taking more than they give back? These companies would not be here if the factors were not so ripe for them to be. Are we playing the part of the floosie or the gigolo in some corporate bar scene? It sure seems like it to me.
Today the data center news center Data Center Dynamics provided some local news about Aligned Data Centers:
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aligned-tops-out-pdx-1-data-center-in-hillsboro-oregon/
Announced on LinkedIn, CEO Andrew Schaap said: “Another major milestone at Aligned Data Centers: the topping out of our PDX-01 data center in Hillsboro, OR.
“Customers gain unmatched flexibility to scale their operation rapidly and deploy air, liquid, or hybrid cooling solutions – all within the same data hall.” Source: Read the whole story here- https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aligned-tops-out-pdx-1-data-center-in-hillsboro-oregon/
The consulting firm Deloitte listed Aligned as one of the faster growing tech firms in the World.
https://aligneddc.com/aligned-ranked-as-157th-fastest-growing-company-in-north-america-on-the-2021-deloitte-technology-fast-500/
This Investment firm, Blackstone, is the world’s largest alternative asset management firm, with assets in the $1 trillion plus range. It ha previously provide $600 Million dollars to Aligned. That is some big-time Wall Street money.
Blackstone Provides Aligned Data Centers with $600 Million Credit Facility
We have covered Data Centers at great length here at the Herald. You can find those stories right here: https://hillsboroherald.com/?s=data+centers
The good people of The Dalles, Oregon are running out of water. After a lawsuit between the Oregonian and The Dalles City Hall, Google’s massive Data Center water usage was disclosed. That led to the discover that 30% of all water in the Columbia Gorge town was used by the company. According to the Reynolds Center for Investigative Journalism the City and some of the politicians are being investigated.
Reported Kelechukwu Iruoma wrote the story in which he spells out the situation which was touched off by Oregonian investigative journalist Mike Rogoway.
The investigation unraveled how The Dalles public officials illegally awarded tax breaks and arranged land sales to Amazon. Rogoway said the tax break incentives were created decades ago for factories and to encourage employment but the tech giants have now taken advantage of the law to shortchange the people of Oregon.
The Oregonian/OregonLive found that Google saved over $240 million and Amazon saved over $10 million in taxes. Rogoway feels Amazon could have done more in championing development in the Oregon counties.
The publications of this investigation started to make immediate impacts. Three officials are currently under investigation by the State Ethics Commission and the Oregon Department of Justice is investigating how the business these officials owned was transferred from the nonprofit on whose board they sat. One port commissioner has resigned and another lost reelection.
That full story is here:
The Oregonian exposes Google and Amazon’s massive water use for data centers
As I propose these questions and the value of data centers, I realize they are here to stay. So, based upon that, the Herald will explore ways we as a community can take advantage of their existence here in a way that makes them a value-added partner. This can be done through a user fee, utility franchise fees, and upcharges, and perhaps a special construction tax. Maybe a bump on their property taxes and not a break anymore.
Part 2 of this story will come soon. Maybe Aligned’s CEO Schapp would be willing to debate and argue for the value his company brings to us. Us who live with their existence and pressure on our lands, utilities, and climate? We shall see.
Are there communities we can compare to as a kind of crystal ball? Didn’t The Dalles have a data center boom a few years ago? I wonder if there’s data out there yet about how it positively or negatively impacted that community.
So The City of the Dalles refused to provide copies of the Water Consumption by Google. It was a 10 year lawsuit. The data shows that Google has tripled its use and the City did not want people to use. Now 30% of all water that The Dalles has access to goes to Google. Lpocals have seen lmited benefits. There are many enviromental concerns. Read up here – https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2022/12/googles-water-use-is-soaring-in-the-dalles-records-show-with-two-more-data-centers-to-come.html
These companies need to be taxed appropriately, yes they may bring some jobs in in fact thousands but they are way under taxed for the infrastructure they are using
“in in fact thousands.”
