Myth: Data centers will create thousands of well-paid jobs.
Reality: Data centers create very few permanent jobs. Data centers do not create enough jobs to justify their energy, water, and land usage. Construction jobs are temporary and often go to out-of-state workers. A gigantic hyperscale data center might employ 50 to 150 permanent people. Many of those jobs are security, maintenance, or lower skilled technicians earning as little as $15/hr; those workers can be hired through temporary agencies or as subcontractors. While companies promise hundreds or even thousands of jobs, local economic developments usually require the data centers to have a small number of jobs. For example, Project Spare, located in Spartanburg County, SC, projected to create 50 jobs, but a proposed incentive agreement does not require the companies to create any jobs. Sales tax exemption programs in at least 16 states do not require data centers to create any jobs; other states require companies to create between five and 50 positions. Additionally, data centers bring little benefits to local business owners because it’s cheaper to bring in outside labor.
Myth: Tax incentives help us get corporations to come, and then we benefit from the tax revenue that they bring.
Reality: Subsidies do not influence where data center companies choose to locate. A Georgia audit found that 70% of data center projects would have been located in the state even without subsidies. Rather than generating new tax revenue, data centers cost states money, receiving far more in tax breaks than they contribute in taxes. Even if they pay any taxes, harms created by data centers exceed any fiscal gains.
Myth: Data center companies will invest billions of dollars creating a strong economy.
Reality: When we hear data center companies promoting “billions in investment,” we need to remember who is truly going to benefit from this investment? Those billions are not going into your city’s budget; this is not direct contributions to schools or public infrastructure. What these companies are really talking about is private investment in private projects for private profit — not guaranteed benefits to the public. Because those projects create few jobs, receive massive tax breaks, do not buy anything from local communities, and instead create harms including increasing electricity costs for regular people– there’s almost no impact on economic growth.
Myth: Water concerns are overblown. Data centers are becoming more efficient, and some are even “water positive.”
Reality: Data centers’ water consumption isn’t limited to the facilities themselves. The energy infrastructure they rely on consumes additional water for cooling. These numbers– along with water used in construction and for power generation –are rarely accounted for in most projections for how much water the facilities require.
When data center operators claim their projects will be “water positive” or that they will “replenish” the water they use, what they really mean is that they will pay a fee to “offset” their water use if they use too much – meaning they will fund water stewardship projects elsewhere. This does not, in fact, return the water used to the aquifer from which it was drawn.
Data center developers also try to use other technical terms to confuse that can be difficult for a layperson to parse. “Water Consumption,” in the industry, measures water withdrawn from a water source minus the water discharged (discharge is water returned after it’s used for cooling). Because much of the water used is returned rather than evaporated, data center boosters claim water use is not a big issue. However, the discharged water is released as wastewater; it is very often returned hot, which negatively affects the water source and ecosystem, and/or polluted with contaminants. It’s not returned in the same condition it was taken originally and still represents a significant strain on the water system.
Additional Data Center Facts
- Communities near data centers suffer from elevated cancer risks.
- Data centers generate noise levels that may exceed 90 decibels. Noise levels above 85 decibels are harmful to hearing.
- Stormwater runoff from data centers contains heavy metals, oil, cleaning agents, and corrosion inhibitors.
- Hyperscale data centers require all night lighting that disrupts the natural circadian rhythms of the body including melatonin production and sleep/wake cycles.
- Gas-powered data centers emit pollutants such as nitrous oxide, methane, and volatile organic compounds and fine particulate matter.
- Data Centers disproportionately target communities already overburdened by environmental pollutants and other climate stressors.
- Massive energy consumption disrupts electricity flow to homes and businesses.
- The grid becomes susceptible to electrical fires, blackouts and brownouts.
- Power outages are dangerous during extreme heat periods, for medical device users, and raise risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Feel free to follow GASP at https://gaspgroup.org/ for further information. Or, reach out to Barbara Jackson, Grassroots Organizer at [email protected] or 601-310-6545.