Data center do-over? New study shows how much they cost Oregon

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Oregon on the Record.

I'm Michael Dunn. I'll be honest, I don't know which 180-degree turn on public opinion has happened faster, the Ducks or data centers. For the Ducks, we've gone from national champion certainty to wondering if we'll even have a winning record. With data centers, it's gone from let's build more and more to let's keep them out of the state entirely. Indeed, data centers are the hot-button topic these days and probably not in the way their corporations wanted. Today on the show, our colleague at OPB joins us to discuss reporting on a new study which shows just how much data centers are costing Oregonians in electricity, water, and goodwill. What was always promised as bringing economic boom certainly looks like a fizzled dream, but with AI looming over everything, data centers aren't likely to go anywhere soon. That's next on Oregon on the Record. Thank you. A low-altitude flight over eastern Oregon used to provide great views of farms and ranches. Today, the same flight provides a snapshot of just how huge the data center industry is in our state. And those massive structures are quite the energy and water hog. But, some people say, at least they provide numerous high-paying jobs, right? Well, not really. Today on the show, our friend at OPB joins us to discuss her story on how data center numbers are not what they always seem to be. Kyra Buckley, business reporter for OPB. Kyra, it's always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming on.

Thanks for having me, Michael.

A lot of times we do talk about the WNBA, but this time we're talking about the subject that seems to be on everybody's lips, data centers, and your great piece you did about really, for the first time, researchers really quantified the size and scope of data centers in Oregon. Give us some of the details, how big, how much, all that stuff in a state where data centers have really planted their flag.

Yeah, yeah. I asked researchers why this report was so important. And one of the things they said is, as data centers continue to grow in interest among the public, there just continues to not be great information out there. So the folks at ECHO Northwest and the University of Virginia, they were funded by the Lemelson Foundation to go out and find some of this information. And basically, they found that there are 111 operational facilities. And of those, 67 are considered the hyperscale data centers. Those are the big ones that are the size of multiple football fields. And those are mostly concentrated on the eastern side of Oregon. And that's what a lot of people think of when they think of data centers is those huge hyperscale facilities normally run by an Amazon or a Google. But researchers also found that there are 32 planned facilities. A lot of those are going to be smaller. They're going to be here on the I'm in Portland. They're going to be here on the western side of the state. And they're essentially data centers that companies might rent out space and to use to store their data. Now, of course, all of this has become more of an issue as artificial intelligence has just boomed and you just need a lot more storage and computing