<body><div>4 hours ago KEPW 97.3 Whole Community News Beyond Toxics: We strongly encourage the city of Eugene to protect its residents, and therefore to determine that data center use is not allowable under the E-1 zoning ordinance. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1vWavc_1EcuHAKN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1vWavc_1EcuHAKN00" width="600" height="220" ></figure>This is a letter from Jennifer Davis, the executive director of Beyond Toxics. It’s going out to the public. And the letter is directed to Terri Harding, the planning director of the Eugene Planning and Development Permit and Information Center; and it’s ‘Attn:’ to Reid Vernor, the land use supervisor; Mayor Knudson; members of the City Council; city manager.RE: The opposition to data center development in Eugene regarding request for zone verification for former Hynix superconductor campus on Willow Creek Circle in Eugene. So:The undersigned organizations are writing to voice our opposition to the establishment of data centers in the city of Eugene, and to call on the city to use the full extent of its authority to deny all permits for potential data centers.Specifically, this letter is in response to the recent E-1 zone verification request (ZVR 26-050) submitted to the city of Eugene on July 14th, 2026, regarding the former Hynix location at 1830 Willow Creek Circle to consider data center use.Our organizations are growing increasingly concerned with the speed at which data centers are rapidly developing all over Oregon and across the United States, and especially concerned with the potential for a data center here in west Eugene. Data centers have notable “offensive external impacts” on the surrounding communities, including air, water, and noise pollution concerns, in addition to dramatically increasing the load on the electrical systems leading to rate increases for residents and businesses. For the reasons that follow, a proposed data center would be incompatible with the purpose of E-1 zoning.<h2>Data centers are not allowed in the E-1 zone</h2>The property at issue is zoned E-1 Campus-Employment. Data centers do not fit into the listed “Information Technology” use categories permitted in the E-1 zone. There are four such listed uses: <ol><li>“Computer Networking (includes services and technical support center);” </li><li>“E-commerce (includes call centers, online sales &amp; shipping, and business-to-business services”; </li><li>“Internet and Web Site (includes services and technical support center);” and </li><li>“Software Development (includes services and technical support centers).” </li></ol>Data centers cannot be said to fall into any of these more specific use categories.Each of these four use categories is for a specific type of information technology provider with significantly different operations and impacts than a data center. These uses contemplate activities like running a website, developing software, selling things online, or providing computer networking services. Data centers do none of these activities. Under the applicant’s own description, any of the multiple subcategories of data centers they proposed would be “used to store, process, manage, transmit, exchange, and secure digital information.” None of the four listed Information Technology uses contemplate this kind of use.Data centers can also not be allowed under EC 9.1080, which allows the city to authorize uses that are not explicitly listed but are nonetheless consistent with the purpose of the zone. The E-1 zone is designed for uses that “have a large number of employees per acre” and for uses that “do not generate offensive external impacts” and “do not tolerate substantial noise, pollution, or vibration from surrounding uses.” It is well-documented that data centers provide few long term jobs. Some experts estimate that data centers only provide 20 to 50 long term jobs. Even using the upper range of that estimate, this facility, at 120 developable acres, would result in less than one employee per two acres. And, for the reasons described in the section below, data centers have immense external impacts, including noise and air pollution, that are above and beyond typical light-industrial uses. Accordingly, data centers are clearly inconsistent with the E-1 zone.<h2>Impacts to nearby communities</h2><h2>Energy consumption and climate &amp; air pollution</h2>Conventional data centers have an average of 25 megawatts of power capacity, whereas the average house draws around 1.5 kilowatts on the grid at any given time. One conventional data center consumes the same amount of electricity to power roughly 20,000 homes. Hyperscale data center energy consumption is around 100 megawatts; the largest data center energy consumption is around 5,000 megawatts. Power consumption in Oregon is already up 30% from 2010, most of that increase in the past few years. AI computing data centers are expected to double the state’s energy consumption over the next five years, while upgrades to the electrical grid are happening at a much slower rate, increasing the risk of rolling blackouts during peak surges at the state level. While Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) arguably is not facing the same degree of load constraints as other utilities and the state and regional energy grid writ large, the