Emailing "Data Centers Flocking to Oregon"
I've previously blogged about Facebook's new data center in Oregon and the subsequent backlash from Greenpeace about Facebook's decision to purchase electricity from a utility that largely relies on coal for its electricity generation. This morning, the esteemed Wall Street Journal ran a front page story on Facebook's
data center, and a few interesting facts can be gleaned from the story.
Facebook is apparently not alone in selecting Oregon for data center operations. The social media networking giant joins Microsoft, Intuit, and Yahoo data centers in Quinn, a data center operated by Ask.com in Moses Lake, an Amazon.com data center in Boardman, and a Google data center in The Dalles. Apparently the combination of a cool and dry climate, critical to maximizing ambient air cooling technologies, is drawing more and more data centers to the state.
Interestingly, it's not the climate that draws these companies. Oregon is also apparently doling out some pretty sweet incentives for the companies to locate there. Facebook, for example (which only paid $3 million for the 124 acres of land), has an agreement with the state to be charged property tax on the unimproved value of the land for the next 15 years, about $25,000 a year. The data center is expected to cost around $175 million, so paying tax on only the unimproved value of the land will save millions. In fact, the WSJ points out that Facebook will save over $3 million a year in property taxes, or $45 million over the life of the tax abatement. That's a pretty awesome deal for Facebook.
What's curious about this article is what is not mentioned. The article hints that Oregon has "abundant supplies of hydropower" but doesn't mention the controversy surrounding the utility companies operating there or their higher-than-average reliance on coal rather than hydroenergy. There's no mention at all about Greenpeace's boycott. Finally, while the article mentions the job creation in glowing terms, certainly no one would argue that a data center (which by its nature is typically staffed by a skeleton crew of human beings) is ever going to replace the hundreds of thousands jobs lost in the logging and sawmill industries.
I'm pleased that Green IT made it to the front page of a major business daily. The more people become aware of the issues and challenges facing Green IT, the more likely it is that good law and policy can result. The WSJ does no one any favors, however, by sugarcoating the truth, misleading the facts, or by simply ignoring certain basic facts.