Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
It was standing room only at the Klickitat County Commissioner’s Thursday morning workshop on data centers yesterday. Approximately 150 people showed up for the discussion concerned about the effects of data centers on the landscape. Three possible data centers have been proposed for Klickitat County, two in Dallesport, and one at the site of the former Goldendale Aluminum plant. None of them have so far filed an application.
More than 40 people commented, citing a number of reasons for their opposition to data centers. Here’s a montage of their comments:
“What’s gonna to happen once we have run out of water?/There’s gonna be more risk of fire/Who’s gonna enforce all these new rules about the data center?/Who’s going to do all the cleanup?/where’s it all going?/This is happening too quickly, and we can’t let this steamroll us/We are headed in the wrong direction/The people have spoken. Represent the people, not the corporations (cheering and applause)”
The county does not have an ordinance on data centers, and in 2023, the county planning commission voted to classify data centers as warehouses, which makes them an outright permitted use in industrial zones. Elsewhere they have to obtain a conditional use permit, which involves a public hearing.
Those in attendance were strong opponents of allowing any data centers in the county, and at the very least, instituting a six-month moratorium on data centers, that was proposed by Commissioner Todd Adrews at the last meeting, which died for a lack of s second.
The other two commissioners rejected the need for a moratorium, saying that none of the proposed data center projects were far enough along in the process to submit an application this year, and saying they could have an ordinance strictly regulating data centers inside 90 days.