OregonLive reports about how Amazon data centers are among the state’s biggest carbon polluters. Who’dve thought cap and trade would cause problems? The article focuses on how the Umatilla Electric Cooperative “is responsible for 1.8 million tons of carbon-emissions annually,” but has just 16,000 customers. The article says, “Data centers’ power demands have upended Oregon’s fight against global warming, exposing the limitations of the state’s electrical grid and the state’s hope to move toward clean power. Oregon is many years away from meaningfully expanding its transmission capacity, and with Amazon planning at least 10 more data centers in the region, eastern Oregon’s carbon footprint is poised to continue soaring.”
Anecdotally, some Oregonians in Prineville and surrounding areas have left due to Amazon, Facebook and Apple data centers using up the water supply to keep the centers cool. These data centers have clogged the once beautiful ridge with disturbing fluorescent lights and barbed fences and provided minimal jobs. But environmentalists didn’t care then.
