<div>Having reached a purchase and sale agreement with the Port of Walla Walla on Feb. 12 to obtain 554 acres of land in the Wallula Gap Business Park, Amazon Web Services’ data center proposal is now set for review by the Walla Walla County Commissioners office. In the time since the agreement was made, Amazon has marketed its multi-million dollar, 16-data-center campus proposal at an open house in Burbank, Washington. Local community members have responded, both at the open house and elsewhere, with vocal concerns. The Walla Walla Anti Data Center League, which formed in response to the Port’s land sale, has expressed particularly vocal opposition to the data center, citing a lack of transparency with the public during negotiations between the Port and Amazon. Allison Carney, Magnus Chandler, Ben Mattice and Rikki Wescott, community members closely involved with the league, shared its two primary demands: a one-year data center moratorium in Walla Walla County and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the data center, which would allow experts to analyze its potential effects on the surrounding environment before construction can move forward.The Community Development Department of the Walla Walla County Commissioner’s office is responsible for land use, building, permitting, zoning and environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). According to Melissa Shumake, the department director, a decision on whether an EIS is necessary would come from the designated SEPA-responsible official rather than the county commissioners.“An environmental impact statement in the SEPA process is only necessary when there are impacts that cannot be mitigated,” Shumake said. “I don’t anticipate that that will be the case … largely because this is an industrial zone. This is where things that have larger impacts are typically placed.”According to the league’s representatives, however, an EIS would provide crucial third-party, expert insight into the data center proposal.“By asking for a moratorium,” Wescott said, “we’re asking for more time so that we can get the state to put in regulatory bodies that monitor [Amazon’s] air pollution, their gas usage, their sound pollution, their water usage, their energy usage. … Right now, that would fall on numerous different bodies … There is no data center regulatory body.”While community members have raised concerns about the process, Port of Walla Walla Commission President Ron Dunning said the port’s role in the project is consistent with its standard process for prospective buyers.“The Wallula Gap property was acquired by the port through a trade and is zoned for agriculture or development as an industrial park,” Dunning said. He shared that the port has invested in water systems and other improvements on the property. In his view, the port’s approval of the purchase and sale agreement was consistent with its mission to create and retain family-wage jobs, expand the region’s tax base, maintain transportation linkages and enhance Walla Walla County’s economic vitality and quality of life.“That’s what brings a very strong tax base increase to our whole county,” Dunning said.Dunning explained that community concerns about lack of transparency and the data center’s environmental regulation are outside the purview of the Port. “It’s up to the state and the county,” Dunning said. “We are basically the sellers of the ground. We try to use good logic on what we do. We’re not trying to destroy the climate or the environment for the local people — we’re trying to improve that. I think that what we did with Amazon was [in line with that goal].”Community members like Kate VanDonge ‘11 view things in a different light. VanDonge is involved in local organizing around the data center and said public awareness of the proposal has increased through community meetings, social media outreach, event tabling and attendance at county commissioner meetings and Amazon’s open house.Nonetheless, VanDonge believes this awareness is lackluster — a deficiency she sees as symptomatic of broader data center policy that privileges government interests over local communities’ wellbeing.“It is a lot of [data corporations] taking advantage of existing laws that don’t account for data centers and jumping off from that point to… get as much done before legislation or regulation catches up,” VanDonge said. “We’re seeing it across the nation right now. There’s pressure to get them built as fast as possible so that communities can’t push back fast enough.”The county’s review of the application remains ongoing. Most recently, the county issued a notice of complete application and began a 30-day public comment period. After the comment period, the county will compile comments and provide them to Amazon, along with questions and comments from the department. Amazon will then be asked to provide updated materials, responses or revisions. Shumake said that after Amazon responds to the county’s initial comments and revisions, the county will continue its review before making a SEPA threshold determination. That determination will be followed by another comment period, which Shumake said would likely last another 30 days.</div>

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Having reached a purchase and sale agreement with the Port of Walla Walla on Feb. 12 to obtain 554 acres of land in the Wallula Gap Business Park, Amazon Web Services’ data center proposal is now set for review by the Walla Walla County Commissioners office. In the time...

Amazon Data Center Proposal Progresses Amid Public Unease

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Having reached a purchase and sale agreement with the Port of Walla Walla on Feb. 12 to obtain 554 acres of land in the Wallula Gap Business Park, Amazon W

Amazon Data Center Proposal Progresses Amid Public Unease

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