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Data centers and Nevada's dwindling resources
Data centers and Nevada's dwindling resources
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Untertitel (73)
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The large majority of Americans are
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against data centers, and their concerns
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are becoming a key issue in midterm
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elections, including in my home state of
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Nevada. I'm Stephanie Valdez, a news
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creator who covers key issues impacting
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Nevada. I'm partnering with Vox to bring
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important local stories to a national
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audience. Across the country, small
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towns are grappling with big tech
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companies' attempts to fast-track
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approvals for new data center projects.
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Companies keep eyeing Nevada because of
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its ample cheap land, no corporate
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income tax, and generous state tax
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abatements. But, does the state have
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enough resources to keep up with the
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enormous amounts of water and power that
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data centers require? 90% of Southern
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Nevada's water comes from the Colorado
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River via Lake Mead, which has been
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receding for decades and is at
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critically low water levels. To help
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water conservation efforts, in 2023, the
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Southern Nevada Water Authority banned
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evaporative cooling in new industrial
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and commercial buildings. But, those
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built or approved before the ban weren't
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required to comply. The following year,
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pre-existing data centers consumed 716
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million gallons of water in Southern
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Nevada. One Google data center alone
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consumed 352 million gallons. Lake Mead
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is the reservoir created by Hoover Dam,
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which generates power for Nevada,
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Arizona, and California. While the dam
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isn't Nevada's only power source, it's
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already operating at reduced capacity
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due to ongoing drought conditions. Per
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KNPR, Nevada's main power utility
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company, NV Energy, says it will need
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three times the electricity required to
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power Las Vegas in order to handle the
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energy demand for 12 proposed data
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center projects. Communities are pushing
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back across the state, from Reno and
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Humboldt County in the northwest corner,
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where evaporative cooling is still
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allowed, to Las Vegas, Henderson,
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Boulder City, and Nye County in the
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southeast corner. And with this year's
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midterm elections, Nevadans want to know
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candidates' positions on data centers.
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Our incumbent Governor Joe Lombardo says
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he supports data centers and is
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transforming Nevada into a tech stack
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state. His opponent, Nevada Attorney
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General Aaron Ford, said if elected, he
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will require data centers to pay their
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fair share and commit to conserving
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water. Both candidates agree that data
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center construction creates jobs.
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However, those are temporary. While much
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of the election attention is on state
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and federal offices nationwide, voters
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should also pay attention to local races
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as city council members and county
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commissioners are the decision-makers
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for proposed data center projects and
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moratoriums. Midterm elections are less
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than 4 months away. The future of data
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centers and resources will be on ballots
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across the country.
