As a retired IT professional, I am amazed at how quickly county commissioners and city governments are approving data center builds while doling out huge tax abatements in the process.
My opinion is based on missing technology discussions in articles and in-person meetings by local officials. The question of “What happens to the building and environment when data center owners abandon their facility?” must be asked.
Eastside Canton residents know what has happened to their homes and infrastructure after Republic Steel was recently abandoned, so the end state of a data center must be included in any plan for their construction.
Elected government officials who do not demand answers to questions about “cradle-to-grave” planning are incompetent. When savvy companies approve new technology acquisition, they perform full lifecycle analysis that includes what it may cost to retire aging technology.
As innovation and technological improvements become available, the data centers being built today will quickly become obsolete. The cleanup left to local government taxpayers will be considerable.
Thirty-year tax abatements based on the promise of local jobs is ridiculous in that data centers can be operated remotely by off-shore cheap technical labor. The initial builds are done by temporary non-union crews brought from other states.
Those who approve builds and tax abatement at the state and local levels are not doing the due diligence that taxpayers deserve. Thorough due diligence uncovers impact to taxpayers in addition to outputs such as 24/7 noise, water contamination and destruction of infrastructure already pointed out in articles and research.
Taxpayers will bear the burden of cleanups, falling property values, an assault on clean water and air, and resulting health issues from microplastics in wastewater dumped into the sewer system by data centers.
Janis Salas, Jackson Township
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Scrutinize impact of data centers before approving them | Letter
Reporting by The Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By The Repository | USA TODAY Network