construction of data centers could rapidly change projections for power demand locally. In turn, this may lead to EWEB pushing to activate long-dormant locally-sited gas turbines, as the utility explored with their gas generation pilot at University of Oregon last winter, or to develop or purchase new fossil fuel energy generation.Data centers rely on back-up power generators to keep up with power demands during power outages or during high-peak consumption times. Data centers’ reliance on diesel generators is in direct opposition to decarbonization efforts here in Oregon and here in Eugene. In a span of just five years, diesel generator use tripled nationally because of data center development. Diesel exhaust has a tremendous impact on human health contributing to illnesses such as asthma, heart disease, lung disease—particularly in young children, elderly adults, or those who already have pre-existing health concerns. Even “emergency” use of diesel generators would increase air pollution in the already burdened west Eugene area, and there is evidence of data centers relying on diesel generators to relieve stress on the power grid during peak use times. There are high-density housing units less than 500m away from this site, and diesel exhaust from a potential data center here would undoubtedly negatively impact nearby residents, as well as the larger surrounding areas.Additionally, a dramatic increase in electricity use as well as fossil fuel use would directly contradict the city’s climate recovery ordinance, which requires the city to achieve 50% reduction in community wide fossil fuel usage from 2010 levels by 2030. As the city rapidly approaches the 2030 deadline, we believe that new data center development would undermine our energy transition, increasing the cost of renewable electricity, expanding the use of fossil fuels, and reducing grid capacity to support electrification of buildings and transportation.<h2>Noise pollution</h2>Residents of existing data centers across the county are raising concerns about constant noise pollution from these operations. The cooling systems, fans, and diesel generators all contribute to a constant hum that is carried hundreds of meters away from these data centers. Communities around existing data centers have reported “headaches, vertigo, nausea, sleep disturbances, ear pain and hypertension” from nearby data centers. Residents in Loudoun County, Virginia have reported “debilitating” noise from nearby data centers. Again, there are high-density housing units meters from this site that would be vulnerable to constant noise pollution threats.<h2>Water quality impacts</h2>In a report by the University of Georgia, up to 90% of data centers worldwide use a water-based cooling system. Approximately 57% of all data centers use potable water to cool their servers, and up to 90% of that water is pulled from the surrounding watersheds (from lakes, rivers, or aquifers). Data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, collectively used over 900 million gallons of water in 2023 alone. Water which has been used to cool data centers has been linked to increased concentration of water contaminants such as nitrates and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS), as well as thermal pollution by introducing warmer water back into the watershed. At the time of this writing, over 88% of the state of Oregon was experiencing drought conditions which would further be exacerbated by significant additional water consumption. In a report published earlier this year, over 500 new AI data centers are being built in drought-stricken areas of the U.S., and at the time of writing, 99.9% of Lane County residents are experiencing drought conditions.<h2>Conclusion</h2>For the reasons described above, we do not believe that data centers can be allowed on this property. We ask the city of Eugene to deny the applicant’s zone verification request, and take measures to establish a moratorium on any future data center construction. Data centers are highly polluting facilities with high externalities, and are not compatible with E-1 zoning.Even if the city thinks that some type of data center could be allowed on the E-1 zone, the applicant has not provided sufficient information to make that determination because it lists a broad list of possible subcategories of data center, each of which would require different analysis.We strongly encourage the city of Eugene to protect its residents, and therefore to determine that data center use is not allowable under the E-1 zoning ordinance.Sincerely,Jennifer Davis, Executive DirectorBeyond Toxics</div></body>

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Beyond Toxics: We strongly encourage the city of Eugene to protect its residents, and therefore to determine that data center use is not allowable under the E-1 zoning ordinance. This is a letter from Jennifer Davis, the executive director of Beyond Toxics. It’s going out to the public. And the...

Beyond Toxics leads opposition to Eugene data center

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Beyond Toxics: We strongly encourage the city of Eugene to protect its residents, and therefore to determine that data center use is not allowable under th

Beyond Toxics leads opposition to Eugene data center

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