Incorrect. The issue with data centers, as has been pointed out by Dirk, Mike Rogoway at the Oregonian and others is that they don’t bring thousands or even hundreds of jobs. The areas that call them home are fortunate if they bring dozens.: https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2023/04/oregon-dreams-of-semiconductor-factories-but-land-and-tax-breaks-are-going-to-data-centers-instead.html
Water and energy bill for the residential users keep rising every year. These data centers are directly responsible for that. We need to bill them accordingly.
Also, we need to evaluate their thermal and environmental impact. They produce massive points of heat during already hot summer times. How does that impact our agriculture? These need to be thoroughly investigated.
Many people aren’t aware of the huge water pipeline snaking it’s way into Hillsboro from the South. But every water user should be aware of our skyrocketing water rates. I’m sure this suoer-expensive and intrusive pipeline construction plays into the industrial need for water. Who exactly is promoting all this growth, and who is benefitting from it?
While your all arguing don’t worry, they will just build elsewhere. I am on a global call right now today all day and experts are talking about capacity all over the world and US, no discussions on Oregon…..so don’t worry, other states, especially red states with no regard for environment and cheap land will take the project from Oregon.
Great!! They can go somewhere else! We don’t want or need them. We should have never opened the door to them. Never!!
I absolutely agree with you, Dirk!
Not a very compelling argument advocating for locals to embrace them….good riddance.
Good points and questions, Dirk. As you pointed out, data centers are here to stay and not going anywhere. In fact, as I read your article and type these words, the data sits in the cloud – in a data center. Love it or hate it, but in order for us to enjoy the use of the internet in any capacity, data centers are necessary. I hope questions and articles like yours help instigate the changes needed to make data centers more environmentally friendly.
The scale of what is going on in Hillsboro can be seen to a much larger extent in the Boardman/Hermiston area of Eastern Oregon. If they are going to continue to allow companies in “Enterprise Zones”, they should make requirements for them to build and use their own water treatment systems that recycle and treat the water they use.
Furthermore, the power utilities should not be allowed to give them reduced power rates, and any tax breaks should be limited or eliminated. If you allow companies so many breaks, they will continue to take advantage and will only ask for more.
Business and greed have no bounds.
I don’t believe it is larger at all. Hillsboro is now the 5rh largest Data Center hub in the US and growing.
Ashburn VA is the largest data center market.
Dave,
All my family before me were Union electrical contractors. Of course I support them and jobs for them. I am not so sure that many of these Data Centers hired union labor. No issue with that. What I expect is that theese big companies give more than they take. After the initial bid, they give very little. Your focused on the very short term benefits. I am concerned about the longterm and the environment. These lands were / are needed for tech jobs that employee many magnitudes more people per acre than DC do and much more revenue for the State and the community. We don’t need them in Hillsboro as we are jobs rich and our city is surrounded by farmland that can never be replaced. As far as the water goes, I am aware of that aspect and the trends to use less and recycle more. The devil is still in the details. I have seen numbers that show tens of millions of gallons per year. There are other communities that these jobs and the construction jobs can benefit. With as many as 20 Centers built or in permitting I think we have alread given up enough. Just my opinion- I surely appreciate yours!
Yep- Well aware. People from there have called me based on these articles to warn me of the negative outcomes they have experienced. I am looking for the silver lining for our community. If there isn’t one, then we don’t need them. They certainly should not get better water and power rates than the peolpe who live here. That is ludicrous. So we will see. These discussions are necessary and helpful to the greater community.
The water use of data centers is different than most other places. My home use goes into the sewer system and my yard water at least some of it goes into the ground. All of that is reusable locally. Data centers evaporate a lot of their water so it goes somewhere else…
There is a simple solution, which is have a number of jobs requirement so that data centers co-locate locally the work that could be done anywhere. User support, sales, design and all the other work that could be done anywhere can be part of the package to use the space.
The intelligence just entered the room!! Thank you!!
I build these days centers and need to clarify and correct some of the post.
1. It is true that Data centers do not offer a large number of permanent positions once complete. However, they do give the union workers and trades persons who build them stable high wages. All the union workers on my campuses are making 6 figures. Are you saying you don’t support the middle class construction worker?
2. The current technology being deployed in most days centers does not require the on going consumption of water. They are a closed loop system that requires filling just one time.
