A proposed Google data center project in Iowa has found an unlikely opponent: another data center owner.
Doug Sevey, president and CEO of Enseva, went viral this month thanks to a clip from the kind of meeting that has inflamed communities across the US.
“Everything Google is telling you is BS,” Sevey said in a video from a Palo, Iowa, city council meeting on June 1, adding, “They’re going to burn through the water, and when it’s done, it’s done, and they don’t care.”
Sevey, who has built and run several data centers, told Business Insider they need to be “done right” — with systems that don’t guzzle water and that maximize energy efficiency.
He’s not convinced Google, which has proposed a data center project in his community of Palo, will do that.
The fight over the proposed project has been about more than water use. Google initially pursued the development in unincorporated Linn County. As the county was developing and then approved its own data center rules, Google began pursuing annexation into Palo, a move that would put the project under the city of Palo’s rules instead.
Sevey has said Google has not given enough details about its plan for the facility, which, according to public records obtained by Iowa Public Radio, could draw millions of gallons of water from a nearby river. Sevey said he relies on well water at his home and worries large withdrawals could affect local groundwater.
Sevey said the potential water draw estimate suggests Google is not planning to use a system that minimizes water use. He accused Google of pursuing a cooling system that uses more water because it will be cheaper and quicker for them to build. In comparison, he said, his data center in Hiawatha, Iowa, uses a closed-loop chilled-water system rather than evaporative cooling.
Sevey said his business, which serves companies in fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, and banking, is different from Google’s, but that the same broad principles — minimizing water use and maximizing efficiency — should apply.
The spread of data centers
It’s unclear what cooling system Google plans to use on the Palo data center. Google declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.
The company has said it uses evaporative cooling at many of its data centers because other methods can consume more energy or have a higher carbon footprint. Google has said it evaluates local water risks and considers alternatives before choosing a cooling system.
Google also announced several water stewardship commitments earlier this month, pledging to replenish more water than it consumes at its sites by 2030, to protect at-risk watersheds with air-cooled solutions, and to report its annual water use.
Local jurisdictions pitted against each other
As fights over data center development play out around the country, the proposed Google project in Palo has pitted local jurisdictions against each other and prompted accusations that the company is trying to skirt regulation.
If the land is annexed into Palo, Linn County’s data center ordinance would no longer apply. Palo is considering a proposed data center ordinance, but unlike the county’s, it does not require an independent water study or water-use agreement. Instead, the project would be subject to state-level water regulations.
The city of Palo did not respond to a request for comment. Mayor Bryan Busch said during a town hall earlier this year that the suggestion that Google would build in Palo in order to avoid regulation was “insulting and offensive,” Iowa Public Radio reported.
Sevey said he does not believe Google has shared enough information with the city yet regarding its plans for the data center. He also said he thinks part of the issue is that officials in small towns aren’t equipped to evaluate the tradeoffs of developing data centers and can be lured by the potential millions in additional tax revenue.
“You have all these small cities being enticed, and they have absolutely no information,” he said.
Sevey said that since the clip of his comments at the city council meeting spread on social media, concerned citizens in several states have invited him to help them oppose data centers in their areas.
Sevey said he does not want to be the face of data center opposition. If Google can address his concerns and develop its data center responsibly, he’s not necessarily opposed to it.
“If you’re not taking a chance and wrecking the infrastructure, then it’s just growth,” he said.
