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Big Tech is building big in rural America, where pastures, rivers and fields have become the newest frontier in the AI race.
Widespread land availability, cheap electricity and abundant water have led AI giants, such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, to choose country fields as preferred places to erect data center infrastructure.
The number of rural data centers could triple if all the under-construction projects and a portion of the planned projects come online, an NBC News analysis of government and industry data found. As rural communities prepare for the influx of investment, local leaders’ ability to negotiate with developers is key to determine what communities can gain, or risk, from living alongside these massive steel-and-concrete neighbors.
HERMISTON– La semana pasada, en medio de la creciente oposición pública a los centros de datos en Oregón, la gobernadora Kotek ordenó al Departamento de Calidad Ambiental (DEQ por sus siglas en inglés) suspender todos los nuevos permisos de contaminación para centros de datos hasta julio del próximo año.
Oregon’s Governor, Tina Kotek, has ordered the state’s environmental regulators to temporarily stop issuing pollution permits to data centers, effectively pausing data center development in the Beaver State.
Governor Kotek has directed Oregon Department of Environmental Quality director Leah Feldon to pause all air and water pollution permits for new or expanding data centers until July 2027. As well as air quality permits, the requested pause includes applications from municipalities seeking to renew or modify wastewater treatment plant permits to accommodate wastewater discharge from data centers.
HERMISTON– Last week, amidst growing public opposition to data centers in Oregon, Governor Kotek directed the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to pause all new pollution permits for data centers until next July.
PRESS RELEASE - As artificial intelligence (AI) drives additional data center expansion in eastern Oregon, this week Oregon Rural Action (ORA) hosted the region’s first community meetings on data centers in Hermiston and Boardman.
BOARDMAN – In a “show of unity and strength,” West Glen United / West Glen Unidos announced that an overwhelming majority of their neighborhoods have signed a petition demanding “fair and just” terms for safe drinking water in their homes.
In a letter addressed to the Morrow County Clean Water Consortium, which is leading a plan to extend Boardman city water to the neighborhood, West Glen United highlighted its ongoing concern - the additional costs to residents.
