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With Earth Day coming up this week, Seattle DSA’s Ecosocialism Working Group sat down and answered some questions about the environmental impact of Data Centers, A.I. and how our chapter is working to educate the public about this important issue and how you can get involved!

Question: Last year the Ecosocialism Working Group held a series of Forums on AI. Can you tell us what the specific focuses of those events were and what some of the biggest takeaways were? 

Ecosocialism Working Group: We held three People’s Forums on AI, each centered on different aspects of the AI conversation. The first focused on Data Centers, Water, and Energy; the second on Power, Labor, and Control; and the third was a workshop-based session geared toward developing strategies for regulating, resisting, and reimagining AI and data centers. Highlights included a testimony from the former mayor of Quincy, Washington on the impacts of the data center buildout on her town and its water, air, and electric grid; a rousing speech from Adrian Reyna Chavoya of the People’s Tech Project on building data center resistance across the country; and a presentation from DSA Ecosocialism’s own Raj Mirpuri on what the technology marketed as AI actually is and does and why we don’t need to let Big Tech determine our collective future.

There were many informative and revealing facts and perspectives shared at the forums, some of which you can watch here. But the biggest takeaway came from the numbers and enthusiasm of people who showed up and engaged with the sessions. There is a clear energy—including among tech workers—to first understand what the industry has planned for data centers and AI and second to challenge the idea that we should wait passively for them to have their way with our communities, ecosystems, jobs, and society. 

Question: There has been a lot of news nationally about the impact of data centers, can you give us some insight into how and where data centers are affecting Washington State?

Ecosocialism Working Group: Currently, there are 107 data operating in Washington state, with the majority in Seattle and Quincy, followed by Wenatchee. There are also several more being built or proposed throughout the state, including larger hyperscalers in Walla Walla, Spokane, and Richland-Kennewick. Big Tech is also eyeing parts of the state to build small modular reactors or nuclear fusion to power data centers both here and in Oregon. 

The colocated traditional data centers in Seattle add up to 270 megawatts across 50 or so data centers. These traditional data centers are the ones that run our internet and cloud services—we’re less concerned about these ones. However, news just broke this month that four tech companies approached Seattle City Light about building five large data centers that would have a maximum demand of 369 MW, approximately one-third of the city’s average daily energy usage. This raises obvious concerns about where the power will come from as Seattle continues to grow and electrify, and what the impact will be on ratepayers.

Quincy is an example of the impacts of larger hyperscaler or AI data centers, where around 53 centers add up to 1 gigawatt (or 1,010 MW). A 100 MW data center uses more electricity than all the homes in Everett combined. The tech industry wants us to believe that these new, large hyperscale data centers are necessary for running the internet, and we know that’s just not true. We’ve been getting by with these smaller data centers just fine. What has changed is the rollout of AI and its demand for energy.

Quincy has emerged as one of the largest data center markets in the country, and is a good example of the unadvertised effects of data centers on communities. Many members of the community support the data centers, which have been built over the past 20 years, as they have generated tax revenue that has funded a new high school and hospital. However, there are signs of growing frustration. Quincy once generated surplus electricity via hydropower, but now Grant County PUD wants to build a new transmission line and methane gas pipeline to power current and additional planned data centers. To build the new transmission line, it is condemning private land impacting 120 homes and 449 acres of farmland, sparking outrage among farm- and homeowners who say the route through their properties was chosen behind closed doors.

In general, the statewide data center buildout threatens Washington’s hydropower supply, already diminished by the impacts of climate change such as drought and reduced snowpack, and then risks exacerbating those impacts when utilities rely on methane gas to make up the difference. At the same time, the buildout could undermine the state’s climate commitments and further raise energy bills amid an affordability crisis. 

Question: It seems many of the issues around data centers tend to hit rural communities first and hardest. As residents of Washington’s biggest city, what can we do to support our rural neighbors in these fights?

Ecosocialism Working Group: Out of the planning process for the AI forums, a new network emerged known as Washington Artificial Intelligence Resistance (WA-AIR), of which Seattle DSA is a founding partner. This network is reaching out to communities across the state where data centers are active or planned to support local communities and struggles and help them in building local power and capacity to push back against the extraction of our state’s land, energy, and water resources.. This includes the landowners in Quincy as well as community members in Walla-Walla, whose port recently sold land to Amazon for a data center despite widespread opposition. 

That said, the news this month that major data centers are now planned for Seattle indicates that we can’t assume our more urban communities are safe. With our community partners, we have launched a letter-writing campaign calling on the Seattle City Council and Mayor Wilson to implement a moratorium on new data centers in Seattle. You can add your name here. If you are interested in getting more involved with the fight against data centers, both in Seattle and statewide, you can sign up here.

Question: During the last state leg session, Seattle DSA member and WA State Rep. Shaun Scott helped to pass HB2089, a bill which will help fund Wildfire Mitigation. Are there other victories like this we’ve seen locally?

Ecosocialism Working Group: Seattle DSA Ecosocialism focused most of its legislative energies around bills regulating data centers and AI. While the main bill that would have regulated data centers, HB2515, did not pass, a small victory emerged with the passage of SB 6231, which removed a tax exemption for the replacement of data center equipment. This will save the state $155 million through 2031 and gives us something to build on for further regulating and taxing Big Tech. 

Rep. Scott’s bill also helped, by stripping away tax incentives from financial institutions that lend to big development projects like data centers, redirecting those funds to wildfire mitigation. But we still have more work to do. We still give millions per year of taxpayer money to some of the wealthiest corporations in the world to build out new data centers across our state, when instead we should be requiring them to support our communities with energy affordability or renewable and distributed energy systems to mitigate the strain these companies and their data centers are placing on our grid. 

Question: With the escalating climate crisis sowing chaos in the natural world, can you tell us about current efforts to protect wildlife in Washington State?

Ecosocialism Working Group: The data center buildout could threaten Washington’s efforts to help salmon recover and thrive, as further strain on hydropower usage could lead to the waiving of provisions to help migrating salmon cross dams. At the same time, the water used to cool the data centers could be released back into watersheds at higher temperatures and with added contaminates, further threatening fish and other wildlife. Data centers can also contribute to the heat island effect, which means nearby plants have to work harder to retain water, increasing wildfire risk. DSA Ecosocialism plans to collaborate with local environmental and land defense partners to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Question: Are there some specific types of environmental legislation you’re hoping to see introduced in the upcoming legislation such as a data center moratorium? 

Ecosocialism Working Group: Seattle DSA Ecosocialism has signed a national call for a moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. We are interested in any and all legislation that addresses the big threats posed by the unique tech industry in our state, including any efforts to expand nuclear power.

With WA-AIR, members of our group are currently drafting an AI Bill of Rights that is designed to be used as a springboard for future campaigns and legislation, which will focus on fairness, transparency, and privacy. That will be up on our website soon—stay tuned!

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