Last year, The Seattle Times and ProPublica reported on how the state created a massive tax break for data centers, encouraging the growth of an industry whose energy use conflicts with a goal for utilities to go carbon neutral by 2030.
Good! Those tax breaks were a mistake. They’re bringing power-hungry data centers in right when our power supply is decreasing due to the (appropriate) removal of fish-killing dams. All in the name of bringing “high-paying jobs” to rural areas, but anyone in the industry knows that data centers do not need huge numbers of employees and, for the tech industry, the pay is relatively low.
Good! Those tax breaks were a mistake. They’re bringing power-hungry data centers in right when our power supply is decreasing due to the (appropriate) removal of fish-killing dams. All in the name of bringing “high-paying jobs” to rural areas, but anyone in the industry knows that data centers do not need huge numbers of employees and, for the tech industry, the pay is relatively low.