3. Would you rather these days centers be built overseas? Less stable countries, ship work off shore?
4. What businesses would you like to take there place? They would get the same tax incentives as a data center. Frankly, paying lower taxes is not a bad thing.
1) You said it yourself, these union and construction jobs are temporary, with short-term benefits. But the valuable, agricultural land they sit on and the water and other natural resources they deplete? Long-term. Resources are finite, so this is not acceptable.
2) Filled just one time? MOST of them? What about noise and air pollution?
3) Yes. As a third generation resident of Hillsboro, I’d rather these centers be elsewhere. I believe the cost is too high.
4) I would settle for high tech companies in place of data centers, but their tax incentives should be reduced as well. The wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes nor do corporations in our country, which is one of the reasons we have virtually no middle class. There is nothing “low” about our taxes in the Tualatin Valley, we are paying many of the benefits we DO get with our precious resources. I can live with a few data centers, but we’ve already surpassed that. Please, take your new data centers elsewhere.
Any kind of break or subsidy given to a business needs to be temporary.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/07/u-s-is-facing-a-major-energy-crunch-due-to-ais-insatiable-demand.html
Someone is assumming a huge influx of people. Drive around south Beaverton and south Hillsboro. They are building hundreds of new housing units both apartments and condominiums as well as duplexes and single houses. They will be in the $400,000 range. Who’s going to buy those houses and live in them long term?
The argument is consistently “people need somewhere to live.” Is the answer in southern Portland suburbs detached from transit and beholden to specific businesses.
Increasingly, that answer seems to be no: https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2024/07/intel-will-cut-thousands-more-jobs-bloomberg-reports.html
They anticipate an influx of “climate refugees.”
This is something I want to explore. Janel what is your take on this? I think Oregon and points North are going to boom with people from about Medford on down to the South and SW who want out and are being forced out. I know we have taken a hard look at heading to the Coast or Coast Range. I think thousands are coming- is this your take or are you looking at it differently?
Still waiting on everyone to put 2 and 2 together. The progressives that run the state don’t give a rip about the environment or they wouldn’t be subsidizing these job-lacking, resource sucking data centers. They talk out of the sides of their mouth to you. They increase taxes and give you a carrot for a few years so you don’t realize what’s happening. And no, the other side isn’t any better. Same team. But, oh, say it ain’t so. The rhetoric is for us. Tech is here to prey on subsidized open land and abundant water (cooling) and your favorite politicians on both sides of the aisle are beholden to them as they fund their campaigns. They get paid and you get bent. The explosion of “green” energy is really to supplement the energy requirements of data centers which are central to the technocracy that we are barreling towards. Boo. Scary word. Crazy word.
So a single data center was using 30% of The Dalles water (probably outdated figures by now) but how about the power usage? Why do you think those wind farms spring up around data centers? Energy subsidy. Do you think they pull groundwater too? Of course they do but what’s the quantity or is that obfuscated too? Conservative projections already put data centers in the NW (most in OR) as using 1/3 equivalent the power of all OR and WA homes in a few years but hey, remember to not run your AC too hard in the summer!! Or to not leave the TV on! And these estimates are probably WAY too conservative given how they hide the figures. It’s so antithetical to the environmentalism they’ve tried to shove down our throats.
So what’s the benefit? What do you think the data centers actually do? Why is all of this happening? Someone is benefiting, right?
Well, they aggregate every breadcrumb you leave behind using smart meters built into our homes which are connected to appliances, facial recognition tech in traffic cams, phones, stadiums, etc., internet searches, geo tracking, health data (biometrics), shopping habits, social interactions (yes, even your emails and texts) and more. All of this is then sent to a data center and parsed by AI to then be turned around in your social media, online shopping, music/book, etc. recommendation algorithms – not to sell more ads like you’ve been led to believe (c’mon that’s not why data is so profitable! It has predictive value) – but to be the soft hand that guides your thinking and therefore your behavior. It is social engineering on a mass scale.
Enjoy what there is left of the facade…They build the infrastructure right in front of our eyes. One day you’ll open them to see the digital prison ala technocracy they’ve built and you’ll wonder how we got here. Remember this.