3 ms·

The opposition to a data center isn't "data center vs all of the state" but rather "data center vs a town where it will double the water use and the locals are

by shagie 8d ago

The opposition to a data center isn't "data center vs all of the state" but rather "data center vs a town where it will double the water use and the locals are currently under water restrictions and there was a drought last year."

scarmig 8d ago
Sure, let's do a more local comparison. Wasco County, where the Dalles is located: Irrigation: 17.9B gallons/year Fisheries: 9.7B gallons/year So, the datacenter at the Dalles uses a shocking 2% of the amount of water used for irrigation alone in the locality. There's a very simple solution to this, if you actually care about water: tax it to the point where usage is at whatever level you want, instead of focusing on a vanishing minority of the water usage.
- shagie 8d ago
  The water isn't taxable that way based on western state water rights. https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-demands-grow-the-dalles-aims-to-pull-more-from-mount-hood-forest/ https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-dema... > When Google purchased a defunct aluminum smelter in The Dalles, it also acquired the right to pump massive amounts of water from underground — up to 3.88 million gallons a day. That’s almost as much water as the entire city averaged per day in 2024. > The corporation transferred those water rights to the city in 2021, Bentz noted, allowing The Dalles to pump more water from underground. The city only obtained part, not all, of the former smelter’s water rights, Mays said after OPB’s story published. > But groundwater is limited — there is only so much available before it’s replenished by rain or snowmelt. Oregon is one of many states that have allocated more water rights than the earth can provide at once, causing groundwater wells for residents, farmers and other businesses to run dry — particularly in Eastern and Central Oregon. --- The water rights that Google retained are not taxable without redoing the entirety of the water rights laws for multiple states. Do water rights need to be revisited in today's climate conditions? Yes. We see it on the Colorado River... and on the Columbia River. But the law, as it stands today, if you've got the water rights that's not something that is taxable. And if you bought more senior water rights, you get to pump before someone else does.

by shagie 8d ago

scarmig 8d ago

Sure, let's do a more local comparison. Wasco County, where the Dalles is located: Irrigation: 17.9B gallons/year Fisheries: 9.7B gallons/year So, the datacenter at the Dalles uses a shocking 2% of the amount of water used for irrigation alone in the locality. There's a very simple solution to this, if you actually care about water: tax it to the point where usage is at whatever level you want, instead of focusing on a vanishing minority of the water usage.

shagie 8d ago
The water isn't taxable that way based on western state water rights. https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-demands-grow-the-dalles-aims-to-pull-more-from-mount-hood-forest/ https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-dema... > When Google purchased a defunct aluminum smelter in The Dalles, it also acquired the right to pump massive amounts of water from underground — up to 3.88 million gallons a day. That’s almost as much water as the entire city averaged per day in 2024. > The corporation transferred those water rights to the city in 2021, Bentz noted, allowing The Dalles to pump more water from underground. The city only obtained part, not all, of the former smelter’s water rights, Mays said after OPB’s story published. > But groundwater is limited — there is only so much available before it’s replenished by rain or snowmelt. Oregon is one of many states that have allocated more water rights than the earth can provide at once, causing groundwater wells for residents, farmers and other businesses to run dry — particularly in Eastern and Central Oregon. --- The water rights that Google retained are not taxable without redoing the entirety of the water rights laws for multiple states. Do water rights need to be revisited in today's climate conditions? Yes. We see it on the Colorado River... and on the Columbia River. But the law, as it stands today, if you've got the water rights that's not something that is taxable. And if you bought more senior water rights, you get to pump before someone else does.