Artificial intelligence is driving the boom in data centers in rural America, including central Washington. But critics say the center doesn't produce enough work — and drains resources.
Ayesha Rascoe, host:
Artificial intelligence is driving the building boom in rural America's data centers. Data center businesses claim to bring economic prosperity to communities that desperately need it. But critics say these facilities provide too little work while straining water and energy resources, and are worried that energy-intensive data centers will also undermine broader climate targets. Monica Nickelsburg, member station Kuow, has a story from one town in central Washington.
Monica Nickelsburg, Byline: Ryan Beebout works at Sabey Data Centers, where he tours his latest buildings.
Ryan Beeveout: 250 people work at this facility.
Nickelsburg: A vast campus located in the farm town of Quincy, Washington. Find the data center technician between the server columns illuminated in orange and blue.
Beebout: He's installing a new server or troubleshooting an existing server.
Nickelsburg: The job pays about $60,000 a year to start and doesn't require a university degree, says Beebout. This is almost twice the median individual for Quincy, where many people still work in agriculture and food processing. Such data centers allow everything from ChatGpt to online medical records. And to towns like Quincy, they provide the promise of new industrial anchors, bringing jobs and tax revenue.
Lisa Karstetter: For the first time in my history living in Quincy, we had full police because we could afford it.
Nickelsburg: Lisa Calstetter, who grew up nearby, says she's benefiting from the data center a few years after the first one went up in 2007. The data center pays approximately 75% of Quincy's property tax.
Karstetter: A new fire station, a new library. There was all these things that could help farming. It was a truly beautiful marriage.
Nickelsburg: It is also the story of her own marriage. Her husband is a farmer. Data center taxes helped fund new hospitals and high schools. The state-of-the-art amenities serve around 850 students, most of which are eligible for free or reduced lunches.
Nik Bergman: It would not have been possible without the data center here.
Nickelsburg: It's Principal Nick Bergman watching summer volleyball practice in the high school's shiny new gymnasium.
Bergman: A very big sports town. That means you'll come here at a basketball game on Friday night, it'll be completely filled.
Nickelsburg: Quincy High also has a new vocational program that allows children to study everything from fire science to sports medicine. If students want to enter one of the town's two big industries, they can take the technician track in the data center.
BERGMAN: They can get certificates and go to work – directly in the data center outside of high school.
Nickelsburg: Or learn agriculture, including raising pigs and goats in a four-hour barn.
(The sound of the goat sound)
Nickelsburg: While Quincy doesn't have a shortage of farming jobs, the number of data center jobs available to these students over the next few years is unknown. While the data center is being built, there are thousands of jobs under construction. However, according to Microsoft, each building can run with less than 50 technicians. The data center industry needs to continue growing here to maintain the job the region has seen over the last 20 years.
Patty Martin: It's great to see economic benefits. It's a time snapshot. That's what you'll benefit from now. The question is, what are the long-term benefits?
Nickelsburg: It's local environmental activist and former mayor Patty Martin. So far, the Columbia River has maintained growth in these data centers. The dam supplies inexpensive, clean and abundant energy and water to cool them. However, Martin is worried that as the weather warms, it will absorb less and less snow. All energy and water are already at its peak in the county, and Martin believes data centers will take priority over residents.
Martin: They have sensitive information so they're going to do it, right? You don't let it cool, it overheats. You're going to burn it. You will erase the power and it will disappear. So it's all about the data center.
Nickelsburg: Grant County Utilities District says that isn't a major concern as it has the ability to buy more electricity in open markets during peak usage. But some of its power comes from fossil fuels and may soon be off the table. State law requires utilities to become carbon neutral for five years and run only on renewable energy by 2045. Local officials are asking natural gas to create exceptions to provide additional power to data centers, and Martin could undermine the state's progress on climate action.
MARTIN: As that electrical energy expands, we are worried that there will be no off-table types of electricity production.
Nickelsburg: Companies like Microsoft say they are investing heavily in renewable technologies such as Fusion to provide cleaner power generation online. But in the meantime, businesses and workers who rely on the data center building boom are fearing a slowdown. Pat Gallatin is an electrician who came to Quincy for what appears to be endless employment opportunities that build a data center. He stopped by with the monkeys around pizza for the weekly Brotherhood night of the Electricians Union.
Pat Gallatin: The first data center I worked on here was 2006 or '05. And it was a sleepy little farming community. Since then, I believe there have been over 20 data centers in the region.
Nickelsburg: It's like the Gold Rush that guides many businesses, like the Pizza Joint, which hosts this event every week. Sharil Smith is the owner and she says she is nervous about the building slowing down.
Sharil Smith: I'm not from here either, so my connection is to the construction worker. It's kind of – it's really scary.
Nickelsburg: Like someone who has come to rely on the data center boom, she fears that all the gold rush will end in the end.
On NPR News, I'm Monica Nickelsberg from Quincy.
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