SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Spokane County commissioners faced passionate testimony from residents Tuesday as the county grapples with whether to allow new large data centers in the region.
The public meeting addressed the county’s moratorium on new large data centers, which currently expires Dec. 15. During this period, county officials are developing a plan to determine whether new data centers should be permitted and what regulations would govern them.
The meeting drew frustrated residents seeking transparency and answers about the data center proposal process. Some speakers opposed any data centers in the county, while others demanded greater involvement in decision-making.
Environmental concerns dominated much of the discussion. Multiple speakers raised alarms about water consumption, noting that data centers require significant amounts of water to cool their servers. Timothy Viall, a Spokane Valley resident, highlighted the region’s existing water challenges.
“The Spokane river has become effectively dead in the sullivan area two years in a row and we’re not even supposed to water our lawns and now we’re entertaining the idea that this data center will consume more water than our lawns ever will,” Viall said.
Noise pollution emerged as another significant concern. Hailee Meyers, a North Spokane resident, described the acoustic impact reported by people living near data centers.
“The noise, people who live within a few mile radius of data centers have described it as sound torture that you would hear from prisoners of war which is a crazy thing to conceptualize. They’ve described it as a high pitched vacuum with a broken filter in their ears 24/7,” Meyers said.
Residents also brought up artificial intelligence technology, which has dominated tech industry news in recent months. Several speakers asked whether county officials had conducted their own research into AI-related concerns before moving forward with data center decisions.
The meeting also highlighted a procedural concern when approximately half the speakers pointed out that Commissioner Al French was not present in person. While French participated virtually, his camera was not turned on during the proceedings.
The Spokane County Planning Commission will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss zoning text amendments related to data centers.
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